Tuesday, October 16, 2007

New Trends

The Realcomm/BOMA Technology Survey was broken down into two main categories.


from Realcomm Advisory, September 20, 2006


"Solutions for your Company/Business


When asked which technologies respondents found indispensable and which they found counter-productive, the responses were quite contradictory.
Many said that e-mail was indispensable, while others reported that the volume of e-mail was out of control and that it decreases productivity.


Many rated their Blackberry as critical to their business while others reported them as distracting and providing information overload. These responses are indicative of the conflicting feelings commercial real estate professional have towards technologies that have the ability to make our lives both more efficient and more complicated.
Some of the results were not surprising. Wireless is hot! Cell phones continue to be an essential business tool, with 67% of respondents saying they expect cell phone use to increase over the next two years, and 36% listing cell phones as an indispensable technology. Although from what we have seen in the industry, most commercial office buildings are not yet equipped to support wireless communications indoors.
Landline phone use is decreasing, with only 7% expecting to use them more and 24% expecting to use them less. These results clearly support the global trend of increased dependency on mobile, wireless technologies and less on fixed hardwire communications.
What are the biggest challenges faced in saving time and working efficiently?


(1) Time management
(2) Document management
(3) Internal administrative processes


Various software and technology solutions respondents would use more if they knew more about them:


39% Document Management
34% Space Management
29% Lease Automation
In terms of business solutions for commercial real estate, the most used software and technology applications include:


87% Accounts Receivable/Payable
70% Work Order Processing
61% Property Management Software
55% Lease Administration


These results show that real estate companies are integrating technology in the areas that traditionally have broad applications among many different industries, such as accounting and work order processing -- and that they are also beginning to adopt newer solutions specifically designed for commercial real estate applications, such as property management and leasing software.
In terms of general business solutions, Intranet sites (75%) and contact management software (44%) were listed as primary solutions by respondents, while instant messenger services (20%), video conferencing
(17%) and Internet chat rooms (2%) were listed as business solutions with little or no usage.


Solutions for your Building


Not surprisingly, 86% reported having Internet connectivity of T1 or higher, clearly supporting the increased dependency on high-speed broadband over the last 5-10 years. Perhaps the most astonishing statistic in the entire survey, however, was that 52% of respondents said their building does not have a web site. Most businesses today cannot operate - that is, market, sell, manage, or maintain clients - without a robust web site. Perhaps this indicates that there is a very real need for more education on web-based marketing and business solutions for commercial properties. In other building technology, only 16% said they have interactive touch-screen directories, and a mere 4% have digital signage.
The implementation of technologies for buildings seemed to lag behind internal technologies for business - however, 41% of respondents listed don't know what solutions are available, and 26% listed don't understand the solutions that are available as key challenges in implementing new technologies for their buildings.
But it seems that the number one hurdle in implementing new technologies has little to do with tech know-how, knowledge of available products, or time constraints. 72% of respondents listed funding constraints as the biggest challenge in implementing new technologies. While technology is supposed to help decrease operating expenses and increase productivity, sometimes that initial investment is still getting bumped off the budget. Well-defined ROI models and successful case studies of technology improvements within the commercial real estate industry are needed to overcome the apparent financial obstacles.
One interesting revelation regarding budgeting and purchasing was that the Chief Information Officer or Chief Technology Officer was the second highest response in terms of who is responsible for making decisions on purchasing new technologies, at 20%. Building owners still ranked at the top at 24%, with Property Managers ranking third at 19%. But this clearly supports the growing trend of the decision-making triangle between the owner, property manager, and now the IT department in using technology to help operate and manage our buildings." for more informaion see ; www.houstonrealtyadvisors.com
or www.houstonrealtyadvisors.net
or www.houstonrealtyadvisor.com