Illuminations series: Real estate rising

Businesses traditionally expect their people to adapt to the workspaces provided.

To win the war for today’s talent, businesses are reversing this thinking. They’re identifying the needs of employees and creating “destination” spaces that cater to those needs.

By doing so, businesses are able to use real estate assets as brand communication channels. Their office spaces, laboratories and manufacturing hubs are seen as ways to showcase their culture, their deep understanding of employees, and the equitable relationships they forge with them.

One practical way businesses are achieving this is by combining central locations with satellite facilities to offer employees unrivaled flexibility and work-life balance.

Once inside those spaces, employees are treated to thoughtfully created experiences. For example, some leaders are fusing traditional approaches to workspace design with the expertise of psychologists and sociologists to gain an even deeper appreciation of how spaces impact employee behavior.

As we discovered in our ‘Is hybrid really working?’ study, 58% of employees still consider their home environment superior for focused work. In this study, more than a quarter cited office noise and inability to focus as a reason to work from home.

Gaining a deeper understanding of how spaces impact employee behavior enables businesses to create new human-centered and personalized experiences that ‘earn the commute.’

The net-result has been driving substantial long-term returns at a time when it’s never been more important for businesses to do so.

The ability to get more insight from data is also helping businesses deliver the ‘street-to-seat’ experiences that employees increasingly expect.

The street-to-seat approach goes beyond thinking about the working experience offered within the four walls of the office, lab or warehouse. Instead, this approach considers end-to- end experiences across both public spaces and workplaces.

AI has brought positive disruption to CRE. 
For example, using machine learning to predict and prevent building maintenance. But there’s a danger in letting the pace of change outpace strategy.

According to our research, 90% of organizations will accelerate investment in AI over the next five years. This is understandable given the sizable benefits on offer.

But a fragmented approach will limit the value and impact you can gain with these powerful technologies.

For example, every day, your buildings generate (or have the potential to generate) millions of valuable data points. These cover how people interact with your spaces, their movement patterns, the energy they consume, and the factors that impact their productivity.

With a coherent approach to AI, you’re able to synthesize these data points to create usable and meaningful insight. This insight will enable you to make the most informed choices about where to make improvements.

Three practical ways to use AI to improve CRE outcomes

The big caveat to creating advantage with AI is getting on top of your data quality. Incomplete datasets skew AI outputs and in the worst cases, introduce bias.

To drive the most value from AI, it’s vital you establish a foundation of complete, current, consistent, and correct data.

We make it easy for your business to get your data ready

for AI without a lengthy tech overhaul. As a strategic partner, we also help you understand how to deploy AI for maximum impact.

Want to explore more about how to best use AI in your CRE strategy? Jump into our deep dive into AI here. →

By focusing on decarbonization efforts, such as improving energy efficiency, you can drive significant improvements in surprisingly short timeframes.

For example, a London-based workspace reduced its electricity consumption by 31% in just five months with JLL’s smart building platform. The move ultimately delivered a 13.8 tonnes reduction in monthly CO2 carbon emissions and more than $15,000 in cost savings per month.

Transitioning to more efficient operating models presents a huge opportunity for real estate decision-makers. Especially as 90% of buildings in the world’s most developed cities are over 10 years old and fall short of today’s energy standards.