The PointGuard team is coming off a busy June Conference season. We recently exhibited at both Realcomm | IBcon in Nashville, Tennessee and BOMA International Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.
This year, Realcomm | IBcon centered around “REcalibrate,” understanding how the changing, increasingly tech-focused world can and will change every organization. CREtech/Proptech, Data, and Tech.Talk were key session themes that we enjoyed attending, and many of the pre-con events, including The Smart Building Integrator Summit at which I spoke, kept innovation in the built environment front and center.
The BOMA Convention and Expo provided us the opportunity to speak directly to building owners and mangers who were looking to explore the latest innovations in real estate management. Sunday’s Keynote addressed the impact of technology on the built environment, especially considering the importance of buildings as spaces that we all occupy daily.
Both conferences were well attended by thought leaders, owners, managers, and experts in commercial real estate, building technology and software solutions, and BIoT. We were excited to not only talk with current and potential customers, but to also learn from the wealth of knowledge at both conferences.
So what did we learn?
FOMO. Fear of missing out is real and has hit the built environment. We found that the themes and conversations happening around these conferences indicate that everyone in the built environment fears missing out on two things: millennial talent and occupant experience and amenities.
Technology has become a constant presence in our daily, hourly, and minute-ly interaction with the world. This is especially the case for the millennial and younger generations that are now entering the workforce. We believe tech-forward leadership must lead the future, otherwise organizations large and small can expect to miss out on millennial talent. This is especially the case with facility management where there are more people working over the age of 55 than under the age of 30.
Occupant experience too has the potential to lead facility and property managers to fall victim to a fear of missing out. Tenant amenities and the curated tenant experience while living, working, and playing in the built environment have increasingly become a central focus. Building owners and managers are competing with other buildings for the latest in occupant experience, which incudes everything from added benefits to building community, as well as occupant comfort.
For facility management, tenant comfort is a key indicator for tenant retention, even more so than added amenities. The same is true for employee retention; tech-focused workplaces and tenant-tailored spaces are coming and will be a driving force in the competition for tenants and employees.
Overall, we were excited to be having these conversations over the past few weeks; and we are looking forward to the future of this industry and our place in it.
