Dive Brief:
- Software company Robin has a new product built for commercial real estate. The Robin Building Network aggregates and organizes office utilization data from the company’s workplace management platform, says Robin CEO Micah Remley.
- RBN is available now, with Nordblom Co. as the launch customer, Remley said. While companies of any size can use the solution, “those with buildings that have multiple tenants will likely find the most value,” he said
- Pricing for RBN varies based on the number of buildings and the number of tenants using the Robin desk- and room-booking platform, Remley said.
Dive Insight:
The fluctuating hybrid work environment, mixed with economic strain, is putting pressure on tenants and landlords. According to Robin’s survey of facilities managers and business owners, 82% of respondents expressed concern about retaining office space due to recession or space underutilization.
Using data can help ease those concerns. Documenting current use and estimating future use can aid with things like lease negotiations and the optimization of building operations, as well as decision-making around offering certain amenities, facilities management firms and software providers have said.
The data RBN gathers includes occupancy trends, utilization by floor or tenant, and shared amenity booking hours, Remley said. The system aggregates the data and generates a single view for the landlord, who has access to a unified dashboard to review the tenant data.
“RBN users will be able to filter and view the data in ways that align with their business goals. For example, if the objective is to decrease vacancies, a user could identify the least-used floors, sort by tenant and proactively intervene with the tenant to right-size or offer a flexible leasing option,” Remley said.
Nordblom, a vertically integrated real estate enterprise, is using RBN at its Blue Sky Center, according to a press release. Located in Burlington, Massachusetts, it’s a 1.3 million-square-foot office campus that houses the headquarters of software, life and sciences, social networking and other tech companies.
"In today's dynamic market, proactivity is key, and RBN empowers us to be at the forefront of tenant satisfaction,” Julia Arsenault, senior vice president and director of commercial property management at Nordblom Co., said in the release.
