Real Estate Technology & Energy

Recently, a building manager asked if the lobby’s existing closed circuit cameras could broadcast images through Shortpath. Yes, certain cameras equipped with the ability to broadcast to an IP address allow web-based viewing. In addition, typical IP-driven software with contemporary security features permit broadcasting of specific cameras to specific individuals. For example, a security guard might be able to see four cameras, a tenant one and a building manager twenty. Viewing lobby activity, watching building staff at work, making sure the front of a building has been cleared of snow or observing a loading dock, the applications are limitless. With the pervasive nature of the Internet, viewing, storing, and accessing data no matter where it resides is possible. So, the questions that come up should not be whether it can be done, but rather what will be achieved and to what effect will the installations have on building security.

New tenants mentioned the desire to see what was going on in the lobby. More specifically, they wanted to observe visitors and authorize their entry without having to come downstairs. Traveling to the lobby and vouching for unexpected visitors was disrupting meetings and was affecting productivity. Based upon what this tenant wanted, quality was not important and the picture could be delayed as much as five seconds. Achieving this solution, not just for this tenant, but also for the entire building would be simple. Once installed a building could turn the image broadcast on and off like a faucet. Tenants desiring the functionality would purchase the broadcast. ie. Property TV.

On the technological side, one of the relevant issues in IP broadcasting and security cameras is the delay. A security incident can take place in as little as two seconds. In fact, a person can commit a crime and run 30 yards in five seconds. So, IP cameras require significant bandwidth in order to broadcast quality digital images in real time and be effective in alerting security guards on premise of suspicious activity. Many buildings already have this bandwidth and have either applied it or could apply it to digital broadcasting. Some of the great reasons to go with digital feeds include price and ease of storage, transfer and search.

Eventually, tenants are going to want access to lobby cameras and other views of the building in order to manage their own security. The nanny cam was merely the beginning, and an accessory that could be included for individuals at work as well. With all the installations of cameras by the Department of Transportation to enforce traffic laws, people’s expectation of privacy is quickly eroding. Larger tenants are looking at new and different ways to control their own security. Increasing the number of background checks, scrutinizing people’s lives, now owners and officers are going to find themselves liable for the safety of their employees and businesses are going to look to their landlords for help. One way to economically deliver this kind of help is through the Internet.

Building on IP technology allows owners to integrate existing systems and augment security as necessary with new technologies as they become more affordable. For residential, tenants can see if the laundry room is busy or whether the freight elevator is in use. For commercial, confirmation of identity or even a look outside at the weather might be of interest. Whatever the application, secure and economical, through cables or wireless, the Internet provides a great delivery system for broadcasting images throughout a building community.

As the word “convergence” slips into our everyday vocabulary, we tend to focus on the “technologies” that maintain and distribute voice and data on a unified network. One of the great by-products of a unified network is the availability of real-time videoconferencing. With the right equipment, businesses are able to converse with and see anyone anywhere. While we are working more and more out of our cars and at home, videoconferencing, if positioned properly, will drive more businesses and people to commercial buildings than ever before. For the commercial real estate industry, a tremendous opportunity is unfolding.

Establishing videoconference centers improves tenant retention, provides an attractive amenity to potential tenants and creates additional revenue. With the price of quality video equipment and installation at an all time low setting up such a center is relatively inexpensive. Based on standard pricing a center usually pays for itself with approximately five (5) hourly rentals a month.

Having compatible videoconferencing centers in several cities would service multi-office clients and their customers. Even if a tenant never uses the building’s videoconferencing capabilities, there is a perceived value in its presence. Similar to the addition of gyms and spas to the newest residential buildings, commercial buildings have begun adding videoconference centers and other technological amenities to differentiate themselves and justify higher rents.

Videoconferencing has been found to be most valuable in bringing two or three groups of people together who are in different cities, typically over 500 miles apart from each other. Over these distances, the savings through videoconferencing becomes readily apparent – travel expenses and time.

