Given the massive, recent changes in the nature of office work, it’s more important than ever for office building owners, operators, and occupiers to have every tool at their disposal to provide the best experiences at their properties, including the end-user data and insights to demonstrate that value to tenants, employees, and investors alike.

To that end, HqO, in partnership with Commercial Observer, has announced an innovative new program for honoring those that are exceeding on this front.

The Commercial Observer Power Properties list, powered by HqO’s Real Estate Experience (REX) Platform, will recognize the top buildings, offices, and amenity spaces across the country that provide tenants and their employees with innovative, engaging, and productive spaces to work in.

To be eligible for inclusion on the list, office properties and spaces must earn an HqO Best Spaces to Work certification, the only recognition that validates end-user real estate experiences in spaces across the globe.

To do this, they need only launch the REX Assessment. This digital questionnaire takes no more than 10 minutes for a space’s end-users to complete and focuses on the importance of three categories of office experience: cultural aspects, activities, and physical & service features. Scores that beat the REX Index benchmark earn the Best Spaces to Work certification and are automatically eligible to be considered for the Commercial Observer Power Properties list. 

“Real estate is transforming into an experiential business. Office space was once a required cost of doing business. But given how work is evolving, properties need to evolve as well to provide exceptional employee experiences to enable occupiers to get hard ROI from talent attraction, engagement, and retention,” said Chase Garbarino, Co-Founder and CEO of HqO. “Real estate not only needs to be more flexible to meet the needs of end-users, but it must also connect with them through experience, putting the customer and their experiences of space at the center. We are so proud to partner with the Commercial Observer to recognize the distinguished owners, operators, and occupiers alike who are taking the lead in this critical market transformation.”

Think your space has what it takes to make the Commercial Observer Power Properties list? Get started today!

To read more about the program, visit the Newsroom.

The post HqO and Commercial Observer’s Power Properties List To Honor Best CRE Spaces appeared first on HqO.

Hines, the global real estate investment, development, and property management firm, has embarked on an ambitious digital journey to unite its property operations, amenities, and building automation technologies through a new digital ecosystem — using HqO’s REX Platform.

Centering around employee experience, Hines’ ecosystem gives users the ability to access buildings, book meetings and event spaces or desks, order food at cafes and restaurants, reserve on-site fitness classes, receive information about the building and events, and more — all through a custom instance of the platform. Taking things a step further, HqO collects and then provides the end-user sentiment and engagement data to Hines. This allows Hines to understand what activities and features matter most to the users of their spaces as they work to continue to foster real estate that cultivates a collaborative, productive culture.

HqO is the only platform built around the customer and is designed to optimize the complete end-user experience of physical space. Over the last several years there has been a rapid shift in the real estate market, which has led to a fundamental evolution in the real estate experience economy. As such, HqO is supporting its partners, like Hines, to connect people to their assets — helping them drive tenant engagement and retention.

“We’re committed to a people-centric experience and this investment takes that commitment to the next level,” said Ilene Goldfine, Chief Digital Strategy Officer at Hines. “Through the HqO Platform, we will be able to not only evaluate the performance of our amenities services, but we can also better understand tenants’ and employees’ experiences in our space in real-time. This data is critical for us to make informed decisions about the future of our buildings, amenities, and our ESG framework.”

While Hines plans to add more locations across its global portfolio, the app will launch this fall at eight buildings across five US cities.

For more information about Hines’ groundbreaking digital ecosystem, click here.

To learn more about how HqO can help you build an industry-leading real estate experience, speak to one of our experts today.

The post HqO Helps Global Firm Transform Its Real Estate Experience appeared first on HqO.

Landlords investing in tenant experience teams and tech-based communication tools  

Fresh off the heels of HqO’s survey of corporate employers, we’re pleased to release key findings from our commissioned survey of select international landlords, all of which have at least 1M square feet of commercial real estate property. 

The top-line takeaways? Overall, today’s landlords are optimistic. Only 20% think demand will decline over the long-term. But, they also agree that employees want more from their buildings (92%). 

Where Landlords and Tenants Meet 

In our 2022 Tenant Engagement Report from earlier this year, we heard that most businesses were adopting hybrid work models, reducing their overall commercial real estate (CRE) footprint. Today’s results corroborate those findings. Only 48% of landlords surveyed say at least 75% of their office space is currently leased. Moreover, only 24% of landlords say they experience greater than 75% daily utilization of their leased spaces. 

In contrast, if one were to look at the market at large, it shows the demand for marquee or specialty space remains high. Leaders such as Salesforce, Apple, and Google are investing heavily in space, even as they have reduced the amount of time or eliminated the requirement for employees to physically come to the office altogether. Perhaps, as a result, surveyed landlords are working to increase the flexibility, usability, and appeal of their spaces through targeted strategies. 

Those surveyed are taking proactive steps to align with — and attract — tenants and address any shortfalls.

