Global Corporate Survey 2023: Smart Building Technology Budgets, Priorities & Preferences
Ben Readman
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Executive Summary
This report presents the results of 300 telephone interviews conducted with real estate and facility management executives in corporate organizations across North America, Asia-Pacific (APAC), and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), from July to September 2023.
Decision-makers in the real estate and facilities management industries have been responding to a broad set of challenges over the last three years, including decarbonizing their buildings, adjusting their portfolios and spaces to hybrid working, and delivering healthy workplaces that support staff wellbeing and productivity. Greater economic stability in 2023 has enabled firms to resume their plans for investment in technologies to deliver on an increasingly complex real estate agenda. Real estate and facilities directors and heads can use this report to compare their own firms’ smart building technology strategies and investment plans with market trends. Smart building product and service providers can benefit from this research to better understand market demand and emerging areas of interest over the short and medium term.
Seventh annual Verdantix smart building survey
Methodology
Real estate managers tackle prioritization challenges amidst an expanding agenda
Real estate managers juggle diverse objectives
Sustainability is moulding real estate strategies to a greater extent than hybrid and workplace experience expectations
Space management: respondents begin to futureproof their spaces and portfolios
Flexspace is favoured as overall footprints increase
Firms anticipate healthy investment to support space planning, occupant health and wellbeing
Sustainability and ESG: real estate teams are playing an integral role in corporate ESG reporting and delivery
Capturing quality sustainability data is the main priority for real estate and facilities teams
Firms favour mature and proven technologies in their decarbonization projects
Building operations: firms look to save costs and resources through digitizing facilities optimization
Facilities optimization opportunities draw investment in software
Putting it all together: investment in smart building software rebounds from last year’s uncertainty
Corporates are consulting with multiple departments while exploring software procurement strategies
Firms are expecting to resume investment across key smart building software categories this year
Figure 2. Regional breakdown of interviewees
Figure 3. Industry breakdown of interviewees
Figure 4. Real estate management priorities for the next three years
Figure 5. Market trends impacting real estate strategies
Figure 6. Portfolio management plans by portfolio composition
Figure 7. Portfolio management plans by region
Figure 8. Software plans to support space management, occupant wellbeing and occupant experience
Figure 9. Percentage of firms collecting and reporting ESG data over the next year
Figure 10. ESG and sustainability initiative prioritization over the next 12 months
Figure 11. Decarbonization project implementation across building portfolios
Figure 12. Future investment plans for firms not yet invested in decarbonization technologies
Figure 13. Plans for facilities optimization software use cases over the next 12 months
Figure 14. Plans for real estate and facilities software over the next five years
Figure 15. Departmental influence on smart building software procurement
Figure 16. Percentage of respondents planning to increase spend in the next 12 months
About the Authors
Ben Readman
Industry Analyst
Ben is an Industry Analyst covering the real estate sector, with a focus on data centres and hotels. His core research covers more than 100 vendors in the energy efficiency, s...
Claire Stephens
Research Director
Claire Stephens is a Research Director at Verdantix, leading research into technologies and services shaping the real estate and the built environment, encompassing ...
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