June - 20218 PropTechOutlookOPINIONIN MYProptech is the new frontier of real estate that will change the world of work and how people interact with buildings. Technology has transformed the customer experience. Apps, automation, artificial intelligence and mobile connectivity have placed more power in the hands of customers than ever before. Whether they are visiting a bank or buying online, customers now expect an automated seamless experience. In fact, nearly three-quarters of customers say one extraordinary experience raises the bar for their interactions with other companies.Meeting customer expectations is a primary focus of all businesses, but when people spend 90 percent of their working hours in your building, this priority carries extra weight.The 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey, for example, found that 67 percent value a positive work environment over their pay packet. For Millennials raised with technology at their fingertips, this workplace experience is not just about bricks and mortar, but the technology within it too. Property technology, or proptech, is helping the real estate sector embrace true customer-centricity. An estimated $20 billion has been invested in proptech over the last decade, fostering a thriving industry of more than 3,000 companies, according to Realcomm. Another $2 billion has been added to the proptech pipeline in the last year alone, as companies from start-ups to tech titans recognize proptech's potential.Smart building technology is taking around a third of the proptech pie, and Gartner predicts 25 billion Internet of Things devices will be embedded in real estate assets by2021. The global IoT market was worth $150 billion in 2018 and is expected to exceed $1.5 trillion by 2025.By Mark Hansen, Chief Information Officer, DEXUS [ASX: DXS]There are a lot of drivers behind this investment: space optimization and occupant comfort and wellbeing among them. A further driver is energy efficiency. MIT researchers have found that smart, sustainable, and connected buildings attract premiums for both property values and rental income.At Dexus, we are using proptech solutions to improve the sustainability performance of our portfolio and progress our pathway to achieving our ambitious long-term goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. But when staff costs equate to around 90 percent of a company's total operating budget, it's easy to see why efforts that boost workplace productivity and performance attract the most attention.A smart building blueprintWith such rapid growth in the proptech space, the biggest challenge we face at Dexus is the rate of change and separating the gimmicks from the game changers that lift customer experience. Proptech solutions must be highly adaptable to future technologies and changing customer needs. Gartner's latest Hype Cycle illustrates this challenge: most property technologies are either at the peak of inflated expectations or wallowing in the trough of disillusionment. Consider this against a building lifespan which is typically 50-plus years. At Dexus, we meet this challenge by keeping our focus firmly fixed on the longterm. Our smart building blueprint rests on six interconnected pillars: safety, sustainability, productivity, experience, wellbeing, and connectivity. At 100 Mount Street, our new 34-storey office tower in North Sydney, we've combined the latest in smart sensors and Proptech: why it's all about the customer
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