The installation and maintenance of phone systems, reliable networks, streaming media and video equipment remains cost prohibitive for the home or for small to medium companies. Bringing together the facets of video, computer data and telecom in real-time requires expert resources and money. Additionally, one needs the critical “know-how” to bring all the necessary pieces together. Typically, tenants or individuals without the resources for implementation rent videoconferencing time at a local studio, multi-purpose facility or even a fellow tenants facility.

For businesses with plenty of resources, videoconferencing has become part of their daily routine. Yet, for the most part, these videoconferencing systems are customized for the specific company’s individual use and remain incompatible with other videoconferencing systems. In some instances the videoconferencing equipment sits idle. An alternative to establishing a videoconference center from scratch is for a landlord to partner with one of the larger tenants, giving them the opportunity to make little used videoconferencing equipment available to their fellow tenants.

New tenants, and small to medium size tenants needing technology solutions will typically rely on these centers as a general technology source. Serving both tenants and building owners, videoconference centers make use of vacant space, create a valuable offering for tenants, and centralize the demand for technology.

Many landlords have thrown out expensive useless work order systems in favor of Shortpath’s online concierge and work order system. If you don’t already have a work order system, why not get an online concierge and work order system at no cost? Similar to the way many landlords provide concierge services to tenants, web-based building systems providers have found new ways to offer their services to landlords and tenants at no cost. If you are paying for concierge services or a “work order management program,” you shouldn’t be.

Formerly, only “high-end” buildings with the right tenants could afford concierge services and work order management programs. Now, with the costs of technology at an all-time low, delivering a no-cost online concierge system to all types of commercial buildings is possible.

Five reasons why buildings use online concierge and work order systems: One, additional services equal higher rents. Two, creating work efficiencies will lower operational costs. Three, monitoring building activity provides landlords and staff more control. Four, storing and maintaining data offsite protects building data in case of an emergency. Five, establishing an online community and aggregate buying opportunity will increase tenant retention among small to medium sized tenants.

Sometimes concierge services are a condition of a lease or a service that is expected, but usually only in commercial buildings with the highest rents. Not anymore. Because the Internet provides a tremendous low-cost distribution channel, concierge services can be delivered to any tenant at zero cost, in a facility-driven format, customized for each location.

Upon greeting the security guard and receiving a pre-printed building pass, potential tenants and brokers immediately know that your building provides additional services to tenants. These online work-order systems can be up and running in less than a week. Tenants enjoy working together to make their building run more efficiently and safer, so long as it’s fun and easy.

Our research indicated that in order to achieve 100% tenant usage throughout a building, the system must provide greater benefits then just online work orders. Bulky complicated work-order systems that tenants don’t use are worthless and really end up being more work for the staff. Instead of tenants placing work requests through the system, they are using the telephone. Engineers, security guards and handymen become typists and tenants are still waiting for service while the building staff is typing. That is not the way to run a building.

Some landlords have forced these expensive systems on both their staff and tenants and hurt their operating budget in the process. Quickly, property managers discover that less than half the tenants find the system useful, more staff is required to run the system and anytime they bring in a replacement, the replacements have no idea what to do. Moreover, the wireless functionality is unnecessary, susceptible to breakdown, doesn’t work everywhere and remains unnervingly expensive. Tenants don’t care who changed the light bulb and how fast, they only care that it gets changed.

Ask office managers whether they would rather have a building system that can place an order for a carpet shampoo or for discounted tickets to Hairspray, and ninety-nine times out of one hundred, they are going to request the tickets. I know. I did the survey. Funny, the person who didn’t want the tickets to Hairspray would have chosen tickets if it was for the Yankees.

How does a company provide an online work-order system and concierge at no cost? Our company has modeled our offering and the delivery of our product after the entertainment industry. We find a sponsor or a few sponsors to help us with the costs of running the system for each building. Office supply companies, messenger companies, car services, telecom providers, printing companies, and sometimes ticket brokers all sponsor Shortpath’s concierge system for each building, thereby providing a system at no cost to tenants or the landlord. With the advent of the combination online concierge and work order system, tenants can get the benefits of a work order system, something that is easy to use along with the amenity of tremendous savings and services. The work-order system should be able to run at no cost to the building.

