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Commercial real estate tenants are willing to “put their money where the tech is” according to new data from JLL.
The firm’s 2023 Global Real Estate Technology Survey has revealed that occupiers are ready to shell out for tech-enabled space, with 91 per cent of respondents saying they would prioritise it with available funds.
The survey respondents include over a thousand senior leaders at major organisations across the sectors of technology, manufacturing, finance, professional services, retail, hospitality and government. Over half employ more than 5,000 people globally across Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, the UK and the US.
What they reported is that real estate tech budgets are set to grow faster than investments in headcount, footprint and operating budgets in the coming months and years, as companies look to prioritise their sustainability goals and increasingly rely on their real estate to reduce carbon footprints.
Forty-five per cent of occupiers said they plan to adopt energy/emissions management tech in the coming year.
Moreover, 40 per cent of companies reported they are now using data science and modelling tools to analyse energy use, occupancy and financial costs across buildings, up from 26 per cent last year.
Sharad Rastogi, CEO of JLL’s Work Dynamics Technology, said the responses to this recent survey represent a mindset shift among major corporation leaders, who are increasingly looking to tech to enhance, rather than just carry on their capabilities.
“Organisations are shifting their tech priorities from cost reduction to strategically improving their business,” Mr Rastogi said.
JLL CTO Yao Morin agreed, stating: “Digital transformation in CRE is now advancing so rapidly that decision-makers are leaning more on technology experts to understand how certain innovations can have a business impact and provide good ROI.”
Following sustainability upgrades, respondents indicated that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI are the other areas that might impact their real estate and tech investment over the next three years. Despite this, many reported that they have a limited understanding of how AI might be best deployed to assist their business.
And while most firms are increasingly putting money into tech, the survey showed that as more employees return to the office, the focus for companies is shifting away from remote working tools to in-office collaborative tech. While 40 per cent said they were utilising office-based collaborative tech in 2022, that jumped to 50 per cent in 2023.
Health and wellbeing tech solutions have also risen from 25 per cent to 48 per cent, while immersive workplace technology, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, is one of the top five technologies companies intend to adopt next.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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