Next, CBRE managing director Matt Toner gave an overview of CRE technology's past, present and future from an investor's perspective. He said that while technology is moving at 125 mph, real estate is stuck at 25 mph. However, while the industry is still largely analog, paper-driven and geared toward the older workforce, Millennials are hugely important to the workplace and are helping to accelerate the use of technology in CRE.

On the other hand, Millennials aren't the only tech-savvy demographic group in the workplace. We are rapidly going to the cloud, which will be ubiquitous, said Toner, and we will be able to turn the data lake into something to be capitalized upon instead of feared. While autonomous vehicles now have highly limited capabilities, the technology to make them commonplace will be there by 2030, causing a “fundamental transformation of what CRE looks like.” Parking lots are disappearing, and people will live where they want to, not based on their commute to work. “This will change the built environment.” Using Uber as an example of a major disruptor, Toner said, “If we wait too long to figure out the friction between technology and business, it might be too late.”

Next, Anant Yardi, president and founder of Yardi Systems, gave a talk about CRE innovation, having seen all five phases of CRE technology that Young had outlined earlier. He said “Ideas usually germinate in a place distant from innovation,” so it's important to be open to ideas that come out of context. He added that foundational changes sometimes take years to come to fruition, and “gumption is a key part of growth.”

With the next phase involving artificial intelligence, what will this mean for CRE? “Things are going to change, and you are here in part to decide on the next step. I feel excited and exhilarated to continue toe process.”

Jim Bland, president of technology firm Tridium, spoke next about smart buildings and IoT, saying that his firm has thrived in part because “We recognize and understand change and when it's coming.” He added that the US is a “nation of tinkerers,” and his firm has engineers who love to tinker. The future of smart buildings is more IP-enabled devices, and building systems are similar to the resolution in a photograph: the more information, the better the picture.

Last came the panel, discussing how fast the next phase of technology will be here and how the real estate industry should adopt it. Smarr said, “Things happen incrementally. You don't boil the ocean” and everything happens at once. Low-hanging fruit will first feel the effects of new technologies, then gradually other areas of our business will embrace it. Young asked, “When will we see driverless cars, and when should the real estate industry be thinking about it?” and Smarr said, “Yesterday.”

Toner said it comes down to regulation over innovation, and innovation will beat regulation to the punch. “So, it's happening now,” said Young. He said developers are asking if they should build parking garages, and in fact some apartment complexes are being built with no parking garages but contracts in place with Uber and Lyft. Toner agreed that “we're having clients today who are asking if they need to build parking. This is something real.”

Smarr said, “Scenario planning is what you want to do. Predicting the future is a fool's errand.” He said it's important to get on the learning curve because you can't make good decisions if you don't have experience.

Yardi said it can be difficult for most companies to allocate capital to make technology decisions. “Sometimes, disruptive forces need to come into play before change happens.” Young asked Bland how Tridium deals with five generations of technology in one company, and he said, “We struggle like any company to predict the next wave of technology, and we often fail.” You try, fail and reorient. “Failure really is an option.”

Yardi said, “Just keep doing what you're doing and hope it works out—then report back on your findings.” Toner added, “Understand what you're solving for, then look at that data.”

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SAN DIEGO—Technology is not slowing down—in fact, autonomous vehicles are imminent—so the real estate sector needs to get with the program and begin learning about today's and tomorrow's technology now, said speakers at Realcomm/IBCon's 2017 conference here yesterday, CRE Tech 5.0. The two-hour opening general session contained a series of short presentations by technology experts, followed by a panel session moderated by the conference's co-founder and CEO Jim Young.

Young began by explaining the five phases of real estate technology, beginning with Phase 1, 1980-1995, which affected property management, accounting, lease administration, building automation, IWMS and asset management. Phase 2, 1995-2002, covered the dot-com era and the introduction of the Internet. Phase 3, 2002-2009, was the post-dot-com era and demonstrated the survival of the fittest. Phase 4, 2009-2016, introduced social media, mobile communication, analytics, the cloud, IoT and cybersecurity. Phase 5, which began in 2016 and stretches into the future, will involve advances in AI/machine learning, blockchain, augmented reality, robotic autonomous vehicles, 3D printing and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). Young pointed out that there are close to 2,500 companies selling some type of technology today.

