Property outlook: Technology driving workplace efficiency, satisfaction and experience

Smart technologies will play a key role in enhancing the workplace for Australian real estate businesses, according to JLL’s Future of Work Survey 2022.

JLL’s latest global research has provided a clear roadmap for Corporate Real Estate (CRE) technology investment. This is shaped around 15 identified anchor technologies which companies’ future technology investments will be aligned to in order to achieve strategic goals such as sustainability and employee wellbeing.

By 2025, most companies (78%) plan to have incorporated over 10 of the anchor technologies in their operations, with 40% planning to implement all 15.

JLL’s Head of Asset and Digital Development, James Peterson, said, “The transformative power of technology to accelerate changes in a dynamic-working model has been very evident over the last two years.

“In response to the pandemic, organisations tell us they have made recent investments focused on providing the tools that will facilitate remote working and collaboration across a dispersed workforce, and there is a consensus among them that technology will be one of the most powerful drivers of work efficiency, workforce satisfaction and workplace experience.”

Currently, the top anchor technologies in place are remote-working technology (47% of companies surveyed), in-office collaboration (40%) and work-place apps (36%).

However, sustainability technologies to improve environmental performance is the number one anchor technology that most companies (60%) are looking to adopt. This is followed by improvements in building connectivity or digital infrastructure (58%) and sensors to monitor space and workplace performance (58%).

“We anticipate a significant adoption of smart technologies – such as those that will monitor space and workplace performance and provide real-time data about occupancy – and predictive technologies that will automate facilities management and maintenance decision-making,” Mr Peterson said.

Across both areas, 56% of organisations surveyed by JLL anticipate implementing them over the next three years.

As a result of JLL’s analysis and research, the company has co-created ‘JLL Services on Demand’, an Uber-style app allowing tenants in JLL-managed buildings to leverage JLL’s scale of contractors to seek quotes and engage one-off or recurring services such as cleaning, electrical and handy maintenance work.

JLL is also in the process of finalising ‘JLL Spaces on Demand’. This will be a similar shared economy marketplace to match and book available base building or tenants’ spaces such as pop-up retail sites, meeting rooms, auditoriums or car space with other tenants within the JLL-managed  portfolio and in some cases extended also to the general public.

JLL’s Head of Property Management – Australia, Richard Fennell, said: “In the past two years, we have witnessed a rapid acceleration of many trends identified in our earlier 2018 Future of Work Survey. This includes the large-scale adoption of dynamic and flexible working, the growth of workplace technologies to support CRE functions in managing these new workstyles, and increased investment to bolster environmental sustainability goals.

“While once upon a time the occupier and investor/landlord were quite disparate and operated in a silo from each other, this has changed and we are now seeing them come together with the aim  of producing a collective hoteling-style outcome for their joint customer – the worker.

“JLL is focused on ensuring buildings within our managed portfolio have a clear Smart Building Transitional Pathway in place to consider how and when the base building systems and controls should be upgraded, have their protocols opened, networks converged and secured to provide investors and tenants comfort that by owning and occupying these buildings, progressive sustainability, operational and financial targets can be met.”

JLL’s Service on Demand and Spaces on Demand apps have been specially designed to address the specific needs of investors and tenants.

“Investors and tenants alike are sharing with us that they want to focus on what’s core to them with the flexibility of accessing additional services and space on demand. They also what to know how their real estate can work harder for them – ideally in the form of a secondary economy for underutilised space,” said Mr Fennell.