Get your smart workplace program off on the right foot!
I bet you’ve got a long list of Proptech companies calling you up telling you they have the exact product, tool or technology to do what you need in your workplace or office portfolio.
Am I right? I bet I am.
I’m going to share 5 tips that will help you not only filter through the noise, but also put you on the right track to making sure the direction you begin on to creating a portfolio of smart workplaces, has the most chance of giving you long term success.
There is a lot of noise in the Proptech market right now and with the advice below you’ll be able to filter out a lot of the static and chart right path forward for your organization.
1: Not having a portfolio-level plan
Many organizations fail to have a portfolio-level plan for the technology they have or are about to deploy. This isn't a portfolio-level plan for the actual deployment. This is a plan that clearly spells out the capabilities you are looking to achieve, the processes you are looking to automate and ultimately, the Return-on-Investment (ROI) for the cost of acquisition and deployment of the tool or technology you are investing in.
Having these goals clearly identified up front, and using them to benchmark and compare the products, technologies and services your being offered against, it one of, if not the most, important step in the entire process.
2: Adopting integrated technology stacks of start-ups
Be aware of the risks that exist in deployment integrated hardware and software solutions offered from a single vendor, especially if they are a smaller or early-stage start-up. This isn't because these products aren't good, in many cases they do great things. But my history in the IT industry has taught me, companies that try to do everything in a complex market, end up doing a pretty average job of each individual component. Especially over time.
There’s also inherent risk, given their size and the number of PropTech companies entering the space right now, of corporate failure. If you’ve bet your portfolio on a single horse, especially if you’ve invested the time and money to deploy their proprietary hardware out into your environment, their failure as a company could put your smart portfolio program back to square one.
3: Not being aware of the baggage of long-established market players
Organizations that have been in the building automation space for many years often have 2 masters to serve.
They have long established deployments of systems that are typically optimized for single-vendor end to end solutions, often using proprietary protocols and interfaces. The traditional Busing Management System (BMS) market approach was to create closed eco-systems and to lock each building into a single vendor as much as possible, so you continued to buy service, product and support from one place.
While these companies have all taken steps into launching what they are calling more open and interoperable platforms, they still have a need to continue to develop and support interoperation with all the legacy product they have deployed in the field, as these customers are some of their highest margin generators.
This causes a dilemma when it comes to innovation investment.
If I've got $1 to invest on innovation, do I spend it on adding support, or in some cases, continuing to support some legacy devices a large customer has deployed and has asked for the platform to support, or do I invest it in adding support for some newer technology or innovation, that some newer clients might like to see.
This is a very common reason why it takes the newcomers to the market to bring innovation. They don’t have any legacy to protect. And if you don’t have a portfolio where you are carrying all that legacy baggage to begin with, you might ask yourself, whether wedding yourself to a platform that does, is right for you.
4: Being afraid to pilot
You don’t know what you don’t know until you get started! Deploying workplace technology isn't like building a building. You don’t have to get it right on the first go round. It’s ok to fail.
Once you know what you’re trying to achieve (see #1 above) don't go into analysis paralysis on what products you need to achieve your goal. If you don't know where to start, that’s where people like me can help, but give yourself the space to be able to try something and if it doesn't do what you expected, swap it out for something else and try again.
Even better, run parallel programs with different hardware or software across different locations and work out which best fits your needs.
This is also where bringing a 3rd party to the table can really help. Working directly with the vendors is great, but during a pilot, they're never going to tell you flat out they can’t do what you need. It’s counter to their interests.
The same goes for working with 3rd parties that actually have a vested interest in the company you’ve engaged them to help you implement.
“Follow the money”… as the saying goes.
5: Not bringing IT to the table early enough
Yes, IT can be a pain in the …. I know. I’m from that world and IT is even a pain for me.
But what I can guarantee you is, especially as you try to move on to an enterprise-wide deployment of a solution, not bringing them along on the journey from the start, is only delaying your pain.
Getting them on board early, making sure they understand your goals, why you are doing it and having them at least informed along the way, will help avoid them slamming the breaks on your project when they’re surprised about all this ‘stuff’ they’ve never heard of you’re putting on ‘their’ network.
The last thing you want is to get caught up in 6 months of IT security reviews just right when you're ready to go broad with your deployment and really start getting the value you’ve been seeking.
I go into greater detail on all these topics in a dedicated episode of Creating Smarter Spaces here. There’s also a bonus tip at the end of the podcast you’ll want to listen in for, so be sure to grab it now!
