- The Business Intelligence Center is new for 2013 and 2016 which allows you to connect BI Dashboards and BI Data to the Sharepoint User can adjust settings for different functionalities at the Site Level and the Site Collection Level
- Library Settings holds all of your metadata and provides you with the ability to implement versioning history, approvals, and document templates
- Best practice: do not create more than 8-12 subsites below the top level.
Other Cool Facts
- In Sharepoint 2016, you now have the ability to upload files with special characters in the title.
- Users can go to Recycle Bin to restore any deleted contents.
- Users can go to Site Settings/ Look and Feel to change how SharePoint looks out of the box. Change formatting, background pictures, and color schemes. It also has many preloaded templates available to make Sharepoint more exciting. You can also upload a picture to the Sharepoint title in the top navigation.
Learn how we can help you with SharePoint
Learn how we can make your SharePoint better or contact us for a quick, free consultation. About HingePoint HingePoint delivers cloud, mobile and analytics solutions for the construction industry. Specializing in the systems that run the construction business including SharePoint, Salesforce, Procore, Microsoft Dynamics, and Autodesk. Scale and grow profitably with Financial and Project Dashboards, document management, and workflow automation for field-to-office collaboration. [post_title] => SharePoint Out of Box Tips and Tricks From The SharePoint Experts [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => sharepoint-box-tips-tricks-sharepoint-experts [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2019-03-12 10:45:18 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-03-12 15:45:18 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.hingepoint.com/?p=13912 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [3] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 12925 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2017-06-21 16:34:44 [post_date_gmt] => 2017-06-21 21:34:44 [post_content] =>Toyota and Lean Land in Plano, Texas
If you know anything about Toyota North America headquarters, you probably heard it is moving to Plano, Texas. They are building a remarkable new headquarters building near Legacy West. But what you might not know is that Toyota has revolutionized how companies and organizations around the world work together through something called lean. Lean is a philosophical approach created by Toyota in the 1930s to eliminate waste so you can better serve customers. "Being Toyota's neighbor in Plano is outstanding," HingePoint CEO and Founder Bryce Finnerty said. "We not only eliminate waste for our clients who are doing redundant work because of the software they are using, we have adopted the philosophy in our own work." The HingePoint team has been reading “2 Second Lean” by Paul Akers for about a year now. We read a page in our morning, 30-minute huddle, and we all try to “lean out” our workflow. Akers, who sent a personal message to the HingePoint team via YouTube, said lean is very simple and it should not be complicated. "Lean is simply the elimination of waste by taking every process that you do every day and just removing that waste and making it a little more efficient and easier for you to do," Akers said. "Lean should make your work more enjoyable. If it does that you're going to be more productive, the quality is going to go up, the customer is going to win, the company is going to win and you're going to win." Lean thinking is spreading. According to the Lean Enterprise Institute, almost all industries are applying lean thinking to their businesses: logistics and distribution, services, retail, healthcare, construction, maintenance, and government. “Indeed, lean consciousness and methods are only beginning to take root among senior managers and leaders in all sectors today,” according to the Lean Enterprise Institute, But what exactly does 'lean out' mean? When we say “lean out your work,” we’re saying, “See where you are wasting time or resources and fix it.” Be like Toyota, and lean thinking will vastly improve your business. If you only save two seconds on repetitive tasks, those seconds start adding up if you continuously improve. And if you take the philosophy to heart, you can lean out your life both personally or professionally. Another good way to lean out your workflow is to fix what bugs you. Actually, all HingePointers are paid 40 minutes Tuesday through Friday to find something that bugs them and to fix it. We’ve had employees redesign entire personal offices to learning more Excel keyboard shortcuts. You can see a list of more examples below. So Why is Toyota and Lean Important? Toyota vastly improved Henry Ford’s assembly line, by seeing how they could eliminate waste. Toyota called the philosophy of complete elimination of all waste the Toyota Production System. “Waste can manifest as excess inventory in some cases, extraneous processing steps in other cases, and defective products in yet other cases. All these "waste" elements intertwine with each other to create more waste, eventually impacting the management of the corporation itself,” according to Toyota. The production system was created with the objective of "making the vehicles ordered by customers in the quickest and most efficient way, in order to deliver the vehicles as quickly as possible." How does this apply to your business? Toyota and lean thinking goes hand in hand. But think about your own customers. Are they getting your best work in the most efficient way possible? Or do you have waste? Are you wasting time because you have some software that isn’t working the way you want it? Do you have all your data in one place? Entire companies have been created around the idea of eliminating waste. HingePoint is one of them. We help you take control of your critical data that is locked in a server and can’t communicate with other systems.HingePoint Lean
