Commercial real estate (CRE) directors are moving beyond traditional industry drivers and increasing emphasis on outsourcing services aimed at enhancing human experience through technology.
The move is a clear indication that enterprise human resources and IT departments are poised to play a transformative role in the delivery of CRE services in coming years.
More than 45% of commercial real estate directors indicated that they expect CRE to increase collaboration with HR and IT departments in the next three years, according to the results from JLL’s Future of Work survey.
The global survey captured the views of 561 commercial real estate directors from 30 nations across a range of industries from banking, telecom, healthcare, retail manufacturing and others.
Outsourcing of highly specialized CRE services
Forty-one percent of directors indicated that they currently outsource CRE services and additional 30% stated that they plan to increase looking outside of their organizations for real estate services.
While the news bodes well for CRE providers, clients’ expectations surrounding CRE services will significantly change to a more specialized and tech-centered approach according to Dr. Marie Puybaraud, global head of research at JLL Corporate Solutions.
As demand for outsourcing in areas such as energy services, lease administration, facilities property management, transaction management, and construction rises client requirements are shifting to areas with highly-specialized activities.
The survey also found that despite the increased interest in outsourcing services, 65% of C-suite executives indicated they felt that existing relationships with the commercial real estate industry could be strengthened.
The reason for the disconnect may be the shift in client motivations which are changing from traditional drivers such as cost-savings, labor arbitrage, high-quality services and technical expertise to workplace productivity, data-driven decision making and employee experience.
As more corporate executives outsource services to external partners it is creating a need for upskilling CRE real estate teams particularly in data analytics, workplace productivity and employee experience according to Puybaraud.
“New value drivers are emerging and explaining why we are seeing a shift to a new set of skills, said Puybaraud. “High-tech technology is a top investment priority among and along with elevating employee and human experience.”
The survey found that more traditional CRE roles were being replaced by jobs such as human experience designers, space planners, AI experts and IoT engineers when participants were asked whom they would include in the CRE dream team of the future.