What We’re Reading This Week

1) CRE Companies aren’t Doing Enough to Attract Next-Gen Talent – Deloitte

Deloitte recently published a study where they found that 79% of real estate investors believe that CRE companies aren’t doing enough to attract next-gen talent into their workforce. As the Baby Boomers age out and retire this will pose risk. Deloitte’s report suggests: “CRE companies should double down on efforts to attract next gen talent, retool existing talent, and diversify senior leadership and the board.” Our own Phil Mobley, Building Engines’ Head of Research, recently wrote about this important topic in a blog you can read here.

2) PropTech is Set for a Wave of Consolidation – Goodwin

The last several years we’ve seen tons of funding pour into the PropTech and CRE tech industries. A Goodwin article explains, “global venture capital investment in the real estate technology sector has plotted an upward trajectory of $1.8 billion in 2015, $4.2 billion in 2016, $12.6 billion in 2017 and $11.2 in 2018.” This capital infusion has created numerous tech options for those in the CRE industry but is not sustainable. We are on the brink of a wave of tech consolidation that will engulf the industry – in a positive way. This will usher the next stage of tech evolution for the industry. We have some exciting consolidation news of our own – you can read it here.

3) Facility/Property Management is Dead – Workplace is Alive – Director of Workplace at Netflix

I recently came across and interesting article by Frans van Eersel, Director of Workplace EMEA at Netflix, where he wrote about how the term facility/property manager really doesn’t fit the description of the role these individuals play in CRE organizations today. We completely agree with Frans, today’s facility/property managers roles are completely different. Where they used to purely manage buildings they are now serving tenants. And the industry has been slow to change how we describe these roles. Frans explains there are four main reasons that the industry needs to think out with the old (facility/property manager) and in with the new (workplace):

• Workplace focuses on business impact
• Workplace is embraced by the world
• Workplace attracts talent
• Workplace focuses on the full tenant experience

I think that in order to keep up with the direction the industry is headed we should make a concerted effort to adapt the way we talk about the industry and certain roles within it.

4) 10 Forces Driving Tech Movement in CRE – RealCrowd

In a recent podcast Minta Kay, Partner and Chair of Goodwin’s Real Estate Industry Group, and Salil Gandhi, Partner in Goodwin’s Technology & Lifesciences Group, and raised an interesting point. There is a FOMO factor driven by innovations in tech that investors and building owners and operators are experiencing in the CRE industry today that they haven’t before. This is just one of the many forces driving the tech movement today. I recently had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Minta Kay at TRANSFORM 2019 to chat further about the forces behind the CRE tech revolution, she shared some great insight with me that was also featured in this podcast. Give it a listen here.

5) VTS Announces Awards for Best-In-Class CRE Owners – VTS

Lastly, congratulations to some of our amazing clients, Sage Realty Corporation, Physicians Realty Trust, and DJM Capital for winning the award for best-in-class commercial real estate owners at VTS’ Accelerate Conference! The winners were recognized for their significant transformation of their asset management processes. We are so proud to partner with some of the best CRE companies in the country – congratulations again to the winners!