Equipment and Office
- Started Leaning out (organizing and getting rid of stuff) Marketing Shared folders
- Charge computer near the front door when not being used so it is easy to grab when leaving
- Began Leaning out Office to fit new filing cabinet in closet to hold all paper documents for current clients
- Organize File Folders/Cabinets
- Got monitor adapters so team can all work on two screens in my home office
- Bought extra plug-ins for computer home office to get in and out of home office quicker
- Got another TV screen from Bryce to save time on group collaboration, extra screen for 2 Hingepointers
- Set up 3 workspaces in my office so we don't have to waste time when the team gets to my house for a work session
- Turn on computer first thing in the morning to let it boot up while I do other stuff rather than waiting for it to load
- Got a second computer cord to save time plugging my computer in and taking my cord with me everywhere and then having to plug it in again when I get home
- Bought a $15 keyboard and mouse so I can have two work stations in my office
SharePoint
- Used Jonathan's template for Data Mapping to speed up my data mapping for SharePoint
- SharePoint data mapping - do one column at a time, adding data in batches
- SharePoint data mapping - use existing mappings as templates for similar sites
- Created the project management folder structure for SharePoint in a dropbox template to save time when making cutover
- SharePoint future state mapping - leave Brendan's comments when data is the same
- SharePoint future state mapping - use keyboard to switch between tabs
- SharePoint future state mapping - instead of typing commonly used phrases, copy from other fields
- SharePoint future state mapping - a lot of the fields are the same across contracts; only change what is different
- Set up all requirements for list views in new SharePoint so that I wouldn’t have to review what I was thinking and then rework the requirements after discussing with developers
- SharePoint future state mapping - use keyboard shortcuts for review
- When transferring files between folders, open two copies of Windows Explorer for the destination and source
- SharePoint future state mapping - use keyboard shortcuts for review comments, like Alt+R+C for new comment
Salesforce
- Use the best lighting when scanning business cards to Salesforce
- Set up salesforce filters to automate reporting
- Be logged into programs (SF) earlier in the day
- Wrote down the configuration for the salesforce lead filters, so if they get deleted again it will be a quick fix
Tableau
- When connecting to online data sources in Tableau, always have a good internet connection
- When connecting to data sources in Tableau, validate credentials outside of Tableau first, don't try to troubleshoot inside of Tableau
Excel
- Learn keyboard shortcuts in Excel for common tasks, i.e. Alt+H-I-R for insert row
- In Excel, do as much navigation as possible with the keyboard
- Excel shortcut: F2 to edit cell contents instead of double clicking
- Started using some of Jonathan's excel shortcuts that he taught us
Other
- Organized candidates, recruiting backlog
- Turned off social media notifications to be able to focus more on work
- Saved phone number for daily huddle GoToMeeting
- Only work through one VPN at a time
- Organized applicants in spreadsheet so I don't waste time trying to figure out who is who
- Brought iPad to meeting with Dronomy to lean out bringing my entire laptop setup
- Installed a Chrome extension called StayFocused to block distractions
- Added Amazon Chime daily huddle dial-in as a contact in my phone
- Created Content Widgets to easily share content on the blog
- Use Power BI to create graphs wherever possible
- Emptied downloads folder to avoid scrolling to find newly downloaded files
- Close windows and tabs that are not relevant to the work at hand
- Make scorecards for client throughout the week to avoid rushed work on Fridays
- For data dictionary, fill out all data names for a screen first and then define them
- Data mapping/dictionary - use two screens
- Brought iPad to meeting yesterday instead of laptop to take notes so I didn't have to pack a whole bag
- When working through VPN on servers, work in the morning/early afternoon to avoid lag that occurs in the evening and spend time packing up and unpacking my laptop and accessories
- Edit template in meeting as we go, so we don't have to take notes and then do rework after the meeting
- Improved server access status template
- Had Jonathan set up Scorecards while I was in a meeting so I could send them out when I got home
- When uploading client weekly reports, copy both reports together to avoid clicking down into folder structure
- Tested everyone's email and password before sending them to the developers so we didn't waste anymore time
- In future, send meeting invite to client and let them either accept or decline, rather than wait for them to respond to my emails
SharePoint Settings
Out of the Box Web Parts
- The Business Intelligence Center is new for 2013 and 2016 which allows you to connect BI Dashboards and BI Data to the Sharepoint User can adjust settings for different functionalities at the Site Level and the Site Collection Level
- Library Settings holds all of your metadata and provides you with the ability to implement versioning history, approvals, and document templates
- Best practice: do not create more than 8-12 subsites below the top level.
