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We tap to stream a film. Order food in five swipes. Pay instantly.
The first sectors to embrace instant consumption were digital by nature – media, banking, software. Then came e-commerce, where physical fulfillment was already backed by mature ERP and logistics. Food delivery, ride-hailing, and even retail followed, each building real-time orchestration on top of physical operations.
But commercial real estate stayed behind.
Why? Because it’s the most physical product of all. To consume it, you don’t just tap a button – you enter a space, cross secured thresholds, sometimes control the environment. CRE was also designed around long-term exclusive use: one tenant, one key, 30 years.
Today, this is finally changing. Instant consumption is becoming viable for CRE. Here’s why:
1. The Wallet Revolution Came to Real Estate
Until recently, there was no universal way to “carry” your right to enter a space. Access meant plastic badges, intercoms, or manual check-ins.
Now, mobile wallets (like Apple Wallet or Google Wallet) store secure digital credentials. A user can tap their phone to open a door – just like boarding a train or entering a stadium.
Access control giants – HID, Siemens – are adapting their systems to integrate with these digital credentials, and bringing convenience and scalability to physical access.
But while this enables who can enter, it doesn’t manage when or why.
2. Booking, Payment, and Access Now Work as One System
This is where true instant consumption happens.
It’s not enough to hold a digital key. You must be able to:
- Book a space that is available right now
- Pay or validate your entitlement in that moment
- Enter instantly without manual intervention
These functions – traditionally siloed – now operate as a unified system. Platforms like elumo by essensys bridge calendar availability, billing logic, and access control into a single, real-time action:
Book → Pay → Unlock. Instantly.
It’s the difference between storing a gym pass on your phone… and streaming a workout exactly when you want it.
The user experience is seamless. For operators, it turns meeting rooms and workspaces into revenue-generating, on-demand assets.
3. Real-Time Intelligence Makes CRE Monetisable – Like Uber or Amazon
In the world of instant consumption, data is the flywheel.
Think about how Uber optimises pricing based on demand, or how Amazon adjusts fulfillment routes and inventory in real time. These businesses don’t just deliver instantly – they learn and monetise as they go.
CRE is now catching up.
With the right software solutions in place, like elumo, every booking, entry, and usage signal becomes a data point:
- Which spaces are underused?
- Which buildings see peak demand at 3PM?
- Which clients consistently overstay?
This real-time insight enables:
- Dynamic pricing models (e.g., charge more for high-demand hours)
- Intelligent space planning (e.g., repurpose low-demand rooms)
- Transparent performance reporting
In other words: you’re not just unlocking a room. You’re unlocking a data-driven business model.
CRE is crossing the threshold. Instant consumption is no longer a wish list – it’s a viable operating model.
And for the first time, the technology is ready.