Eddy Wagoner, Global CIO for the Corporate Division of JLL, explains how the real estate giant is giving its customers unprecedented insight into their property portfolios.
"Data is not just a part of the product and service. We would say it is a product and service."
Eddy Wagoner, Global CIO, Corporate Solutions Division, JLL
Intelligent Disruption in Real Estate
JLL holds an unusual position in the real estate industry.
It’s both the market leader for management services of commercial properties, and one of the industry’s biggest disruptors—an established enterprise that behaves like a startup.
Data has always driven decisions in real estate. Space management insights and market data on rent prices are essential to JLL customers—corporations aiming to get the most from their investments.
But Eddy Wagoner and team are pioneering a new approach—they’re looking at how buildings are used to enhance tenants’ productivity.
For example, does changing the temperature of a room make people work more efficiently? Does a lack of parking around an office cause workers to arrive late?
Armed with answers to these and other questions, JLL is helping its customers understand the true value of their real estate portfolios—and is transforming the industry.
Bringing People Along
JLL is also helping renters in the properties it manages make the right choice on location, by revealing where they can attract the right customers and the best talent.
If you’re a clothing retailer looking to open a new store, JLL can tell you where your high-value customers shop. Or if you’re a marketing firm looking for software developers, it can direct you to the cities with the best talent pools.
Clients can now contrast what they know about their properties with what the market knows about potential locations to find the perfect home for their business.
JLL provides this highly valuable insight by combining data from third parties—such as labor statistics and market research—with data captured through its services.
Making Data the Product
JLL’s RED platform is a perfect example of how the company is maximizing the commercial value of data. RED is a data and insights platform that takes all the data from its service offerings and presents it back to customers.
The result? A real-time view of how assets are performing, allowing better portfolio assessments and smarter, timelier decisions.
That’s huge.
Transformation Lessons Learned
Eddy learned four valuable lessons while helping JLL become a data-centric business:
- Digital transformation doesn’t happen overnight. Changing established processes and practices takes time and should be seen as a long-term journey.
- Changing technology is easier than changing people and processes.
Building the right architecture is the easy part of digital transformation. Convincing people to adopt new processes in favor of familiar legacies is the real challenge. - Educating executives is essential.
If executives don’t understand what a digital transformation program entails, their support may waver. - Customer communication is key.
Talking about how your data transformation will benefit clients gives them a vested interest in your digital evolution.
By bringing together an unprecedented array of data, Eddy and his team have given JLL’s customers a fresh perspective on their property portfolios. They can see exactly how their buildings are being used and pinpoint where opportunities lie.
This isn’t just new ground for the business and its customers; it’s new ground for the whole real estate industry.
