“So what?” might be my favorite professional question that other people find incredibly annoying.
It also happens to be a question many real estate data and technology companies are hearing frequently from their customers. There seems to be a growing problem that comes from a world where much more occupancy data exists: companies are struggling to take that data and convert it into a story that drives change or strategy.
I love the concept of data storytelling. The steps in making data-driven decisions involve more than just analysis:
- Collect data
- Figure out what the data really means
- Analyze the data
- Find some trends and key metrics
- Reevaluate everything when you find the trends don’t hold up over all views
- Deep dive into the data to understand it thoroughly
- Build up a story that explains the behaviors that lead to the data
- Create a list of opportunities that these behaviors indicate are realistic and beneficial
- Build on your story to incorporate where things were, where things are, and where things are going
A lot of companies have been jumping with both feet into step 1. They have rolled out new tools that have given them access to all kinds of new data. They are now getting into steps 2, 3, and 4 with the goal of getting to step 7. Many of these companies are learning about the difficulties of data that describes human behavior.
Occupancy data is most directly a measure of “was a space occupied?”. But, realistically, it is a measure that someone made a decision to come into the office, choose that desk, stay for some period of time, and maybe move in and out of that desk during their time at the office. For what is “basic” real estate data, it contains quite a bit of potential nuance depending on how you choose to use it. This data only gets more complicated as you look at conference rooms, collaboration spaces, amenities, or other specialty spaces around the workplace.
When you have a lot of data that is not resolving into a clear story, it is natural to ask your vendors “so what?” about all of the data you have coming in from then. You are paying a lot of money for a system that is giving you all the data you ever wanted, but the data is not doing anything but sitting in dashboards and systems.
The challenge then becomes that the people great at building hardware and software are often different from the people who help build strategies. Data analysts are not usually storytellers. Storytellers are not often great at the technology. Each of these areas came up through different types of environments with different experiences.
We are at an inflection point where there is a lot of leveling up happening across real estate teams. There is the need for new skills, new capabilities, and new understandings but all of it shaded by real estate realities. Real estate is not like other functions. It is harder with more confusing data and operations. The math involves more statistics and not just algebra.
Back to the “So what?”. This new world means that the company giving you data is likely not in a position to build the story about what that data means. They cannot know your politics or how your teams tend to work or the history that led to why the workplaces are the way they are. This is a different skillset.
There are no shortcuts to the steps above. Skipping steps only makes it more likely that your story and direction are missing critical components that will lead to heartaches and difficulties down the road. To do everything you need to answer “so what” requires building a team (in-house, vendors, partners, SMEs, consultants, etc) of:
- In-team managers
- Data collectors (hardware, software, or people counters)
- Data analysts
- Experts in your company’s culture and what that means to workplace
- Project managers that can assess project opportunities and deliver them
- Program managers that can wrap everything up into a plan
- Real Estate/Workplace strategists that look to what is possible internally and externally
The team that comprises this set of roles will vary by organization. Many of these will be hats worn by the same person, but which hats are shared will depend on your team.
Where you have a gap in skills, that is where the hard decisions will lie in determining how to close the gaps.
There are no shortcuts in figuring out what comes next for your real estate strategy.