Investments, Support, and Communication Advancements are Priority

To succeed, landlords know they must form deeper and less transactional relationships with their tenants and drive collaboration across their strategies and business initiatives, while improving maintenance processes and pricing, as well as offering better in-office experiences. 

All surveyed landlords are involved in their tenants’ long-term real estate plans through close collaboration, ongoing joint meetings, or ad hoc communications. However, weekly, monthly, or short-term communications are limited. Landlords plan to address these communication gaps via technology sooner rather than later. Overall, investments in tenant experience technologies are set to increase or remain the same, with an isolated few suggesting a reduction. 

To manage more frequent and meaningful communications, landlords are also investing in enhanced experience teams to meet the varying needs of their tenants:

• Nearly 90% of landlords are planning to provide dedicated tenant experience staff, or already do. 
• 40% of landlords see these tenant experience leaders as primary decision-makers, with a further 40% regarding them as influencers. In context, this gives experience teams more responsibility than asset or portfolio managers. 

These tenant experience leaders are helping to deliver on stated areas of interest from tenants, such as reservation tools for desks and parking, food and beverage ordering services, visitor management and access control, maintenance tools, and energy monitoring technologies. In fact, a full 80% of landlords believe that tenants are keenly interested in comprehensive building mobile applications. As such, experience teams are rolling out digital amenities to complement the physical amenities that tenants have become accustomed to to help reduce even more workplace friction. 

By investing in people, technology, and time, landlords are poised to meet their tenants where they are, and cement these relationships for the long haul.

The post 92% of Landlords Believe Employees Want More From Their Buildings – And They’re Prepared to Deliver appeared first on HqO.

Nearly 90% of employers surveyed have implemented some type of hybrid work arrangement, but overall they remain dissatisfied with how these models are working

To learn more about today’s workplace experience and emerging office trends, HqO partnered with leading research firm Verdantix to conduct exclusive interviews with executives from leading companies across the globe. We spoke with decision-makers at companies from life sciences, to legal, to financial services sectors, with a combined total of 1.6T in revenue and more than 1.5M employees. In these conversations we identified key hurdles to meeting the needs of employers and their employees. We published these findings in a new report, Office Insights 2022.

Surveyed executives were often aligned around hybrid, in-office, and remote work trends, with key focuses on employee engagement, collaboration, and behaviors emerging. Notably, the findings showed that the surplus of point solutions tools flooding the workplace creates complexity without improving outcomes.

Key findings: 

• 88% of employees are in the office at least a couple of days a week; 12% have fully returned 5 days a week.
• Nearly 90% of employers have implemented some type of hybrid work arrangement, but they remain dissatisfied with how these models are working.
• 75% of employers are struggling to shift employee behaviors to maximize the benefits of the office in a hybrid working environment.

Employers across industries are aware that employees prefer hybrid work models with more than 70% of those surveyed believing employees value hybrid working as much as salary and other benefits such as healthcare.

Despite 50% of employers intending to downsize their CRE portfolios in the next two years, nearly all those surveyed have put large efforts into redesigning their workspaces and supporting flexible working models.

But, employers haven’t fully optimized hybrid or remote models just yet. 

• Nearly 90% of employers find communication between employees in mixed environments to be inefficient.
• More than 50% of employers suggest that dispersed teams make it difficult to establish effective communications channels.
• More than 50% of employers find poor collaboration between employees in mixed environments.

These ongoing challenges are creating a disconnect between employers and employees at a time when employers can ill afford to lose talent in one of the tightest job markets in history. 

Some of the underlying structural issues that leaders identified as barriers to an effective workplace include: 

• Almost 80% of employers believe employee habits need to change in order to take proper advantage of the office.
• Nearly 80% of employers believe there are too many disconnected or disparate tools to manage the in-office experience.
  And yet, more than 50% of employers see low adoption of tools, resources and services in the workplace.
• 65% of those surveyed attribute this to a lack of employee awareness of available tools, and services.

Access the full report for more information, additional results, and top-line guidance on how businesses might address the issues surfaced in these interviews. Download now. 

The post Companies with 1.6T in Combined Revenue Speak to Hybrid Work Disconnect in HqO Survey appeared first on HqO.

HqO’s purpose, as our CEO and Co-Founder Chase Garbarino shared last April, is building technology to create real-world experiences that lead to more meaningful connections. As we look back at 2021, we’re proud to share that we’ve done just that. 

We’ve made sure to stay true to our values throughout the year, despite our massive growth and keeping up with an evolving industry. As we look towards 2022, we’re proud to reflect on the experiences and moments that make HqO the leading workplace experience platform in the world.

Our Momentum

In April, we announced $60M in Series C financing from leading VC and CRE firms: Previous investors Accomplice, Insight Partners, JLL Spark, Navitas Capital, DivcoWest, Allegion Ventures, and The Pagliuca Family Office all participated, joining new investors PruVen Capital, Cushman & Wakefield, and Suffolk Tech. 