Other Cool Facts
- In Sharepoint 2016, you now have the ability to upload files with special characters in the title.
- Users can go to Recycle Bin to restore any deleted contents.
- Users can go to Site Settings/ Look and Feel to change how SharePoint looks out of the box. Change formatting, background pictures, and color schemes. It also has many preloaded templates available to make Sharepoint more exciting. You can also upload a picture to the Sharepoint title in the top navigation.
Learn how we can help you with SharePoint
Learn how we can make your SharePoint better or contact us for a quick, free consultation.
About HingePoint HingePoint covers the AEC Industry and is the author of The AEC Industry 4.0 Report and the Autodesk Industry Report 2017. HingePoint helps construction and real estate development companies take control of their company’s information. We combine systems, software, and data so all company information can be seen and accessed from one screen, like a smartphone or computer. HingePoint provides Procore, SharePoint and Salesforce consulting for Commercial Real Estate and Construction companies. HingePoint also helps the AEC industry with development & integration of AutoDesk and Procore products with enterprise systems. We are a trusted partner with over 25 years experience of systems development and integration work in the AEC industry. Our clients range from top hotel brands and restaurant chains to AEC firms and real estate developers and Facilities Management. We provide BIM with ROI. Results Guaranteed…Literally Guaranteed. [post_title] => SharePoint Out of Box Tips and Tricks From SharePoint Consultants [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => sharepoint-tips-and-tricks-from-the-sharepoint-experts [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-05-28 06:48:56 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-05-28 11:48:56 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.hingepoint.com/?p=12913 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [5] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 12905 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2017-06-14 20:55:38 [post_date_gmt] => 2017-06-15 01:55:38 [post_content] => David Greenleaf, a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan, visited the team’s new world headquarters recently and was so excited he told all his Facebook friends he was going to become a member of the gym at the facility. But this isn’t in Arlington where one of the most spectacular stadiums in the world sits; it’s in Frisco. The Cowboys recently built The Star in Frisco, which is a 91-acre campus that hosts the world headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys. In addition to playing home to the corporate offices and practice facility, The Star in Frisco features the Ford Center—a state-of-the-art indoor football stadium that will host a variety of events, an entertainment district lined with restaurants and shops, the Omni hotel, a medical center and more. The Star in Frisco offers an experience for fans worldwide to take a look inside the entire operation of the Dallas Cowboys and to workout like a Cowboy. “It’s awesome,” Greenleaf said. “As soon I return from vacation I am joining.” It’s no secret that Collin County is rapidly growing with major developments like Legacy West and corporate offices in Plano and many developments surrounding the Star in Frisco. Because of the development, Frisco is getting its first high-rise building, and three other developments will be built in the area. The area in known as the $5-billion mile because it is seeing more than $5 billion in capital investment.Need help with BIM integration?
