This might be a column about technology. But the really important thing in a digital world is design. By that I do not mean what something looks like; design is more fundamental than that. To paraphrase Steve Jobs, design is how something works, not just how it looks.
Understanding this distinction is vital because in a digital world your user experience, or UX, is your brand. The user experience each and every customer, supplier or colleague enjoys in every interaction with your company is your brand. It embodies everything about you, your product, your values, your culture, your worth, your reliability, your fundamental ethos. Put it all together and it is, as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos says, what people say about you when you’re not in the room.
And in a digital world where bits are more important than atoms and people have more choice about where they live or work, and who they work, shop, or play with, your brand matters more than ever before. We all want to engage with people we respect. And people we respect engage with us through beautifully designed experiences.
So if I shop with you I want the experience to be designed for my pleasure, not your convenience. If I work with you, I want to do so in spaces that are human, engaging and inspiring. If I use your website, I want it to be formatted perfectly for the device of my choice, with well-thought-out navigation and ruthless ease of use. If I am using your software, I want the experience to be painless, elegant and to the point.
What I don’t want is messy, dreary shops, dull lifeless offices, clunky websites that are unreadable on my phone or software that is ugly and painful to use.
There is much talk at the moment of proptech, the idea that technology will somehow disrupt the real estate industry, in particular bringing to an end the role of agents in the buying, selling and letting process. This may occur but I doubt it.
But what is certain is that companies with beautifully designed technology that brings more transparency and ease of use will win out over their peers. Too many people in property believe it is all about personal relationships. In reality, however, it is human insight on top of exceptional technology that will win the day.
And it is design that will bring it all together. Your UX is your brand. Make it great.
Antony Slumbers is founder and chief executive of Estates Today
Follow Antony on Twitter @antonyslumbers
Essential tech for property – cloud collaboration
Aside from those in denial it is clear that offices are undergoing, or gearing up for, a significant change in use. They are no longer needed as places where work gets done. But people do need to get together (though not five days a week) and offices will be where we come together to spark off each other. But work has, or will, move to the cloud.
So property people must become fluent in cloud-based technologies. Here are some essentials that will enable you to work with anyone, anywhere and always have access to your data.
Skype: Free calling and screen sharing. It works well anywhere there is good Wi-Fi on a laptop, tablet or mobile.
Join.me works well for screen sharing and PowWowNow for conference calls.
Google Docs: Forget about checking documents in and out as you collaboratively work on them. Using Google Docs you can all work on the same document, in real time.
Dropbox: Free or paid-for, this is an easy way to store and keep docs in synch across devices.
Glasnost21: Our own collaboration service provides CRM, project, image and sales management in one simple-to-use package. Similar services include Salesforce and Basecamp. Watch out for where your documents are stored (in or out of the EU) but these services are great for keeping everyone up to speed in a business.
Cloud technologies will massively impact real estate. And change your life.
Proptech latest
Whether or not they are poised to take over from traditional real estate companies, prop tech start-ups have never been more active.
Not only was Europe’s first-ever property-focused accelerator company launched last week, but business networking dinner group TableCrowd ran its second proptech event earlier this month.
Cushman & Wakefield’s and Tech City’s Juliette Morgan was on hand to give an after dinner speech to 20 proptech start-ups including Fixflo, EnergyDeck and Movebubble.
Rajeev Nayyar, a former property lawyer and founder of property repair start-up Fixflo, said: “Around the table there was a sense that there has never been a better time to be involved in proptech in the UK.
“Industry leaders across the property market now widely recognise the efficiency benefits to the built environment and the competitive advantages to their businesses that can be achieved through adopting innovative technologies.”
To attend the next TableCrowd property tech networking dinner visit www.tablecrowd.com
