On October 11th, Realcomm Events facilitated the annual Toronto CIO Forum Series for CIOs and other senior IT professionals in commercial real estate development, REITs, owners, brokerage, investment management and related industries. This is Leadership Excellence presented by the audience, for the audience.
Here’s a brief summary of the event plus some add-ons of our own:
Data Analytics Done Right
Generative AI
Decarbonization
Standards and Certification
Data Analytics Done Right
Fuse Data CEO, Dave Findlay collaborated with First Capital REIT CIO, Simon Streeter for a Fireside Chat on, Data and Analytics Done Right: A People-first Approach to Modernising your Data Capabilities.
Simon shared his experience changing the mindset within IT by inspiring his team to step out of their comfort zone. This included gaining curiosity about each business unit which owned the data product, opposed to IT.
One of the first hurdles was to transition the discovery phase from tech-centric to people-centric. This involved changing the questions asked from “Could we fine tune an LLM?” (tech-centric) to “Why is reporting an issue?" (people-centric). The end result was a data product that made people smarter and impactful, developed with Fuse Data, alongside the people who use it every day, business leaders AND IT.
To ensure data and analytics is done right, the road to
measuring value includes iterative testing and finding
out why people are not using the product.
Generative AI
Since November 2022, inquisitive Leaders in IT have been investigating ChatGPT - its limits and potentials. The optimization of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models have led to exponential growth that even surpassed TikTok.
So far, the interest in AI is driven by query based insights from existing files to aid or automate repetitive tasks with ML. The big question at this point seems to be, “What else can we use machine learning for?”
At this time, the approach is two-fold:
Continue to research how organisations can remain competitive by using Generative AI/ML
Wait and see what vendors on the tech stack will bring to the table. We’ll save our resources and use what they offer, if it’s valuable.
REIT Use Cases for Generative AI
CIOs and VPs in Leadership roles are currently utilising AI for performance monitoring in cybersecurity and energy while experimenting with optimising documentation processes.
Generative AI to Improve Work
People need good quality data to gain insights from ML/AI and the general consensus is that a “foundations first” data strategy is required.
For example, once people are included in decisions on data governance and/or democratisation then there can be further discussion on how AI is applied to a variety of use cases in the REIT (often impacted by data volume and complexity).
Decarbonization
Organisations want to know more about their buildings, facilities and operations. It’s part of the general smart building innovations that lead to an overall data transformation.
During the Forum, we were reminded that according to RBC experts, Canada’s 30 year road to net zero is a $2 trillion transition. Investments of this scale under the ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) umbrella are looking for easy wins to mitigate risk.
REIT Use Cases for Decarbonisation
Compared to Generative AI, ESG has already established use cases in REIT and CRE. CBRE and other organisations have championed its implementation and already reported on trends, innovations and regulations.
Interestingly, buildings are able to secure ESG premiums for tenants who require or simply just ask for it. However, as ESG becomes ubiquitous, it’s unknown how long this competitive advantage will be sustainable.
Comprehensive ESG Data for REITs
People need help with ESG data and analytics. Currently under the microscope, there's pressure to justify the investment.
On the regulatory side, managing building controls is a requirement for meeting regulations. When people have the most up-to-date analytics from their ESG proptech at their fingertips, they can set aside cumbersome spreadsheets and focus on ESG insights.
Standardisation and Certification
REITs, building managers and developers agree that it’s a no brainer to strive for a better building. Whether buildings establish themselves as ‘good’, ‘great’, or ‘not so good’, it's dependent on where they stand compared to others. To see how they 'measure up', there’s a recent need for benchmarking, based on a set of standards. Still up in the air - agreement on which governing body(ies) is/are responsible for creating, monitoring or assessing the standards.
Parallel to building standards is the building certification. Should one entity function as the trifecta of standards, certification and education?
Use Cases for Building Standardisation and Certification
When flexible best practices are used in building standards, then developers can benefit from either tried and true methods or apply better, newer methods.
Certifications are beneficial for benchmarking - especially good for establishing competitive advantage in innovation (smart buildings), safety standards or ESG (as previously discussed)
People are at the Heart of Building Certification
First, people like to work in and visit buildings they have confidence in.
Maintaining certifications and monitoring standards is increasingly associated with proptech data and analytics. The responsibility for justifying ROI to implement, manage and upgrade recognised certifications rests on Leadership. However, they rely on the people who gain insights from the data every day to make this happen. It’s in their best interest to include people in every stage of execution.
Essentially, people need easy ways to access the data, complete (re)certifications and share success.
For Leaders by Leaders
Special thanks to the production and marketing team at Realcomm for hosting and BOMA Canada for your contribution to the event.