Seven months later, October saw our acquisition of Office App, a leading European tenant and employee engagement platform. Together, we bring holistic workplace solutions for building owners, operators, and corporate employees. 

HqO currently powers over 200 million square feet of commercial real estate across the globe. This year alone, we’ve hit the following milestones:

• We newly acquired about 53 million square feet in the U.S. and Canada, almost 7 million square feet of new business in the U.K., and over 4 million square feet in France
• The HqO product can be found in 24 countries and 142 cities
• That equates to over 500 buildings and over 100 landlords
• HqO has raised $107 million in funding to date
• The HqO team conducted 87 launches globally, most of which combined onsite activation with digital events and programming

Company Updates 

From our first-ever in-person industry event to numerous new strategic partnerships, we have a lot to be proud of this year!

Strategic Client Partnerships

In 2021, we announced numerous strategic client partnerships with leading global landlords like Cadillac Fairview, Rubenstein Partners, Slate Asset Management, Columbia Property Trust, and Gecina — Europe’s leading office real estate group.

Industry Partnerships

Additionally, JLL announced their strategic investment in HqO this December as the preferred service provider for workplace experience across their portfolio. 

We’ve also partnered with best-in-class industry providers on exclusive technology integrations, including the food app Ritual and popular building operations solution Building Engines.

Product Updates 

We’ve continued to innovate our product by expanding our offerings to accommodate the return to offices with new amenity, data, and service features. 

We also introduced our flex service capabilities to support the hybrid workforce, letting properties create and manage flex space memberships and invoices, allocate monetary booking credits, and create robust booking rules personalized to each tenant or tenant company. On top of these updates, we also achieved rigorous data privacy standards with SOC-2 and ISO security certifications for the HqO product. 

EXPERIENCE 2021

This past year also saw us hold our first-ever in-person industry event in New York City, EXPERIENCE 2021. 

EXPERIENCE 2021 was a first-of-its-kind commercial real estate (CRE) event dedicated completely to the tenant experience.The day was filled with plenty of opportunities to connect and learn from industry leaders. Several roundtable discussions featured CRE professionals such as Karen Allen, Community Manager at Hines; Chris Masotto, Vice President of Property Management at Columbia; Kayte Singleton, Associate Property Manager at Rubenstein Partners; and Thomas Larance, Head of Experience Management at JLL, to name a few. 

If you missed it, don’t worry – we plan to bring EXPERIENCE back in 2022!

Our People and Impact

Despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic – and changes to the ways we live and work – we’re excited to have doubled our employee headcount this past year!

With almost 200 employees worldwide, we’ve expanded our global footprint with offices in New York, Chicago, Dallas, LA, London, Toronto, Amsterdam, and Paris. 

Throughout this monumental growth, HqO has remained dedicated to connecting our employees to our community. In March and June, our tenant engagement team partnered up with Building Impact to offer our customers several engaging volunteer opportunities. 

In honor of International Women’s Day, tenants virtually assembled stress kits for survivors of domestic violence. A few months later, our tenants assembled rainy day activity kits for LGBTQ+ youth attending Harbor Camps in celebration of Pride Month.

These two experiences contributed $3,410 in volunteer time, and impacted 770 lives. The goods donated in both events totaled at $8,800. 

2021: A Year of Industry Leadership 

All in all, 2021 was a year of growth, connection, and exciting new experiences. The success driven by our amazing team has been reflected by the awards that HqO was honored with this year, including: 

• Built In Boston 2021 Best Places to Work
• GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum Awards (CRE Tech Influencer)
• Finalist for EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award 
• Finalist (Tech & AI Track) for New England Innovations Awards
• Proptech Startup of the Year (Proptech Breakthrough Awards)
• Finalist (Placemaking) EG Tech Awards
• Mid Market Growth Runner Up (CREtech RETAS)
• Boston Globe Top Place to Work for 2021
• Building Impact Gold Award 2021

As we enter 2022, we look forward to continuing to put our people and customers first as we create meaningful workplace experiences around the world.

The post Our Year in Review: Recapping HqO’s 2021 appeared first on HqO.

In last week’s blog, I dove into the first few panels from EXPERIENCE, the only commercial real estate (CRE) event dedicated completely to tenant experience.

And, let me tell you, it was incredible. 

Not only did our guest speakers give amazing advice and serve as model examples for the future of the workplace, but the atmosphere generated by the excitement of an in-person event was unmatched. People weren’t just happy to learn, they were also happy to see their peers face-to-face while enjoying tasty refreshments and hors d’oeuvres provided by Relish Catering + Hospitality. 

Each session was informative, interactive, and memorable. Without further ado, here’s how we wrapped up the day with valuable industry insights.

What Tenants Really Want

Kicking off EXPERIENCE’s fourth presentation were Charlie Stephens, HqO employee and Host of PrimeTime VC and the Leaders Live Show, and Phil Kirschner, Workplace Strategy and Change Leader at McKinsey & Co.

