How to get real estate’s digital transformation right

COMMENT Being a few months into a new role provides a moment to reflect on what has gone before and what lies ahead. For me, this transition is twofold: stepping into a new role and entering industrial real estate, a new industry for me, and one that has confessed to not being at the forefront of digital transformation and adoption. Coming into this space, you are alert to its opportunities and challenges. Joining SEGRO, I needed to consider how lessons from my past experiences in healthcare, retail and big government could be applied to property. One of my first priorities was to understand and find solutions for the different ways digital is perceived and described within the sector. Are we looking for technology to make our teams more efficient, accurate and productive? Or is this the moment to redefine what we do and how we serve our customers? My observation is that we want all the above. Where retail leads As a sector, we have found groundbreaking ways to engage on sustainability, customer engagement and health and safety. Now it is time for digital change to come to the forefront. Data is a critical starting point for this shift. The way it is collected, used and shared reminds me of the UK healthcare sector in the late 1990s. Data, data everywhere but not enough information to use. The NHS solved this by agreeing on standards, promoting adoption and ensuring front-line ownership. I believe our sector can do the same. There is a strong desire from our front-line industry colleagues for insight, making engaging them relatively easy. We just need to align on how to achieve it. For retail, the pandemic was a catalyst for innovation, and digital solutions became an essential survival tactic. It drove engagement with new organisations with new ideas – and we can do the same. The recent co-creation of the Opportunity for PropTech report, a partnership between Public and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, describes how property organisations can benefit from closer collaboration with the proptech industry. The UK PropTech Association called out the report, stating: “There is a significant opportunity for proptech to drive efficiency, sustainability and innovation in housing, regeneration and investment. By enabling 80-90% time reductions through automated site assessments and a 1,500% increase in planning consultation engagement, proptech can cut costs, accelerate timelines and boost productivity.” The current global market uncertainties and headwinds could easily provide the paradigm shift for our industry that the pandemic had for retail. Although AI and other digital technologies offer immense potential, a measured approach is needed. With tech, it is easy to make the wrong decisions if you’re not clear on the desired outcomes and don’t have an understanding of the right tools to achieve them. The key question, is: what do we do first? Back to basics Since becoming CIO, I’ve had conversations with SEGRO leaders across the UK and Europe and distilled these into five areas of focus: Remove pain points for colleagues, rather than implementing technology for technology’s sake Foster a digital mindset across the business, ensuring teams understand the tools available to solve their challenges Embed a “best me at work” approach, ensuring digital solutions enhance productivity and maintain a strong customer focus Cultivate a “no stupid questions” culture, increasing awareness of digital solutions and their potential Scale up engagement across the entire business, ensuring transparency at every stage The last point comes from my experience of engaging large government departments in digital adoption. When a new team, like digital, grows, it can be hard for front-line colleagues who manage customer relationships and operations to understand what digital is going to do for (or to) them. As digital professionals, it is our responsibility to provide clarity, transparency and accountability of what we will deliver. By working in close partnership with operational colleagues, we can ensure digital adoption is a shared journey and that we are making things better, not more complicated. Imagine a future where the industrial and logistics sector fully harnesses its data to innovate, with customers at the heart of every decision. Data that drives new sustainability solutions; insights that power digital twins of our businesses, enabling us to test and refine scenarios to better serve our customers; a level of understanding that allows us to anticipate and meet customer needs at pace. All of this is within reach if we get the basics right and work collectively to find digital solutions improve the entire sector for everyone. Rich Corbridge is chief information officer at SEGRO Image from SEGRO