The internet has made the service provider world very different. An amazing number of new business models have come to life that can provide an amazing amount of value if you think through your needs correctly. Being in the commercial real estate industry, this is particularly true.
Data has taken over most industries as the primary coin of the realm. They who possess the most timely and accurate data can name their price. This leads to my biggest concern when working with new companies or tools – understanding their real target customer can be difficult.
In CRE, data is largely generated through three different and distinct parties:
- End users. The companies that actually use and operate the space. They know how many people there are and what they are doing in the space.
- Building owners. They operate the core building services and control the building financials.
- Real Estate service providers/brokers. They market the building and negotiate lease terms.
Only through all three groups can you get a full picture of what is happening. Depending on where you exist in the real estate ecosystem, you have more or less access to the information from these three layers. New technology groups are popping up trying to more clearly paint the picture in each. They often offer tools to the groups in category 1 and 2 with the goal of selling it to category 2 or 3.
End users are the target with some of the most valuable data. Knowing this, it’s worthwhile to watch out for anyone offering you tools to “help solve your problem” while in reality, they are building a tool predominately to leverage your data for someone else entirely. If they can charge both sides of the equation, the technology company becomes the biggest winner.
It’s much like how the general user of Facebook is not their primary customer, the advertisers are.