The pair dove right into an intimate discussion about commercial real estate (CRE) and supporting modern tenants. After all, it’s tough to build and sustain a culture via Zoom calls, and community is the core of any workplace. “In our research Pre-COVID, the word that resonated the most in executive teams was ‘connection,’” explained Phil. “Even though it’s easier than ever to meet through Zoom, it is more and more difficult to actually connect with people in this way.”

Phil continued to reveal that the topics of concern related to the workplace have shifted. At the beginning of the pandemic, many CRE leaders focused on health and safety concerns. Now, the spotlight has turned to communication, community, flexibility, and hospitality experiences. The key to this, he noted, is in truly listening to tenants and their employees: “There’s a disconnect between the level of detail employees need to stay engaged, and the level of detail leadership thinks they need.”

Naturally, the conversation turned to leveraging data and analytics tools to bridge this gap. “It takes work,” Phil emphasized. “You need to ask yourself, how deep is your appetite for change and space?”

Charlie then guided the conversation towards how CRE teams can create more meaningful property experiences. Phil responded thoughtfully. “Workplaces that are virtually friendly don’t mean they’re placeless,” he began. “It’s about using space better than we did before, more experiential, more efficient, but refining the process that allows us to do that.”

When asked about using technology to create these more hospitable experiences, Phil concluded:

“The definition of connection is taking the time and making the practice of seeing the humanity in each other. It’s about asking better questions and getting to know people on a deeper level. Tech can nudge us in that direction, but then when you get to that moment, it is still something authentically human to ask and know someone better. That’s how we can make the most out of technology.”

The Birth of the Experience Manager

The second session moderated by an HqO employee, The Birth of the Experience Manager, looked towards some exciting changes in the industry. Nora Hughes, our Lead Product Researcher, was joined by Daisy Gauck, Senior Vice President of Hospitality at Work and Karen Allen, Community Manager at Hines, to shed light on a new type of property-related role.

When asked what they look for in a Tenant Experience or Community Manager, both Daisy and Karen agreed that job descriptions based around hospitality, services, or events resonated with them the most. 

“We really put the tenants at the center of our program,” explained Karen. “It’s not about doing what others are doing, but instead it’s about finding someone to talk to the tenants and their employees to learn what’s going to be utilized and valuable.”

“Agreed,” Daisy nodded. “People don’t know what they don’t know, so you need to do your research.” 

The panelists continued the conversation by discussing the importance of using technology for data collection and analytics. “If you’re going to invest in people or technology, you’re only getting the best ROI if you invest in them in tandem,” stated Karen.

Next, the conversation turned towards differentiating critical CRE roles such as property managers, experience managers, and concierges. They are all different, the panelists confirmed, because property managers have other roles and responsibilities to manage throughout their day. If they’re too busy to receive and act on valuable feedback from tenants, it only makes sense to have a role dedicated to tenant engagement.

After a brief discussion on technology integrations that can help make this possible, the three experts assured that the future of the office is still incredibly important. “The physical still matters,” Karen said. “And it can be built upon with the digital.”

Using Data to Unleash Portfolio Potential

As the only stand-alone presenter, Jacinda Lofland, the Director of Customers & Community at Nuveen, led a compelling discussion around the importance of data and analytics in the industry.

Nuveen, as she explained, focuses on providing their customers with omnichannel office experiences that offer seamless workplace interactions. Their customers, she continued, encapsulate all their building end-users as well as their surrounding community members.

To reach all community members in a truly valuable way, Nuveen turns to the numbers. “We always ask ourselves, ‘What are the actions that we are taking with this data? Which of our events are driving more engagement, and which aren’t? Is it due to a signage problem or a communication problem? Things like that.”

She continued to explain that there are four key metrics they monitor on a consistent basis, called engagement, space utilization, service utilization, and customer satisfaction. Though these will vary and look different from portfolio to portfolio, her takeaway was plain and simple:

“Always identify and regularly revisit your key metrics!”

Creating Workplace Communities

In the final panel of the day, Commercial Observer reporter David Levitt was joined by David Himmel, Chief Operating Officer at Jamestown; Whitney Burns, Vice President of Global Strategy at Hines, and Natalie Teear, Senior Vice President of Innovation, Sustainability, and Social Impact at Hudson Pacific Properties.

The four presenters began with defining a workplace community, and how the right type of culture could combat the CRE obstacles recently brought on by the pandemic. “Community really starts with the people,” Whitney began. “During COVID, we’ve really missed human interaction, so the need for community has risen to the top.” This, she explained, has an obvious impact on people’s return to office strategies.

The other panelists agreed, discussing the importance of the office and the ability to stay agile among shifting tenant needs.

“When it comes to the workplace, our focus at Hines is how do we add value?” Whitney stated. “The answer is community, and it’s about making the time that you’re spending in our office buildings more efficient and productive for both the work lives and personal lives of our tenants.”

