Keep up at the back

December 2014

People over complicate technology. There are only three things you need to do: keep up to date, think about the future, and don’t digitise the past. Now how hard is that?

Too hard for many it seems.

Starting with keeping up to date. Each year Remit Consulting conduct a survey of IT use in the commercial property industry; this year the oldest system was 29 years old, literally a lifetime, but even the average of those in use was 10 years old. Just think about that for a moment; the average IT system in use within our industry dates from a time before the iPhone, when broadband was not so broad, Google had only just had its IPO, and Amazon had not even thought of offering cloud computing. This is an eternity in tech, practically a different world.

With so many companies operating age old systems is it any wonder as an industry we fret about the future, rather than embracing it? Advocacy of the central office as critical to any business, eulogising ‘water-cooler’ moments and a reluctance to allow remote working are emblematic of a fear of change.

When technological change was slower it did not matter that developments took many years to complete. The world of work, or retail, pretty much remained the same, so what we built was but an iteration on what was built before. As with the car industry, where today’s Mercedes is not very different to one from five years ago, the trick was a novel tweak, a small embellishment, an eye catching new feature. Today though the analogy holds, but this time the stakes are much higher. The car as we know it is dying, to be replaced by hybrid, then electric, then self driving vehicles. An existential threat looms. And the same applies to commercial property; what we have now, across all sectors, just isn’t designed for the world that is developing. As smartphones become ever more powerful, high speed mobile connectivity becomes ubiquitous and data moves to the cloud, society is being fundamentally disrupted. The way we communicate, interact, learn, work, shop and live is changing. And this is revolution, not evolution.

Which brings me to the last thing you need to do and that is to not digitise the past. That 10 yr old system will not cut it by just being moved to the cloud. Most likely, the way it works, the processes it codifies and the experience it provides to users are no longer good enough. Or rather, they could be made exponentially better by embracing the possibilities of modern technology.

And to those who fear commercial property loses its importance, or worth, in this world, please don’t. Great technology works best in collaboration with great places. They just won’t look the same as they do now.

Antony

PS First published in Estates Gazette December 2014

In retail, who’s the Chicken and who the Pig?

November 2014

Question: In a bacon-and-egg breakfast, what’s the difference between the Chicken and the Pig?

Answer: The Chicken is involved, but the Pig is committed!

This sums up the different attitude towards digital marketing of top-flight retailers and retail property landlords, in particular in the context of shopping centers.

Whilst the best retailers are investing significant sums and re-architecting their business processes to support omni channel commerce, only a few (2?) big retail landlords are showing they understand just how dramatically new technologies are and will disrupt their industries.

Let me give two examples. First, take mobile devices. Phones, Phablets and tablets are now in the hands of 75% of the UK population, and their presence is changing people’s behaviour. Whereas we used to have to sit at our desk to surf the web, nowadays we have it in our pocket, it goes everywhere with us, and we use it to reference just about everything. It is only during working hours that the PC now leads in terms of internet access. Outside of office hours mobile rules.

And that is when people go shopping. Out of office hours. Online and offline.

So why then are the large majority of shopping centre websites so hideous and painful to view on a smartphone? You don’t think they are? Well compare with johnlewis.com, or netaporter or asos or amazon.

Two areas stand out. Admittedly compared to a year ago many of these sites are now at least mobile friendly. However the same lack of attention to detail, in the navigation, in the imagery, in the copy remains. Seldom do I come across a page that does not have text that is unreadable, or images that have not simply been lifted from the desktop site and so are squashed or stretched in some horrible fashion. Almost to a fault navigation is incoherent and ill thought out.

Perhaps worse though is the dullness of content. A list of shops, restaurants, events and a few, usually extremely weak, offers. Almost never do you come across a site that you’ll want to return to. Let alone frequently. I struggle to think what is the point of these sites. More importantly I think the industry is missing a trick, in fact a huge open goal.
A shopping centre encapsulates modern retailing, with the best containing most of the sought after retailers. All the world’s goodies are inside. But instead of being a passive receptacle, why not take the role of ringmaster and guide visitors to the new, the exciting, the unique, the beguiling. It is for the centre to attract me, the customer, to visit by showing me the wonders within. It is for the centre to invest in great content to attract the crowds that their retailers thrive on.

Shopping centres aren’t in the property business anymore, they are in the tech and content business. Most are chickens. We need more pigs.

Antony

This was first published in Estates Gazette 13th November.

In a digital world your UX is your brand

October 2014

MIPIM is arriving in the capital at a propitious time. As the Mayor, Boris Johnson, said at the Conservative Party Conference recently, London is ‘going gangbusters’. For the property industry times are good. Rents are rising, yields are falling and demand is high. Boom, boom, boom.

However, London is more than just a great property market. It is also the epicenter of a growing tech startup scene and perhaps the European capital of design. And whilst TMT businesses are very much talk of the town in property circles, it is in fact our strength in design that has the potential to affect the wider business community the most.

By design though I do not mean what something looks like; design is more fundamental than that. To paraphrase Steve Jobs, design is how something works, not just how it looks.

Understanding this distinction is vital because in a digital world your UX is your brand. The user experience each and every customer, supplier or colleague enjoys in each and every interaction with your company IS your brand. It embodies everything about you, your product, your values, your culture, your worth, your reliability, your fundamental ethos. Put it all together and it is, as Jeff Bezos says, what people say about you when you’re not in the room.

And in a digital world, where bits are more important than atoms, and where people have more choice in where they live or work, and who they work, or shop, or play with, your brand, that essence of you, matters more than ever before. We all want to engage with people we respect, and people we respect engage with us through beautifully designed experiences.

