9 DECEMBER - JANUARYPropTechOutlookmanaging agents. The bifurcation of technology and service roles means that property management firms need to recruit from a wider pool of candidates and from outside the usual real estate sphere, for example, the hospitality sector, design, technology, and the arts. The Digitization of the Sector The continuing evolution of technology will mean increasing adoption of Digital Twins, remote design, monitoring, and control, including VR In this new world, managing agents will be required to act as a conduit between occupiers and owners to ensure alignment of ESG requirements in both directionsThe Climate Challenge It would be impossible to conclude this article without discussing how the climate challenge is set to become the single biggest preoccupation for the sector as we move forward. In this new world, managing agents will be required to act as a conduit between occupiers and owners to ensure alignment of ESG requirements in both directions. All three parties must move in lockstep to achieve the required results, which include the decarbonization journey. With data analytics being the common language between all parties, those using the latest property-related climate tech tools will have an edge. This complicated merger of macro-environmental factors is certainly shaking up the property management industry and the resulting new requirements will be met through a combination of general-purpose technology, sector-focused prop-tech, and a team of people with a customer experience focus. In the future, the role of a property manager will transition into a full-service operator -- for those that are ambitious enough to grasp the opportunity and integrated enough to deliver it. and AR. All solutions that allow more proactive management of sites requires a higher level of technical expertise. AI & ML informs this but is not the outcome. This area supports and helps deliver many of the other factors on this "list", including smarter technologies, frictionless experiences, and proactive management, alongside the ability to pivot spaces into new or mixed uses. It will also require property managers to increasingly compete with technology companies, primarily with respect to people acquisition.Unfortunately, this does mean that reputational and cyber risks will become increasingly prevalent. Reputational risk expands exponentially in a B2C market where one wrong move can be damaging to a brand. Cyber risk is moving up everyone's risk profile as IoT devices increasingly expose fragile and interconnected networks based on old architecture (or new).Managers must ensure staff have high levels of social media awareness and are IT literate, as well as considering wider threat risks (alongside pandemics). As above, this indicates an increasing requirement to recruit specialists.
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