Prop-Tech: Future-proofing property

Despite this, the built environment has been historically slow to adopt new technologies. Now, this is changing. The pandemic has accelerated a second digital revolution: unparalleled since the dot-com boom of the early 2000s.  

Prop-tech is the integration of technology and software to assist in real estate needs. A recent report by Deloitte indicates that 92% of CRE executives plan to maintain or increase prop-tech investments in the next 18 months. 

Prop-tech provides smart solutions to daily property problems. With the digital transformation of brick-and-mortar, buildings become smart buildings. 

Because buildings are not just bricks – they are data too. And once this data is harvested, connected, and utilised, buildings get better.  

Prop-Tech perks 

IoT and sensor technology provide buildings with real-time data and analytics. Multiple granular data points are generated to better monitor and understand how a space is used. Property portfolios can then be optimised, and cost savings pocketed.  

Prop-tech also enhances safety and security – through access control, occupancy management, smart lockers, temperature sensing, room ventilation and much more. Big data becomes thick data. IoT and cloud migration across a prop-tech stack ensures all data is reliably accessible, anywhere. 

Moreover, prop-tech drives sustainability. Buildings are inefficient: 30% of energy consumed in workplaces is currently being wasted. By understanding where we’re being wasteful – through sensors and data streams – there are serious gains to be made.  

Smart solutions take the burden off building managers and occupants in creating a healthy, flexible, and secure environment. By improving a building’s physical security posture, managing information flow, enhancing sustainability and occupant experience – these technologies will make buildings more efficient and profitable. Win-win-win. 

Here’s some of our top prop-tech picks: 

1. Density – the world’s most accurate people counting platform is anonymous by design and provides real-time occupancy data 

2. Kaiterra – award-winning air-quality monitors with unique modular design  

3. Proxy – provides mobile-first, touchless access   

4. Vpod – automates the routine through smart lockers and digital visitor management 

5. Alcatraz AI – frictionless access control powered by AI 

Future-proofing 

Today, the most connected and future-proofed buildings offer more than a managed fibre backbone. Prop-tech is entering the mainstream.  

Occupants want technology that makes them more productive and helps to build a healthy, engaged workforce. Landlords want to optimise space usage and sustainability, while understanding what their people enjoy in the workplace.  

Increasingly, we will see CRE developers asking how they build a building around technology, rather than the other way round. The smartest of spaces will fuse the best of digital and physical: building a “phygital” ecosystem.