So if I shop with you I want the experience to be designed for my pleasure, not your convenience. If I work with you I want to do so in spaces that are human, engaging and inspiring. If I use your website I want it to be formatted perfectly for the device of my choice, with well thought out navigation and ruthless ease of use. If I am using your software I want the experience to be painless, elegant and to the point.

What I don’t want is messy, dreary shops, dull lifeless offices, clunky websites that are unreadable on my phone or software that is ugly and painful to use.

The great brands of the future will be companies beautifully designed top to toe. By breakingdown corporate silos, tearing technology out of the hands of the IT department and by feeding off the combined intelligence throughout our companies we will build better businesses, products and experiences for our customers.

A beautifully designed company will relentlessly focus on simplicity and ease of use. As Einstein said, everything should be as simple as can be, but no more. Complexity needs to be hidden. Compare the average corporate dashboard with the Google homepage. One has a search box, the other most likely dozens of fields of disparate data stacked on top of each other. Which one gets you to an answer faster? So why doesn’t your corporate dashboard just say ‘What would you like to know’?

There must be a coherence of approach, so everyone understands how your company works. Dealing with your company should be easy for your customer. And the look and feel of interactions should be consistent. Drive one BMW and you can drive them all. That’s how working in or with your company should be.

Above all else perhaps you must set the aesthetic bar very high. A thing of beauty is a joy forever said Keats, and is there any reason why this should not apply in business? There is no need for white text on a green background, or hideous stock photography or page layouts that pain the eye. There is no need for poor or ill thought out design in anything. It’s just a matter of caring and being respectful to your users.

So in summary, before you commission a line of code, decide exactly what it is you are trying to achieve, how you can achieve that goal in the fastest, simplest fashion, and how you can make the journey there as elegant, painless and familiar to your user as is possible.

In other words think of technology as servant to design, not the other way around.

There is much talk at the moment of PropTech, the idea that technology will somehow disrupt the real estate industry, in particular bringing to an end the role of agents in the buying, selling and letting process. Well, this may occur but I doubt it. However what is certain is that companies with beautifully designed technology, that brings more transparency, ease of use and contextual intelligence to the complex interactions involved in real estate will out compete their peers. Too many in property believe it is all about personal relationships whereas in reality it is human insight on top of exceptional technology that will win the day.

And it is design that will bring it all together.

Your UX is your brand. Make it great.

Antony

This was first posted on the @mipimworld blog to coincide with MIPIM UK

Essential tech for property people: Twitter

August 2014

Do you ever mutter ‘information overload’? Or wonder how you can keep up with everything going on around you? Are you inquisitive? Do you think you live in a ‘Filter Bubble’ where everyone you meet and greet is well, just like you. Have you anything to say? Are you a giver or a receiver?

If any of the above is you, then you need Twitter. Simply put, Twitter is how you can filter the internet. It is how you can break out of your existing network and, however big that might be, discover something new, engaging, informative, stimulating, exciting and evocative. Every day.

With Twitter you are in control of what information you receive and who you want to engage with. Unlike Facebook, where they decide (on the unwritten orders of advertisers) what you get to see, with Twitter you decide who you want to hear from. And no one filters your data feed. If someone is interesting you hear it all. If they are dull you just cast them aside.

In a personal capacity you can become stupendously well informed as well as subtly promote your own bona fides. In a business capacity you can hear the unvarnished truth about your brand, as well as support, aid and inform you customers.

Not everyone on Twitter is interesting, but most interesting people are on Twitter. If you’re the later but yet to dive in, do. It’s a fascinating place.

Antony

This post first appeared in Estates Gazette 27th August 2014

Redesigning Property for a digital world

August 2014

Think of it like smartphones; in practice people don’t use them much as phones anymore. They email, they Skype, they social network, they game, they run a myriad of apps to make their life easier, more efficient or more fun. What they don’t do so much is make phone calls. In fact, in the US the average length of a call has halved since 95, to around 90 seconds.

Which is why screen sizes are getting bigger. Used as a phone they look stupid, but as a portable computer screen, bigger is better.

And the same is coming to pass with commercial Property. We’re just not using it in the same way we have done. It’s no longer where our computer is, or where we can access our data. Or where we need to be for meetings. Or where we need to shop. In fact, what is it for?

And that is the point. The Property industry needs to consider the possibility that their product isn’t fit for purpose anymore. Or at least not the purpose it’s been used for for the last 30 years.

Clayton Christensen talks of “disruptive innovation”, where existing companies fail to meet customers’ unstated or future needs and new technology or business models arise that slowly slowly but then rapidly dislodge the existing market leaders. The property industry is largely tone deaf to such innovation and persists in thinking that the way things have been is the way they will be. Look at the mess Tesco is in with its megastores, or the insane over supply of retail space. Or the rotten connectivity even in the newest buildings. These all reflect a failure to grasp
new paradigms in work and consumption.

The property industry needs a new set of skills. It needs people who are attuned to the digital world. Whose mindset is rooted in service. Who believe everything can be done better, faster and cheaper than now. Who look at every touch point with their customers (all occupiers, not just the C suite) and think how they can interact in a more human, dynamic, relevant manner. Who look at technology not as IT but as the enabler of progress. For property (of all types) to remain relevant (and retain/grow in value) the whole industry needs to embrace this digital DNA.

So we need marketing people who tweet and blog, asset managers who monitor social networks, CEO’s who drive digital adoption, finance directors who design new business models, operations people who embrace new technologies, and planners, architects and designers who create new, more appropriate spaces.

Because property is a long term business you need to understand the future. To paraphrase Wayne Gretzky, you need to play where the puck is going, not where it is.

Antony

This post first appeared in Estates Gazette 27th August 2014