RCA Technology & Intelligence Briefings Issue 3
Interview with Jim Young — Second Quarter 2006
/ Jim is one of the founding partners and co-producer of Realcomm, the world's largest and most recognized conference on technology for the Commercial Real Estate industry. As president of The Jamesan Group/REApplications, Jim is involved in some of the largest and most successful automation projects in the industry. The goal of this organization is very simple: to create integrated information systems for the industry that will result in more accurate, timely and efficient operations. Contact him at
Listen to the interview (mp3 format, 17MB).
Technologies that Will Impact Commercial Real Estate
Technology continues to move at an incredible pace—hundreds of innovations will affect the industry, but several stand out.
1. Video teleconferencing is making airline and automobile trips unnecessary for meetings; you can be up and running with this new technology in a day or two with just a $60 camera and Microsoft Instant Messenger 7.5, which is free.
2. Mobile technologies that merge cell phones with PDAs and allow people to do commerce on cell phones; soon text messages will be announcing the arrival of commissions into your bank account.
3. The concept of integration—all of the software solutions at work in a commercial real estate working together; the contact management systems, pipeline tracking the myriad of software solutions working together to create an enterprise solution.
Broad Issues with Implications for Commercial Real Estate
1. Young’s trip to Asia two years ago has caused him to see politics, economies and commercial real estate from a global perspective; commercial real estate in the United States is not an isolated market.
2. Oil and energy are at the top of the Realcomm list of critical issues; based on his observations in China and India, Young sees oil and energy prices continuing to spike up; commercial real estate will be affected by resulting changes in how people manage properties and travel; buildings will have to be operated more efficiently to salvage the bottom line.
3. Interest rates, debt and the availability of capital always play a big role in the industry; outsourcing is another global issue of significance for how people use and manage commercial real estate.
Comparative Progress
1. Young’s trip convinced him that the US is lagging behind Asia, particularly Seoul, Hong Kong and Singapore, where people are using technology, which many in the US don’t even know exist, in their daily lives and specifically in their buildings.
2. Two years ago, Young’s goal was to get the commercial industry to recognize what technology can do and to reignite innovation. The concept of creative technology is finally beginning to make it into the mainstream (as evidenced by recent Ford “innovation” commercials).
3. Over the next two years, every major industry including commercial real estate will be telling people to utilize technology to redo how they live, work and play.
4. Commercial real estate firms that are pioneering technology applications for everything from marketing to building operations include Sperry Van Ness, NAI, Boston Properties and SENTRE Partners; the industry needs more leaders like these.
The Next Big Things for Commercial Real Estate
1. Young has already seen the new generation of technology that creates a 3D virtual world; continue to watch Google—its Google Earth picked up the Keyhole technology that Realcomm had identified four years earlier.
2. Electronic transactions will be leaping ahead with broker/client agreements and offers/counter-offers being done with a click; MS Word documents will give way to integrated contract systems.
3. Intelligent buildings offer owners and managers the greatest opportunity in light of increasing world competition for energy; plugging buildings into the Internet will allow greater control over operations through networks.
Practical Advice for Changing Times
1. The US needs to get ready for a whole new level of competition with global players; the primary step is education, its necessary to think of operations in commercial real estate and industry on a world scale to remain competitive.
2. The commercial industry in the US has fallen behind in research and development; no US commercial real estate companies have an R&D lab to test new technologies and to create the buildings and control centers of the future.
3. Brokerage companies and property management companies need to set benchmarks; identify best practices within your industry and strive to emulate them within your organization.
Recommended Books
1. Life 2.0; by Rich Karlgaard, looks at how global competition will change real estate demographics and living situations in the US.
2. Twilight in the Desert; Simmons, considers the potential exhaustion of oil in Saudi Arabia from an engineer’s perspective.
3. The World Is Flat; Thomas L. Friedman, is being widely read in the business circuit; Friedman has great insights.
Realcomm 2006
· The dates for this year’s Realcomm conference are June 25–27, 2006; every commercial practitioner should consider going.
· New technologies for changing the transaction, acquisition and research will be on display; author Rich Karlgaard and representatives from Google Real Estate and other areas of Google are expected to be among the speakers; find out more about how technology is impacting the acquisition/merger trend within the industry.
Favorite Sites and Tools
1. Young customizes Google for his desktop so that he can keep track of things that are important to him throughout the day; he values Google products for searching the Internet and his own networks and laptop.
2. Microsoft Instant Messenger (including its video-conferencing capability) keeps him in touch all day long with people throughout his company and throughout the world.
3. Skype saves telephone charges for voice conversations.
4. The plethora of industry-specific software and web sites he advocates will be on view at Realcomm.
Following Through on Your Research
1. After you hear about exciting new concepts and products, don’t just walk away—take action; Young tries to give specific “homework” assignments—this time, download MSN Messenger 7.5, buy an inexpensive video camera, and do a videoconference.
2. The key components of a positive attitude are - be open to change, find a good reason to make a change, take action.
A Look Ahead to 2009
· Anticipate large economic, social and political changes to start to become evident by 2008; prepare yourself, your family and your business by getting ready to compete with the world.
· Those who are prepared will do fine in the future, but those who are not, will be surprised and will suffer.
Products and Sites Mentioned by Jim Young:
Realcomm: www.realcomm.com
MSN Messenger 7.5: messenger.msn.com
Google Earth: http://earth.google.com/
Personalized Google: http://www.customizegoogle.com/
Skype: www.skype.com