Why the right tech is critical to retaining tenants in today’s market

Despite recent signs of recovery, office markets across the UK, and in London especially, are struggling to lure employees back to offices in the same numbers as pre-pandemic. What’s more, many companies are shifting to smaller offices to adapt to an increasingly hybrid way of working. As such, landlords will need to focus more than ever on retaining their tenants over the coming months.

The key to doing so is implementing the right technology in a portfolio that is able to produce data-backed insights into how well buildings are functioning and how they are being used by occupiers. With the use of technology, landlords will find their buildings running efficiently and that their occupier engagement programme is more impactful than ever, enabling them to weather the current economic climate.

An overwhelming 90% of landlords agree that technology is critical to managing their tenant relationships, yet a striking 62% of landlords report lacking the tools required to understand how tenants utilise shared spaces, according to the 2023 VTS Global Landlord Survey. Technology is critical in opening up new communication channels between tenants and landlords, granting landlords access to data on space utilisation and other insights that can help bolster their relationships with tenants.

How frequently do employees flock to amenity spaces like kitchens and common areas? Are there any regularities, or preferred times of day for employees to step away from their desks? Are they more likely to collaborate in conference rooms, or do they lean towards more informal spaces like hangout areas and on-site cafés? Once landlords have these insights, they can then assess how best to tailor the office to entice employees back into the workplace and support the overall landlord-tenant relationship.

There is also an ever-increasing spotlight on the invisible mechanics that keep a building functioning – automatic doors, temperature controls, automated lights and other touchless technology, for example. When synced with building management technology, landlords have unparalleled insight into how their buildings function and can optimise it for the tenant. Nearly all landlords (91%) identify it as a goal to create a hospitality-like experience for their tenants and with these insights they can allocate spend accordingly.

Having understood the drivers of tenant satisfaction and implemented the tech required to keep it at a high level, landlords must also look at how to communicate the value of their spaces to prospective tenants. Marketing tools such as websites and digital advertising are an obvious must, yet only 44% of landlords claim to have full clarity in relation to their web visitor count and visitor patterns. The same principle applies here as it did above: the urgent need to have the data to understand what’s driving tenant thinking and behaviour, and to act on this data in an efficient, optimised way.

As a result, marketing automation ranks as the top marketing investment for landlords in 2023. The need for automation is clear: you can have all the data you want, but unless you have someone to analyse it, it’s useless. You need an algorithm to track viewing patterns across time and geography and to provide accurate insight into what it is people want and then tailor your offer to those wants. Automated marketing can streamline this process, ensuring prospective tenants are presented with the most relevant possible offers.

Technology thus plays a three-pronged role in helping retain tenants in a post-pandemic economic climate: first, in understanding how and why they use certain spaces; second, in enabling you to adapt your offering to best cater to those patterns, accounting for variations between different employees; and lastly, in helping you market your space in a data-driven, automated way that connects prospective buyers with the spaces that can best satisfy their needs. The quickest, smartest, and most future-proof way to maintain office demand is through investments in technology.