David then explained the importance of retail in this equation. “Businesses that are embracing retail strategies are doing better than ever,” he said. “If you’re able to toggle between the digital and physical environments and provide frictionless experiences at your assets, it can be very powerful.”

Retailers, the group continued, are a part of their building communities and help revitalize key neighborhoods while also creating the “live, work, play” environments many workers are seeking.

“Ground level retail is as important an amenity to the building as a gym or fitness center or other amenities,” Natalie stated. “People have to be able to have fun on site, and retailers can also help us advance our local angle and sustainability impact.”

Additionally, sustainability could be used to build community through activities that involve collaborative projects that support an important cause. Such initiatives, like rooftop beekeeping or Earth Day terrariums, bring delight to tenants while also creating a much bigger impact. 

Looking for more information about EXPERIENCE, HqO, or the future of the workplace? Schedule a consultation today.

The post Looking Back at EXPERIENCE: Part II appeared first on HqO.

The HqO team just finished hosting EXPERIENCE in New York City, a first-of-its-kind commercial real estate (CRE) event dedicated completely to the tenant experience. If there’s anything I learned in the past few days, it’s this: despite the challenge of running an in-person event in a post-pandemic world, seeing people excited to be together again is, well, fun.

We always talk about how great experiences lead to better collaboration, more meaningful connections, and stronger communities. However, it’s one thing to say that. It’s an entirely different thing to witness that. As our keynote speaker Joseph Pine II so aptly put:

“In an experience economy, experiences are what people want.”

And he couldn’t be more in line with the truth. So, you may be asking: What exactly happened at EXPERIENCE, and what can it teach us about the future of CRE? There’s no better way to answer this question than turning towards the brilliant speakers and guests themselves. Below, we recap the first few sessions of the event and the main takeaways that can help modern property teams enhance their portfolios.

Cultivating Authentic Experiences

There’s no better person to kick off an event about experiences than Joe Pine, best-selling author of The Experience Economy. Joe began his speech by contextualizing our current society: in today’s world, we live in an economy that is fueled by engaging experiences, thus converting experiences into a distinct economic offering. 

Using real life examples (like the commoditization of coffee, who doesn’t love that?), he explained that any product can evolve from being a commodity, to a goods and service, to finally into a full experience. This is due to the fact that many businesses have discovered that creating true value for their brand or product revolves around catering directly to consumer wants and needs. And, in order to achieve this, businesses need to go beyond their regular services to create distinct and differentiated end-to-end experiences for their customers.

“Nice is nice, but rarely does it rise to the level of memorable,” he explained. “Experiences are about engaging people and creating that memory inside of them, as well as time well spent.”

Ultimately, this is why consumer-focused brands like Disney, Zappos, and Ritz Carlton have found massive success in their business models. They each give their customers a reason to show up to their physical locations other than just for run-of-the-mill purchases. Of course, they supplement their products and services with an online digital presence, but they also establish a much-needed authenticity through their physical environments.

“Place is important to represent who you are,” Joe shared. “That way, there is no disconnect between what you say and what people actually encounter with your brand.”

Joe wrapped up his speech about the importance of a low-cost, high-volume customization strategy, which allows customers to choose what works for them at any moment in time. This can, of course, all be applied to CRE’s current predicament of bringing tenants and tenant employees back to the workplace by offering more consumer-first, custom experiences. As Joe summarized: “Anything you can digitize, you can customize.”

The Future of the Workplace is Connected Experiences

Next up came our very own CEO, Chase Garbarino, who connected the key points in Joe Pine’s keynote back to our industry and the world of proptech. 

First, he looked at the data. Industry research reveals that working remotely has proven a few things to CRE leaders and property teams: 

• The workforce doesn’t like commuting
• Employees tend to enjoy the flexibility of working from home
• Employees are experiencing negative side effects of remote work, such as loneliness, depression, and unproductivity
• Employees still like engaging with their colleagues in person
• Some employees take advantage of working remotely and are much less efficient at home
• Innovation is at risk with fully remote workplace models

So what does this all mean when it comes to the future of the office? Though “going digital is now expected,” as Chase explained, the importance of the physical office remains. However, to create value for the physical environment, CRE teams need to offer tenants optionality. 

“Our customers want optionality on how, where, and when they work,” Chase continued. “By embracing digital experience, CRE is no longer limited in delivering value at the address of our properties.” 

And, better yet, experiences are a key retention and attraction tool when it comes to developing a direct relationship with each and every end-user of your building. The more opportunities you give your tenants to engage with, the more they will engage, which in turn provides you with valuable feedback to continue that engagement and make people feel confident in your brand.

Finally, Chase wrapped up his discussion by announcing important product updates from HqO, as well as how the company’s technologies and services position HqO as the ultimate customer experience company for the industry. As HqO continues its leadership in tenant experience, it will bring value to larger communities by creating destination spaces for tenants, employees, their guests, and surrounding neighborhoods.

