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What trends do you see having the tion. Being able
most impact on the industry over to apply RPA or
the next three years and why? an automation
system to those
Short term, I think Blockchain will tasks would not
have a big impact. We’re starting only improve the
to see a lot more movement there, turnaround time,
especially in the real estate industry. but also the qual-
Once people get comfortable with ity of the output.
the Blockchain methodology and We’ve standard-
disassociate it from Bitcoin (they’re ized enough
two different things) we’ll see more processes where
adoption. Title companies will be we are now see-
able to transact more quickly through ing many manual
Blockchain, not to mention automat- steps being elim-
ing lease transactions, improving inated. An activity that once took five but not before we figure out the regu-
receivables collection and bill pay- days now takes three—and will even- latory issues. I think it’s going to stall
ments. Blockchain will eliminate the tually only take one. Using these tools at the federal level and it will take a
middlemen and even provide better to automate many of the back-office long time before there’s widespread
security. Once it’s established, I think tasks will free up our employees to use. You’ll see it happening in some
that’s going to be a big game-changer. focus on higher level, more valuable cities and states, but not others; on
strategic activities. We’re piloting in some campuses and universities, but
Another trend I see growing is pro- 2018, with the hope it turns out to be not others. I think the technology will
cess automation and RPA (Robotic as valuable as we anticipate. be available, but the regulations and
Process Automation). We all have the required compliance will be an
many processes with manual steps Longer term, I see autonomous vehi- issue well into the future.
that require significant human interac- cles having an impact on our industry,

CHANDRA DHANDAPANI

CHIEF DIGITAL & TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, CBRE

Chandra Dhandapani is Chief Digital & Technology Officer at CBRE, the world’s
largest commercial real estate services and investment firm. The company has
more than 80,000 employees and serves real estate investors and occupiers
through more than 450 offices worldwide. Chandra has responsibility for all
aspects of the company’s digital strategy, technology infrastructure and digital
enablement, from core infrastructure and information security to innovative
product development. Prior to joining CBRE, she was a senior digital transfor-
mation leader and technology executive at Capital One Financial for 17 years.

What major technology projects were you involved with last year?

In partnership with our Head of Strategy, I led a comprehensive strategy
exercise across our lines of business and our three regions, Americas, EMEA
and APAC on potential risks and opportunities due to digital innovation. We
concluded that for CBRE, digitally enabled opportunities significantly exceed
disruption risk. This resulted in identification of distinct priorities for digital
enablement across the board that we are now executing on.

The most exciting project for us in 2017 was creation of the CBRE 360 plat-
form to digitize user experiences in offices and the multi-tenant facilities we

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