[post_title] => Star in Frisco Brings Major Developments to Collin County [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => star-in-frisco-brings-developments-to-collin-county [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-02-21 00:12:44 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-02-21 06:12:44 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.hingepoint.com/?p=12905 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [6] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 12872 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2017-06-05 15:15:45 [post_date_gmt] => 2017-06-05 20:15:45 [post_content] => The largest urban village development—Legacy West—opened in Plano on Friday. Collin County is now known for its booming economic landscape, however, the opening of Legacy West, a $3.2 billion dollar development, has set a new standard in commercial real estate for the area. Legacy West is a 225-acre project with hotels, restaurants, high-end shops and apartments residing along Dallas North Tollway and State HWY 121. Because of the massive development, corporate offices like the new Toyota North America headquarters, Liberty Mutual and FedEx will surround the developments, bringing a surge of new jobs to the area. The grand opening planned by DFW Events and Legacy West, showcased treats by Sprinkles Cupcakes, signature cocktails, live entertainment and food all proving to be as big as the Texas-sized state.Real Estate Developers focusing on integration issues with legacy systems
The biggest trend for almost every business is this burden to outperform how they did last year and competitors. In the commercial real estate area, there are trends that can directly influence how these companies work and achieve maximum growth.
Real estate developers want to build faster and reduce expenses, just as any good business wants. But the major difference for developers is that they are starting to feel more pressure to perform. Deloitte states that developers will begin leveraging new technologies and fix integration issues with legacy systems. Here is HingePoint’s take on the top technological trends for commercial real estate developers.
1) Real Estate Investment Staying Strong in the United States
It’s a good time to be a real estate developer. The United States continues to be the most favored destination for real estate investments, according to the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE). In their annual survey, foreign investors placed the United States as the top destination to invest in real estate.
According to the AFIRE’s press release, 95% of respondents to the survey say they will maintain or increase their investment in the United States. Dallas—where HingePoint is headquartered—ranks 12th in the world for places to invest in real estate. Almost half of the top cities to invest in are within the United States.
2) Need to Keep Top Talent
With increased investment in the United States, real estate developers will need to keep top talent and get them up to speed faster when they hire new employees. Onboarding can be frustrating at a company that does not have a process in place or a one-stop shop for internal employees and contractors. They’ll need to onboard new talent more efficiently and give instant access to needed information so employees can do their job better and come up to speed faster.
Many developers and construction companies expected to grow are upgrading their internal SharePoint sites so employees can instantly access what they need to be more productively.
Deloitte seems to think that competition for talent is going to be fierce.
“A shortage of candidates with strong skills in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); rising urbanization; and Millennial's’ preference for an open and flexible work culture are changing the employment marketplace and will result in significant competition for talent.”
3) Cloud and MobileCloud computing is Internet-based computing, where you can access shared resources, data and information on-demand. This information is stored on a computer or server that you can access through the Internet. Accessing the cloud with a mobile device gives you access to your entire business on the go. You can communicate and share virtually any document with anyone anywhere.
4) Take Control of Data
Taking control of company information is one of the most difficult and one of the most critical tasks any company can take on. And believe it or now, SharePoint is still one of the top enterprise tools out there for collaboration, and sharing and organizing information.
Anyone can start using the cloud and mobile devices. Any company can stand up SharePoint and make it a company initiative for all employees to use it. But if the information is not organized and found easily, and you can’t maximize the out-of-the-box solutions or customize SharePoint to work the way you want it, your enterprise style tools probably won't be effective.
Bryce Finnerty, CEO and Founder of HingePoint, said more commercial real estate developers are completely changing their systems.
“Many developers are going straight to customization. They want their systems and software to work the way they want it,” he said.
5) Getting rid of the old, upgrading legacy systems
Many commercial real estate developers are still using systems created in the first decade of this century.. and some are still just relying on 2D CAD, email and paper. With mobile, the cloud and Autodesk’s newer capabilities, commercial real estate developers are seeing that they can leapfrog in productivity.
Many developers will begin to completely overhaul their legacy systems and software. They will take an integrated approach, which means software will automatically share data and information with other software. For example, many developers want SalesForce and SharePoint to share information and data with each other. It streamlines effort of employees and makes collaboration better.
Manual data entry and redundant tasks will dramatically fall. More employees will have access to critical information they need to do their job effectively.
6) 3D Virtual Prototypes
New technology allows Commercial Real Estate to build prototypes with photo-realistic renderings and validate design selections. This helps developers sell properties with renovations first, gets approvals faster, and markets buildings faster for less upfront cost.
3D Virtual Prototypes speed up the design and construction phases on projects. Clients often gain 20% on their project timelines. Improved collaboration, decision-making, visualization, and clash detection are benefits proven to reduce costly change orders, delays, and rework.