The Evolution of Property Management

The third panel of the day consisted of an all-star lineup, featuring Terri-Lynn Mitchell, Senior Managing Director of Asset Services at Cushman & Wakefield; Chris Masotto, Vice President of Property Management at Columbia; Kayte Singleton, Associate Property Manager at Rubenstein Partners; and Thomas Larance, Head of Experience Management at JLL.

Terri-Lynn began the conversation by diving into the question on everyone’s minds: How has property management changed over the years?

“We’re definitely heading towards more community and hospitality trends,” Chris stated. “I see it already happening today, and well into the future.”

All panelists agreed, while Thomas discussed how these trends inform JLL’s industry research when it comes to providing consumer-first experiences: “We consistently look at how things in the marketplace are changing, navigating the different generations, their usage of technology, and more.”

Shortly after, the panelists switched the topic to discuss successful, custom property experiences while recognizing that, of course, everyone’s definition of success varies. “We take a bespoke approach, it’s not going to be the same at every asset,” confirmed Thomas.

Kayte Singleton agreed. “Ten years ago, you had to do ice cream socials during certain seasons,” she chimed. “Now each property is so vastly different and we need to ask tenants what they’re looking for and what they’d like for us to do to allow us to run programs tenants want.”

The group also expressed the importance of asking every member of their building communities how they can be successful. This is no easy feat, but technology makes feedback significantly more feasible. “It’s not just the tenants, it’s the brokers and their employees and everyone else,” Chris explained. “The utilization of the [HqO] app allows us to connect with tenants and their staff. It’s not just a certain group of people who have access to the app, every building member does. It allows everyone to see first hand what’s going on in our building.”

They wrapped up their panel by talking about how technology creates operational efficiencies, while helping CRE teams remain adaptable and flexible to combat the ebbs and flows of the market. As Kayte explained:

“We invest in technologies that are going to make our operations more efficient. They’re going to make the tenant experience better first and foremost, but also save property managers valuable time.”

Looking for more about EXPERIENCE? Tune in next week for Part II, where we cover the rest of the panelists and share more photos from our event! If you want to learn more about HqO, schedule a consultation today.

The post Looking Back at EXPERIENCE: Part I appeared first on HqO.

“Cities are the absence of physical space between people and companies. They are proximity, density, closeness. They enable us to work and play together, and their success depends on the demand for physical connection.”
— Edward Glaeser, Triumph of the City

At HqO, we believe that cities are humanity’s most important social product. Since the start of the 21st century, social products have been thought of and focused on as online social networks. At the start, these products collapsed the limitations of physical distance, enabling us to connect instantly with anyone on the planet with an internet connection. 

This mass connection enabled a tremendous explosion of knowledge sharing, creativity, and the breaking down of cultural barriers that enabled more global connections between people who would never have experienced each other’s life experiences. And yet — despite the proliferation of these technologies that enabled us to connect with anyone anywhere — people still continually moved to dense urban areas seeking real-life human connection. As history has shown, cities have continued to be epicenters of innovative progress and economic growth.

More recently — whether by design or by user error — our online social platforms are increasingly associated with symptoms of division, misinformation, depression, and loneliness. HqO’s response to reverse this trend has been through fostering real-world connections. Engaging with people in real life (or “IRL,” as the kids say) humanizes us. Looking someone in the eye and having a real-world shared experience will always make a more meaningful connection than a tweet.

This drives our purpose, which is building technology to create real-world experiences that lead to more meaningful connections. Within the built environment, we are currently focused on the places where people work, as we believe that economic success and opportunity is the core driver of the successful “live, work, play” value proposition that many communities strive for. When communities work well and prosper economically, people usually live and play far better.

Looking ahead, we believe that our real-world social infrastructure — defined by Eric Klineberg as the physical elements of community that act as a conduit to bring people together and build social capital — is in desperate need of technology enablement. In order to build successful real-world communities of the future, our social infrastructure must be modernized like any of the other products, services, and experiences we use and expect today. And if we build smarter social infrastructure, we believe we can help create more accessible economic opportunity, more sustainable cities, less polarized communities, and a happier — or dare we say ideal — world. 

For more insights from HqO CEO Chase Garbarino, as well as information on the state of the market, download our free Industry Outlook today!

The post HqO’s Core Ideology appeared first on HqO.

The Battle Shaping the Future of CRE

Back in the fall of 2017, I took a trip to New York City to network and learn more about the commercial real estate (CRE) industry’s relationship with technology. After a few days of darting back and forth across Manhattan, I ended up having a beer with a broker — and friend — to recap what had been going on and pick his brain.

“Yea, those guys have won the space,” he stated plainly.  

“What do you mean they’ve won?” I asked. 

“The market’s picked them as the winner of that category of tech.”

I was beginning to see a common trend among my conversations about proptech: there was no room for customer optionality or evolving business needs. Instead, it seemed like CRE was playing a game that viewed proptech categories with a definitive end and a binary outcome.

