Key Takeaways from the VTS Future of Office Access Webinar
I recently discussed these questions in a live webinar with a special guest from one of the world’s most innovative companies. Topics included tenant needs and expectations, current challenges with office access and what’s ahead for the future of office access.
Missed the live event? Here are the key takeaways.
Where the Office Stands Today
After years of return to work confusion, large companies are bifurcating on RTO (return to office) policies. Some companies, like Amazon and Meta, are mandating an office-first policy, while others like Atlassian, Airbnb, and Dropbox are declaring they’re remote-first or hybrid.
There are unique advantages to each identity. Remote and hybrid policies are popular among employees, yet data continues to emerge supporting the importance of the office to drive workplace connectivity and productivity. The future for all may not be entirely remote or 100% in-office, but split between companies embracing one of these workplace identities or a hybrid.
Regardless of a company’s RTO policy and identity, the workplace has more OPTIONALITY today than ever before. As a result, successful owners need to help tenants access and engage space with the same OPTIONALITY their employees are looking for.
The Experience Tenants Are Looking For
Through VTS’ proprietary data, it’s clear that the tenant “flight to quality” persists across all key markets. The top 10% of buildings (newer/updated, with a blend of digital and physical amenities and experiences) are getting near or close to pre-pandemic rents. But the bottom 50% are dramatically below pre-pandemic rents.
The takeaway? From a rent perspective, high quality buildings have rebounded far better from the decline we’ve experienced over the past few years. Despite this data, many owners didn’t have the capital to improve physical spaces and amenities in a building. Investing in high quality digital experiences, which are less capital intensive, can give owners and operators more flexibility to showcase amenities, engage tenants, and ultimately attract and retain them.
Tenants Are Turning to Owners and Operators For Solutions
Traditionally, owners and operators have focused on access control solutions only in markets with turnstiles in the building, such as New York, Chicago, and D.C. But what about access to the tenant suite?
Let’s walk through an example. When a new employee comes to the office for their first day at a company, who do you think they attribute their in-building and workplace suite experience to–their company, or the owner/operator? Across the board, the end-to-end experience is attributed to the company, whether or not they actually control the experience for their employee. Access experiences in particular can be delighters or detractors and have a strong reflection on a company’s brand and identity.
Tenants are looking to you to give employees a better experience and support their workplace strategy–in the building, to enter their workplace suite, and even within it. Workplace suite access is an opportunity for you to partner with your tenants, support their workplace strategy, and elevate one of their most frequent touchpoints with you and the building.
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The Experience You Deliver With Apple Wallet for VTS Activate
Access control and management is notoriously complicated. Every building has unique needs, a variety of existing systems and hardware, and bridging the gap between technologies and multiple companies is difficult.
We’re changing that. VTS has native technology to support you and the access experiences you want to bring to life. We integrate your access control system and readers, providing tenants with a seamless access experience–with their iPhone as the key to their office.
From the base building, to their workplace suite, to other buildings and workspaces you offer, tenants get access with just a tap.
VTS isn’t just another middleware or app integrator – we’re your partners. We not only help you understand and catalog your existing systems and unique needs, but provide strategic recommendations and drive the outcomes and experiences you want to deliver.
Don’t Undervalue the Importance of Access Management
Today’s methods of managing access are costly and time consuming. In a lot of buildings, both property teams and workplace admins must separately manage credentials in 3rd party systems and painstakingly coordinate with each other. We’ve created a better way to grant, manage, and revoke credentials.
First, property teams can manage base-building access credentials in VTS Activate, their central command center to manage the building, the experience, and the tenants within it. No more navigating to a separate access control system or another 3rd party point solution–VTS Activate integrates and instantly syncs credentials in the background.
Next, tenant admins can manage base-building access themselves, right in VTS Activate. No more time consuming back and forth with busy property teams.
While managing credentials is critical for building security, it’s an incredible opportunity to deliver better experiences to your tenant admins and their talent.
What’s Ahead to Unlock Your Competitive Advantage
Delivering exceptional access experiences is critical, but it’s one of the many puzzle pieces that contribute to their sentiment and broader relationship with you.
VTS Activate gives you and your teams insights to understand tenants and what they value so you can activate them. And with the VTS platform, you unlock a 360 degree view of your tenants through every phase of their lifecycle, giving every team the insights they need to take action with speed and precision. This may be easy to say, but it’s hard to deliver on, and VTS is the only CRE platform that can truly claim and deliver this.
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Interested in up-leveling the access experience you deliver, but not sure where to start? Take our quick Apple Wallet readiness quiz and get your score. Our team of access experts is here to help align on your needs, goals, and how to drive outcomes.