CHICAGO—Geoffrey Kasselman, executive managing director and national industrial practice leader for Newmark Grubb Knight Frank here in Chicago, has now run the company's industrial summit for two years. And he tells GlobeSt.com that if the hundreds of participants take away one thing from this week's gathering he hopes it's an appreciation for the speed of changes hitting the industrial sector.

“The digital world and the internet are magnifiers,” he says. “They are driving every facet of the business world faster.” For one thing, the ever-growing ability to analyze huge amounts of data means that developers, users and brokers can spot inefficiencies that in the past may have remained hidden for years. That will result in better decision-making, but it also means everyone in the sector has to be ready to launch the projects needed to fix whatever problems are uncovered.

The rise of e-commerce will also play a role in the industrial sector's speed-up, he adds. For all the talk about e-commerce, its use “is not yet ubiquitous or universal.” And as more companies explore the best ways to use the internet, this will set in motion efforts to “drive inefficiencies out of the entire supply chain.”