Based on my previous experiences within AdTech and digital media — where the general rule of thumb is that your customer process begins only after the client has signed the contract — I knew that the most successful brands measure their campaign performance by the minute. To me, the idea of giving a provider the title of champion without further discretion was unheard of.

After explaining my point of view, he responded with a shrug: “Historically, CRE likes to pick a solution and just go with it. We’ve always done it this way.”

And that’s when it really hit home. Doing something just because that’s the way it’s always been is the perfect sign that an industry is ripe for major innovation. I knew it was only a matter of time.

Fast forward to April 2021. We’ve seen every major tech company develop a “smart building” or “built-world” offering — some are hollow, some have more substance. And now, CRE will be doing things differently than forming a single-file line behind one (sometimes sub-optimal) technology provider. One thing is for certain: post COVID-19, the customer’s needs demand more flexibility than ever before.

Why You Should Care

Moody’s predicts US office vacancy will reach 19.4% in 2021, the highest level since the Savings & Loan Crisis of the early 1990s. This office downturn is different from others like the Dot Com Bust, 9/11 in NYC, and the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis that industry experts are comparing it to. This crisis, unlike those before, was not due to some systemic economic or industry failure. COVID-19 and its consequential lockdowns forced businesses to invest significant capital in digital infrastructure as an alternative to physical space. Because of this, work and offices are no longer in an exclusive relationship and we cannot underestimate the significance of this event.

To be certain, office demand will most certainly rebound, but the difference this time is customer optionality. Since the other crises, it is no secret how far digital and cloud technologies have come. In many other industries ranging from music to film or transportation to banking, digital technology has forever changed the customer experience and distribution solutions in these categories. Despite these advances, people listen to more music, watch more tv and movies, and more people have access to banking and transportation solutions than ever before. But it isn’t Columbia Records, MGM Studios, or NYC’s medallion owners that capitalized on the major shifts. And for commercial real estate, this black swan event is going to produce big winners and big losers. The CRE firms that embrace the fact that customer behavior has dramatically changed — and invest in modernizing their offerings to address these changes — will significantly differentiate themselves. Additionally, tenants that recognize the value of physical and digital space coming together in a way that embraces the desired employee experience will win the war for talent.

The Future of Proptech 

There are significant differences In the market, which we view as Proptech 1.0 and Proptech 2.0. Proptech 1.0 was led by a number of the incumbents in some CRE tech categories over the past 10-15 years, and included:

• Closed systems that made integration and data access difficult in order to preserve value for the provider.
• “One-of-everything” feature strategies for monopolization within categories. 
• Client relationship management focused on industry leverage by the provider.
• Insider-run teams with little diversity from other industries and backgrounds.
• Generally, commoditization.

Proptech 2.0, the new era which was started by WeWork’s ascent and accelerated by the pandemic and lockdowns, is being led by new companies focused on:

• Open platforms that play nice with others and give CRE firms control over their data in order to create client value and optionality.
• Deep focus on customer optionality by addressing market needs through flexibility and interoperability.
• Client relationship management that is focused on client ROI leading to strengthened relationships.
• Teams bringing new talent sets from other industries and backgrounds together with traditional CRE experience.
• Generally, innovation.

Unless commercial real estate as an industry somehow avoids the fate of every other industry that has undergone digital transformation, it will be the companies that follow the Proptech 2.0 strategy that will take it to new heights. The way businesses and consumers experience physical space will be elevated. Strong platforms looking to build healthy partner ecosystems will provide CRE firms with better optionality and solutions. Category monopolies will cease to exist but TAM will grow in a way that provides proptech adopters far bigger outcomes than before. 

Looking Forward

This is why I’m so excited to announce that HqO has raised $60M in Series C financing from leading venture capitalists and CRE firms (you can read more about the financing here).

This round signifies a big step forward for proptech, and we’re thankful for the support from both top-tier tech investors and CRE firms. With this capital, HqO will continue to put client value first and work with the CRE firms that believe in the opportunity for innovation over reverting to commoditization. Despite this milestone, we believe we are still only 1% done in building our vision. 

Want to join us?

The post Innovation vs. Commoditization appeared first on HqO.

When our CEO Chase Garbarino announced HqO’s $34.2 million Series B funding round back in December of 2019, he stated: 

“It has been two years since we launched our first version of the HqO platform. At the time, we believed (and experienced first-hand in our offices of old) that commercial real estate needed to become much more customer-centric. While every other facet of our lives was becoming more tailored to our specific needs through technology, the spaces we occupied every single day remained too analog. So we set out to build a platform that would activate spaces in a meaningful way by delivering seamless, tech-enabled property experiences.” 

Three years later, our mission is still to bring people together by cultivating customer-centric experiences. As we continue to grow our company and our product, we are reflecting on the successes — both internally and externally — that our dedicated team, customers, partners, and investors have fueled in 2020.