Almost all tenants use email and the Internet everyday. Some use it as a secondary communication system. The more advanced are establishing virtual private networks, storing information off-site in managed servers and/or conducting the bulk of their business through a secure ASP. The drive to technological improvement, in many instances, is sparked by a growing need to save (through realized efficiencies and accountability) and/or to improve customer experience. The real estate industry is no different. With installation of visitor access systems and building portals, owners and managers are utilizing technology to increase operating efficiencies and improve their tenants’ experience.

Why web-based access control systems? Over the course of the last few months, individual fears have begun giving way to a lasting mindfulness of a strengthened community and a shared experience. New technologies continue to be offered to protect us throughout the day. Sharing daily travels, we see new security cameras peering at us, we walk through turnstiles and/or get our magnetic cards read like a cereal box at the supermarket. Usually placed in the hands of guard services and monitoring companies, these solutions tend to focus on identification and surveillance. An expectation exists that these systems and the people operating them serve to protect the building and its tenants. However, which visitors and delivery trucks are allowed access to each building is ultimately the tenant’s responsibility.

Confusion and delay are often the norm as guards monitoring the lobby attempt to decipher which visitors actually have permission to enter a building. Rather than focusing on security cameras and looking for suspicious behavior, lobby personnel are busy directing traffic. Important visitors are forced to wait, lines form, and tempers flare. Since the Internet is a common thread running through almost every tenant, a web-based access system creates the opportunity to maintain order and efficiency as a team. Bringing together community and responsibility, web-based access systems and building portals foster a collective awareness. Tenants, empowered by technology, take part in their own safety and security.

With the introduction of the Internet, building portals and access systems thought first to be ancillary now provide the cornerstone of developing each building’s natural community and shared experience. Using a building portal as the collective nervous system of every building, individual tenants can together manage the livelihood of their community. The power of keycard systems, surveillance cameras and other scanning devices managed by one web-based platform, allow tenants to participate in the egress and ingress of employees, visitors, vendors and strangers. People arrive on time, instead of being herded towards an unknowing lobby desk waiting to find out whether they will be allowed entrance. A well-designed system must be user-friendly enough for all tenants and building employees. Training should be simple and inexpensive.

How does it translate off-line? Take a look at two different scenarios. Scenario #1; after a potential tenant just waited three minutes in the lobby trying to get a visitor pass and access to the appropriate floor, the leasing agent attempts to show the space. Meanwhile, the only thing on the potential tenant’s mind is what his legal bill will add up to when his $350 per hour attorney is forced to wait in the lobby. Scenario #2; the leasing agent prior to visiting the building logged into the building portal and created a visitor pass for the customer. When the customer arrived the pre-printed pass is given to him as he is directed to the appropriate elevator. He is greeted on the floor by the agent and shown the space. No lines, no hassles.

Clearly, the biggest issue facing building security is vendor access. Trucks carrying everything from office supplies to water are arriving at loading docks every day. What precautions, if any, can be taken to ensure that these visitor/strangers are not arriving with malicious intent? Many buildings use their security force to check delivery slips, the drivers and the contents of each truck. Even so, for some buildings the amount of traffic makes it virtually impossible to be completely thorough. Using a web-based portal and access system to track and record expected deliveries aids in securing each building. Taken a step further, if as a building community, tenants only used vendors that complied with the building’s access control system, traffic in the building would at least diminish to manageable.

Connectivity is commonplace, web-browsers are pervasive, and almost everybody has email. The real estate industry is poised to make sweeping changes in the way it deals with tenants and their concerns. For obvious reasons, those building owners who are spending money on new technologies are investing in solutions that augment existing security. Using the web will ultimately succeed in making these investments more than worthwhile. A comprehensive system combining access control, building information and vendor management in one easy-to-use centralized application provides the only truly universal solution that will meet the demand of the times.

Using an existing Internet connection, building operators/owners can transform a lobby into a WiFi public access point generating roaming and network fees from WiFi aggregators. WiFi (short for “wireless fidelity”) is the popular term for a high-frequency wireless local area network (WLAN). WiFi aggregators sell monthly connectivity to consumers for access to their publicly available WiFi access points, similar to the way AOL, Earthlink and NetZero sell monthly dial-up service to its consumers. According to recent TV coverage, articles in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, WiFi, is going to be everywhere, and everyone will become a subscriber. In many ways WiFi mirrors the earlier prospects of broadband, but without the worries associated with potential industry upheaval and service disruption.

