Tenant Experience

Creating a sense of community and culture within your building or corporate company is key to tenant experience. A report by Deloitte discovered that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct workplace culture is important to business success.

Consider utilising a breakout area for weekly events, such as talks by interesting guest speakers, or wellness events such as yoga or tai chi. You could also hold regular networking events to connect tenants. It could even be open to the public, so potential future tenants can enjoy the space and get a taste for the sense of community within the building. You could provide this space for free to attract better tenants willing to pay more per sqft or you could even consider monetising it through a smart community app.

Traditional real estate providers are now offering flexible spaces and shared services alongside their traditional long lease terms to tap into new revenue opportunities. Providers can attract new tenants that require flexible terms such as freelancers and small businesses. through better amenities and services, that can even be connected through a tenant experience app that allows users to book events, spaces and even connect with other users, a premium price can be applied.

The rise of smart technology in buildings has upped the game in tenant experience, with solutions such as smart lighting control, occupancy sensors and building operations such as HVAC and security can now be automated and controlled digitally. Heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems can also be controlled through smart building tech, creating optimal air quality and reducing inefficient and outdated processes. Tenants could even be able to access the building using their smartphone by connecting building access control to a dedicated building app.

Building emissions from gas, electric, water, waste can all be tracked and reduced through smart building solutions. Bearing in mind that buildings account for 40% of all energy consumption and 70% of all electricity consumption, there’s a huge opportunity for not only significant cost-savings, but for the impact on the environment if adopted on a mass scale. 42% of tenants consider the environmental impact of a building important when making a rental decision, so it’s fundamental to consider your building’s consumption to attract and retain new tenants.

As well as the obvious benefits that the technology offers to the tenant experience, an app will usually have an analytics section, with a wealth of data that can be tapped into. Tracking user activity through data insights, and access to data which will allow you to make quicker and smarter decisions based on facts rather than hunches. The large function room is only being booked 5% of the time? Consider making use of the unused space. The weekly yoga class is always full? Have a more frequent schedule.

District Tech is a leading provider in tenant experience software, offering both plug & play and completely white-labelled apps, providing a frictionless experience for tenants in leading commercial real estate buildings and corporations. Companies including Blackstone, LaSalle and JP Morgan Assets have partnered with District Tech in their efforts to provide what modern tenants desire.

With tenant retention being key to commercial building profitability, it’s no surprise that property teams in commercial real estate are spending as much as half of their time focused on improving tenant experience, according to Propmodo.

With today’s modern tenant having higher expectations than ever before, and fewer ties than ever before with the rise of flexible space, the competition is truly on for commercial real estate providers and corporate companies when it comes to attracting and retaining great tenants and talented employees.

It’s no surprise that leading providers are now incorporating technology through the use of smart building technology and tenant experience software to ensure they can offer a premium experience and utilise their building more efficiently.

Smart building trends will continue to see a rise in the use of technology balanced with a thoughtful offline experience. Smart buildings will become the new norm, much like smartphones are smart TVs already are today. As digital natives become an increasing percentage of the workforce, smartphone-enabled features and amenities will become an intrinsic part of smart building infrastructure.

Buildings will be intuitive, such as lifts predicting the floor it’s needed to be on based on past behaviours, and energy management that adapts to the occupancy of the building. In an article by Raconteur, WeWork’s Andy Heath discusses data optimised workplaces: “Offices will become far more customisable based on people’s data,” he says. “An office will track my location and adjust preferences to suit me. After lunch, the temperature where I am sat might drop by a degree and the blinds may go up slightly to wake me up, creating my optimum work environment.”

Today, you’ll struggle to hear the words ‘commercial real estate’ without hearing ‘coworking’. In the last few years, coworking and the rise of flexible space have redefined commercial real estate.

The number of coworking spaces worldwide is projected to reach 25,968 by 2022 – that’s a 42% increase from 2019 alone. 96% of private sector companies in the UK are micro-businesses (have less than 10 employees). So it should come as no surprise that coworking continues to rise in popularity. But, coworking is no longer dominated by freelancers and startups. IBM, Amazon and Facebook are some of the large corporations with offices in flexible spaces such as WeWork.

The rise in co-working is testament to the importance of community in the workplace. Many people are turning to co-working facilities not only for flexibility but for the ability to collaborate with others. Plus, co-working operators like WeWork will typically make use of coworking software platforms, allowing users to book events, spaces and even connect with other users through an app.