Product Innovation

There is no arguing that 2020 has been a monumental year. Most of all, the COVID-19 pandemic has completely revolutionized the way we interact, live, and work every day. Though most office buildings stood empty a few months into 2020, we knew that HqO was in a unique position to help the commercial real estate (CRE) industry navigate the slew of new challenges the pandemic has brought on. 

Back in May, we introduced HqOS™, the end-to-end operating system for CRE. Made up of three layers: the Tenant Experience Platform, Digital Grid™, and Marketplace, HqOS revolutionized the way property teams manage all customer-facing technology tools within their building. Since then, we’ve further enhanced these offerings and launched HqOS Headquarters, our desktop-based command center that allows customers to rapidly deploy and configure data-driven tenant engagement strategies across their portfolio — with absolutely no coding required.  

Enabling a Safe Return-to-Work

After the launch of HqOS, we knew that there was a real opportunity to extend our product capabilities to help commercial real estate facilitate a safe return to work amidst the global pandemic. Last summer, we launched several new features including Capacity Manager, a management system for office capacity that ensures a safe work environment for tenants and their employees.

Our clients also received access to the Building Population Report, which centralizes key tenant and operational data into one place so owners and property teams can operate their buildings effectively, reduce churn, and maintain a profitable portfolio. At a time when office owners were thrown into stringent and fast-changing health and safety procedures, these enhancements allowed them to easily manage and understand the employees that came into work on a given day. 

Our Momentum

Since we announced HqOS in May, our momentum has only picked up speed: 

• We’ve digitally launched our Tenant Experience Platform across 81 new properties. 
• We’ve also integrated 110 developers and 70 vendors within our Marketplace — many of which provide services and tools that are vital to modern safety and health regulations and are shaping the future of work. 
• Alongside those partnerships, we’ve added over 200 assets to the Digital Grid to help make it easier than ever to surface data on building companies, spaces, amenities, and technologies.
• Our technology was recognized by the Seventh Annual CRETech Real Estate Tech Awards (#RETAS) as a winner in the Office category. The RETAS are the leading international award honoring excellence in commercial real estate tech, recognizing the most cutting-edge companies who have played an integral role in advancing tech in the industry throughout the year. 

(Pictured: HqO France team launching in-office)  

We are proud to have achieved all this while never losing a customer. As of 2020, we’re powering 120 million square feet of property technology across North America and Europe, and are happy to say we’ve accomplished: 

• Signing 53.3 million new square feet in 2020
• Adding 30 new customers in 2020 

Global Expansion

Though we’re now live in fifteen U.S. markets, our growth in 2020 didn’t stop there. 2020 saw monumental European expansion: 

• HqO is now operating in the U.K., Ireland, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.  
• We currently occupy 3.7 million square feet in the U.K., and over 300,000 square feet in France. 
• We’ve gained three team members in our London office, and two in Paris.

(Pictured: HqO’s London-based team) 

Our People

Of course, none of this momentum would be possible without the incredibly dedicated HqO team. Despite the many challenges the pandemic has brought on in 2020 around working from home, we are lucky to say we’ve grown the number of HqOers exponentially: in this year alone, we onboarded 52 new employees, 42 of which joined remotely. 

Even though the HqO team is spread across the globe, we were still able to come together for some fun company events. To celebrate the launch of HqOS, we knew that an HqO product launch wouldn’t be complete without indulging in the modern engagement tools that we provide to our clients. Thus, we also introduced HqOS Day. From start to finish, we offered a full day of digital programming to our colleagues through our very own Tenant Experience Platform — which, of course, wouldn’t have been possible without the help of a few of our technology partners from our growing Marketplace. 

One of the most engaging experiences we took part in was a Virtual Volunteering session with our partners at Building Impact (pictured below). From our desks, we assembled care packages through their online portal for Catie’s Closet, an organization that helps over 55,000 students in poverty across 85 schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire through providing clothing and toiletries. 

Additionally, we virtually conducted our annual team kick-off meetings, where we got to regroup, reflect, and bond over this year’s highs and lows. Remote work and all, we are proud to say we’ve stuck by our ‘Let’s Go’ values and continue to live them every day. Our collective dedication to Learning, Excellence, Truth, Speed, Goodness, and Ownership — which our team embodies every day — has allowed us to not only continue growing with an excellent company culture, but also receive several prestigious awards.

In 2020, we were honored with several workplace awards, including: 

• 2020 Boston Globe Top Places to Work
• 2020 Boston Best and Brightest Companies to Work for Winner
• 2020 The Best Small Companies to Work for — Built In Boston 

2020: A Year of Growth and Innovation

Despite all of the hurdles we faced, 2020 has been a year of innovation powered by the meaningful connections that we strive to create. Though we couldn’t all be together physically, it was the HqO employees, customers, and partners that played a crucial role in our success. As we enter 2021, we look forward to being together, stronger than ever, and bringing life to buildings once again.

The post Our Year in Review: Recapping HqO’s 2020 appeared first on HqO.