Beyond sleep pods and smells: Tenant experience

Great tenant experience goes beyond sleep pods and smells. 

This was the sentiment shared among roundtable participants at SPACE UK who were discussing what they felt were the most valuable contributing factors to tenant experience. 

Those in the room and actively discussing this topic included:

• Claire Dawe, Director of Asset Management at Stanhope 
• Oliver Knight, Head of Offices at Landsec 
• Christie Baird, Director at Hammerson 
• Lily Lin, Managing Director at MARK 
• Isabel Thomas, Head of Offices at Shaftesbury
• James Shannon, Chief Product and Technology Officer at essensys

The discussion was moderated by Cal Lee of Workthere. For those who did not attend SPACE UK, here are some key takeaways from the discussion.

Beyond the aesthetically pleasing presence of sleep pods and smells, the group discussed the importance of creating productive, secure space with a seamless feel for end users. Staff need to feel incentivised to come to an office – it must be more compelling than their home working environment. A theme emerged around how occupiers are seeking to offer frictionless access to a hybrid collection of space to their staff; but how this space, from a digital security perspective, needs to allow for company-specific guardrails and policies to be enforced. 

To achieve this, the group discussed the importance of having office space enriched with next-gen technology. One of the ways in which software and technology can positively impact tenant experience materially, is through minimising the traditional obstacles of getting a tenant into a space quickly and efficiently. In a recent report by Verdantix 67% of tenants ranked ‘Ease of moving into and beginning use of space’ as their 1st or 2nd reason for wanting to utilise flexible space – regardless of whether a landlord or operator would class their space as ‘flexible’.  The takeaway is clear in that the ability to move in and set up quickly is key to tenants.

Landlords and operators need to think about ways in which they can rapidly activate space and reduce the time-to-value. James Shannon touched on how this can partly be achieved through the automation of digital infrastructure required in a building. Along with enabling productive and seamless experiences, digital security is top of mind for tenants. In fact, 70% are not completely satisfied with the quality of data security in the flex spaces they had seen according to Verdantix. James Shannon elaborated on the importance of a holistic approach to digital security. Landlords and operators should look to platforms that enable the management of security seamlessly across the office portfolio. It should enable everything from the secure management of remote booking and availability in a mobile app and in-building physical access to enterprise-grade network security as well as wired and wireless connectivity.

To summarise, spaces that address digital security, staff engagement, productivity and space efficiency give themselves a far greater chance of success, than those that don’t. 

On a separate note, the benefits of deployed software and technology should be two-fold. Yes, they can be used to craft and refine productive and seamless experiences for tenants and help differentiate space, but they should also make it far less complex and considerably easier to operate and run the space in a secure manner. In short, delivering exceptional tenant experience should not come at the cost of inefficient operational practices. 

If you want to find out more about how software and technology could help you operate or create spaces like those discussed above, you can get in touch here.

SPACE UK is the SPACE+ flagship event in the UK. You can find out more by visiting their website, here.