A keynote from Larry Smarr, director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, a UC San Diego and UC Irvine Partnership, who was actually instrumental in the invention of the Internet, looked at how the pace of technology is increasing exponentially. He showed a chart that reveals Amazon.com's huge market-share growth versus Walmart's over the years, demonstrating the potential for online sales:

Smarr said that electric- and autonomous-car manufacturer Tesla has a higher market cap than Ford, and Tesla's co-founder, CEO and architect Elon Musk says his firm's autonomous vehicle will have the capability of driving from Los Angeles to New York by the end of this year. The driverless vehicle is not some distant futuristic vision—it is here, and it is likely to catch on first in the industrial sector via Tesla's electric semi-truck rather than via the passenger car. Not only that, but by 2022, there will be IT sensors to drive a global industrial Internet, said Smarr, and artificial intelligence will add $15 trillion to the economy.

Next, CBRE managing director Matt Toner gave an overview of CRE technology's past, present and future from an investor's perspective. He said that while technology is moving at 125 mph, real estate is stuck at 25 mph. However, while the industry is still largely analog, paper-driven and geared toward the older workforce, Millennials are hugely important to the workplace and are helping to accelerate the use of technology in CRE.

On the other hand, Millennials aren't the only tech-savvy demographic group in the workplace. We are rapidly going to the cloud, which will be ubiquitous, said Toner, and we will be able to turn the data lake into something to be capitalized upon instead of feared. While autonomous vehicles now have highly limited capabilities, the technology to make them commonplace will be there by 2030, causing a “fundamental transformation of what CRE looks like.” Parking lots are disappearing, and people will live where they want to, not based on their commute to work. “This will change the built environment.” Using Uber as an example of a major disruptor, Toner said, “If we wait too long to figure out the friction between technology and business, it might be too late.”

Next, Anant Yardi, president and founder of Yardi Systems, gave a talk about CRE innovation, having seen all five phases of CRE technology that Young had outlined earlier. He said “Ideas usually germinate in a place distant from innovation,” so it's important to be open to ideas that come out of context. He added that foundational changes sometimes take years to come to fruition, and “gumption is a key part of growth.”

With the next phase involving artificial intelligence, what will this mean for CRE? “Things are going to change, and you are here in part to decide on the next step. I feel excited and exhilarated to continue toe process.”

Jim Bland, president of technology firm Tridium, spoke next about smart buildings and IoT, saying that his firm has thrived in part because “We recognize and understand change and when it's coming.” He added that the US is a “nation of tinkerers,” and his firm has engineers who love to tinker. The future of smart buildings is more IP-enabled devices, and building systems are similar to the resolution in a photograph: the more information, the better the picture.

Last came the panel, discussing how fast the next phase of technology will be here and how the real estate industry should adopt it. Smarr said, “Things happen incrementally. You don't boil the ocean” and everything happens at once. Low-hanging fruit will first feel the effects of new technologies, then gradually other areas of our business will embrace it. Young asked, “When will we see driverless cars, and when should the real estate industry be thinking about it?” and Smarr said, “Yesterday.”

Toner said it comes down to regulation over innovation, and innovation will beat regulation to the punch. “So, it's happening now,” said Young. He said developers are asking if they should build parking garages, and in fact some apartment complexes are being built with no parking garages but contracts in place with Uber and Lyft. Toner agreed that “we're having clients today who are asking if they need to build parking. This is something real.”

Smarr said, “Scenario planning is what you want to do. Predicting the future is a fool's errand.” He said it's important to get on the learning curve because you can't make good decisions if you don't have experience.

Yardi said it can be difficult for most companies to allocate capital to make technology decisions. “Sometimes, disruptive forces need to come into play before change happens.” Young asked Bland how Tridium deals with five generations of technology in one company, and he said, “We struggle like any company to predict the next wave of technology, and we often fail.” You try, fail and reorient. “Failure really is an option.”

Yardi said, “Just keep doing what you're doing and hope it works out—then report back on your findings.” Toner added, “Understand what you're solving for, then look at that data.”