"We are all-in on mobile-enabled access credentials for our buildings in New York City."

Tech-generated information has played an important role in the company's operations since 2008 when it pivoted to become more data-driven, Whelan said.

The company is looking to its upper-level employees to be technology champions, whereas "just years ago, we relied almost all on the information technology (IT) team," he said. 

"We're moving our corporate model to the cloud – this is the last mile. We are making significant investments in talent, especially in finance and accounting. To do so, we partnered with a company outside of the real estate industry. Sometimes those are the best partners to use."

Supplier partners are using artificial intelligence (AI) to varying degrees of success, he said, and AI is creating new opportunities. Whelan said the company is more discerning now than ever.

"I have 10 meetings today with suppliers at this conference," he said.

BXP is looking into such things as better ways to code invoicing, Whelan said, "looking for any way to reduce or eliminate keystrokes in this process."

For years, BXP invoiced on a month-to-month comparison basis. 

"We've used legacy systems for as long as 60 years, but if those providers are not able to help us get to where we want to be, we'll move on from them," he said.

Indoor air quality was important to BXP even before the pandemic, Whelan said, and it's taking on greater importance now. The company has a pilot program where it has placed sensors in its buildings to monitor quality.

"It's a learning journey as we look to find out what works best," he said. "We're building muscle regarding health, safety, and performance."

BXP is exploring using video monitoring to analyze its assets – 200 cameras in a building. 

"You have to go through the gauntlet of what's acceptable from a security and legal perspective," Whelan said. "We'll be launching this in the next few months."