There is a distinction that must be made between private and public use of WiFi technology. Private wireless networks can be set up for home or office using WiFi. It allows IT administrators to set-up networks without wires thereby avoiding substantial cabling costs and eliminating the headaches associated with managing hundreds of wired connections. A laptop with “Bluetooth” or a wireless card can be carried around the home or office and may access other computers or the Internet from anywhere within range (typically 150 feet) of the access point. This is great for mobility within the office and intra-office collaboration. With transfer speeds for data between 5kpbs and 11kbps, WiFi is speedy enough to browse the Internet, perform typical networking tasks and retrieve emails. Companies have used this technology to set-up networks with offices that span two different buildings or on different floors of the same building.

The public use of WiFi has revenue generating potential, or can be offered for “free”. Once connected wirelessly to the public access point, WiFi allows anyone with a WiFi enabled PDA or Laptop access to email or the Web. Imagine tenants riding the elevator, passing by on the sidewalk or standing in the lobby with their PDA checking an email from a customer, sports scores, or the financial markets. As a public access point operator, you can either provide it free or to WiFi users at a monthly cost. To comprehend the potential user-base, understand that the majority of laptops from Dell and IBM are shipped with WiFi hardware included.

For private-use, the problems that WiFi present are two-fold. The first is security and the second is interference. Unless adequately protected, a WiFi wireless LAN can be susceptible to unauthorized users. As for interference, the 802.11b (Wi-Fi) technology operates in the 2.4 GHz range, the same radio wave spectrum as cordless phones, household appliances, and garage door openers. The same static that you here on a cordless phone also may cause data transfer loss.

The good news is that the above problems can easily be addressed. Given good technological know-how, security concerns can be avoided with firewalls and encryption techniques. Also, interference can be significantly managed with the latest innovations. These concerns are immaterial in operating a public access point. Much like with the use of cell phones, people have reasonable expectations regarding interference and security. While it may seem complicated, a properly managed WiFi enabled network can be set-up inexpensively and easily. A well-trafficked location with a WiFi access point may instantly become a substantial source of revenue.

Similar to owning the land rights to a cell tower, a building owner can operate a public WiFi access point and receive a portion of roaming fees with larger WiFi user-aggregators like Boingo, Joltage, Ipass or Gric. At this point, we are in the infancy of the WiFi industry, and its impossible to predict which WiFi user-aggregators will exist five years from now. But unlike broadband providers, the WiFi companies don’t actually provide the service, the access point operators do. So long as the building maintains its access point, there can be no disruption of service. More than likely, the corporate transactions in this industry will be similar to the consolidation of ISPs like Earthlink and Mindspring, or Juno and NetZero where there were no service disruptions. These aggregating companies (Boingo, Joltage, IPass, Gric) will consolidate their subscriber-bases with the larger wireless providers like ATT, Verizon, Nextel or Cingular.

Businesses will be unlikely to depend solely on the building’s WiFi to operate their networks; that would be the equivalent of running a business’ entire phone system on cell phones. If the building’s public access point was actually down for a day or two, the only loss will be lack of roaming fees. Some small offices in the building may use the WiFi access instead of installing a costly T-1 line. This obviously has a negative impact on a building’s broadband provider, but the net result is a happy tenant saving money and possibly generating money for the access point operator, the building.

Being a complete technology solution for buildings, Shortpath along with its work order and visitor management system offers WiFi public access point installation and management. Third-party aggregators and Shortpath can assist in attracting traffic to building operators with each installation. Currently, the revenue typically tops out at about $2,000 per month even in the best locations, but once the larger wireless providers enter the WiFi world, these numbers will escalate considerably. Once the access point is installed, people will know about it and begin to use it. With connectivity already present on the ground floor of a building, WiFi virtually costs nothing to install and nothing to operate. In this soon to be WiFi industry, traffic equals revenue. Owning an access point that people know about and use is the key.