Page 4 - RC21 EDGE Summer Issue

From the Publisher
OLD MEETS NEW – A HYBRID WORKSTYLE, LIFESTYLE IS HERE TO STAY
IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT IT WILL SOON BE A YEAR
and a half since the United States and the world went into various levels of hibernation caused by the pandemic. This was, by far, the most disruptive global event in modern history. China emerged quickly, while the rest of the world has gone through various extremes of lockdowns and re-openings, struggling to find a solution. Now, with a
high level of Americans being vaccinated there appears to be some legitimate light at the end of the tunnel for the United States.
So, what happened to the Commercial and Corporate Real Estate industry during this hibernation? More specifically, what happened to the Real Estate Tech/PropTech industry? The answer is complicated.
The biggest work and shop from home experiment in the history of mankind took 20 years of a digital transformation trend line and shot it straight up. Even the most resistant executives had no choice but to join the “from home” movement, and over time, created many converts. Today, after many months of behavior modification, there are supporters on both sides of the conversation: “Come back to the office or work from anywhere?”
With people largely absent from buildings, many companies took the downtime to revisit their IT and smart building initiatives and actually got a lot of long-standing projects off the to-do list. One of the areas that flourished was the installation of technology that allowed for buildings to be managed remotely. This was done initially because of the
pandemic but quickly led to the realization that hyper- efficient management resulted in significant cost savings.
What still needs to be reconciled before the Real Estate Technology and PropTech industries can flourish to the next level is determining who will be coming back, when and for how long. Shifting workplace habits and other lifestyle behaviors have fundamentally been accelerated. We cannot unlearn the time and energy savings that
results from not having to commute. We now appreciate the additional hours of family time, the ability to work
from anywhere and the unexpected sustainability accomplishments. All these revelations must be considered while also weighing the age-old benefits of being together, collaborating, sharing ideas, creating relationships and forming friendships. That accidental conversation in the hallway after the meeting will never lose its value.
How long will it be before we truly understand the new normal (or as some are calling it, the “now” normal)?
Will the onsite office work week be five days or shortened to less as a new standard? How flexible will management be? What role will immersive technologies like telepresence and augmented reality play in the hybrid model of the future? If we can create a seamless bridge between the physical office and the digital experience, how will this change the duration and logistics of the traditional workplace environment? How do we strike a good balance of human interaction with hyper-efficiency? We have already seen people participating in remote meetings right down the hall from a co-worker because it’s easier and faster. Can we strategize what the new world will look like and simply implement new ideas, or will we have to go through various iterations of trial and error with real humans involved in the test?
Realcomm recently did our second hybrid event. We attempted to seamlessly integrate those in the room with those “on the digital wall” and to make each person feel that they were an active and equal part of the conversation. We intentionally set the expectation that this was not
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