What a great conference! One of the best I have participated in - just the right balance between informative sessions and well-organised meetings and networking time. Kudos to the great organisation by CREtech. Kudos also to the real estate companies that are active participants in these discussions and have set clear expectations of how they will lead the transformation of the industry. Leaders spoke with clarity, passion and pragmatism.
Paraphrasing one expert panellist,
"We are slow to adopt new technologies and risk averse but also determined to bring new technology that will improve the performance of our assets and we are rolling out many of these technologies already."
Myth: The UK is still mostly unaware that you don't need IOT/hardware solutions to collect data
This myth is promoted by those that haven't developed software solutions that collect the right granular data directly from each device and do so much faster and more cost-efficiently. This software is available today, is proven globally and is able to deliver in hours not months without new hardware. A sub-myth: by installing this additional data infrastructure into the build you remove the need for future technologies. This has been proven a myth in many of the highest energy efficiency-rated new buildings globally - collection of more data does not equal an efficiently operated building.
Momentum: Real estate investors are now moving quickly to digitally transform their operations for efficiency and performance
Investors covering the largest portfolios in the industry are passionate and determined to make a step change in environmental outcomes. They are reaching out to technology companies to step up and help them. One investor looked at over 1,000 technology companies in the past year alone.
Myth: Investors and owners should become data companies, and acquire the latest technology
In Australia, many went down this very path, spending millions on consulting, digital twins, data lakes, integration layers, AI teams, before finding that this infrastructure was high cost for very meagre returns - sometimes known as the 'App Store Strategy'. A better path focuses on empowering your people - using best-of-breed technology for high-return and speed-to-value. Empowered people, supplemented by the development of an internal analytics capability drives high-value decisions, internal use cases and competitive strategies. In other words, be an empowered user not a builder.