7) New tech like 3D printing and augmented reality
Augmented and virtual reality are so new for commercial real estate, some headsets are still being tested. For example augmented reality headsets like DAQRI’s Smart Helmet could revolutionize how new developments are built and how construction companies troubleshoot problems.
They are also altering how real estate developers show off new properties. Instead of photorealistic prototypes on a computer screen, marketers can send headsets to prospects to let them literally walk around a multi-million dollar condominium or office. It makes data truly 3D.
CAD & BIM Integration to SharePoint, Salesforce, Autodesk, and beyond
Whether you're working with SharePoint, Salesforce or Autodesk, integration is more critical than ever. As companies start using new collaborative tools and going into the cloud, integration is still a struggle. CIO wrote that about 90 percent of businesses are using the cloud. But initial integration is creating challenges. “Integration challenges remain long after organizations first make the jump to the cloud, it’s clear that the technology is here to stay. Businesses who ride out the current storm and find the right balance of public, private and hybrid cloud solutions will gain a unique advantage over the competitors,” according to CIO. Making your software and solutions talk to one another is critical. “When applications don’t ‘speak’ to one another or share information, companies are forced to continuously update different systems of record,” HingePoint CEO and Founder Bryce Finnerty said. “They are prisoners to the technology they use.” Here are three quick HingePoint examples of companies that needed an integration solution. CAD to BIM: A client used CAD files to build rental storage units across Texas. Everything was done with paper: the planning, the design, determining the rentable space in the building, and submitting construction documents. For each building this developer built, new CAD files were created. HingePoint took all the developer’s CAD drawings, put them in Revit and made a full 3D model the developer can view on their smartphone. Hotel franchise: A large hotel franchise had 12 old software platforms powering the en- tire company. The hotel franchise envisioned automating the design and construction process that operated perhaps the largest system of hotel rooms on the planet. The goal was to move everything to the cloud... and access all the information on a mobile screen. You can learn more from our Integrated Solutions eBook. Commercial Real Estate Developer: A real estate firm tracked the finances for more than 50 projects manually. All 50 project managers would collect key financial data from each project. They would put it into a PDF and send it to the CFO. The CFO team would then print the PDFs and put all the data into an Excel spreadsheet. Then they would make graphs and tables to see how the projects were doing. They would do this once a month. To solve this problem, HingePoint made one simple interface where the CFO can get the data instantly. Project managers just upload information to the digital financial dashboard now and the information is found immediately. A Simple 5 Step Systems Integration ProcessReal Estate Developers focusing on integration issues with legacy systems
The biggest trend for almost every business is this burden to outperform how they did last year and competitors. In the commercial real estate area, there are trends that can directly influence how these companies work and achieve maximum growth.
Real estate developers want to build faster and reduce expenses, just as any good business wants. But the major difference for developers is that they are starting to feel more pressure to perform. Deloitte states that developers will begin leveraging new technologies and fix integration issues with legacy systems. Here is HingePoint’s take on the top technological trends for commercial real estate developers.
1) Real Estate Investment Staying Strong in the United States
It’s a good time to be a real estate developer. The United States continues to be the most favored destination for real estate investments, according to the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE). In their annual survey, foreign investors placed the United States as the top destination to invest in real estate.
According to the AFIRE’s press release, 95% of respondents to the survey say they will maintain or increase their investment in the United States. Dallas—where HingePoint is headquartered—ranks 12th in the world for places to invest in real estate. Almost half of the top cities to invest in are within the United States.
2) Need to Keep Top Talent
With increased investment in the United States, real estate developers will need to keep top talent and get them up to speed faster when they hire new employees. Onboarding can be frustrating at a company that does not have a process in place or a one-stop shop for internal employees and contractors. They’ll need to onboard new talent more efficiently and give instant access to needed information so employees can do their job better and come up to speed faster.
Many developers and construction companies expected to grow are upgrading their internal SharePoint sites so employees can instantly access what they need to be more productively.
Deloitte seems to think that competition for talent is going to be fierce.
“A shortage of candidates with strong skills in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); rising urbanization; and Millennials’ preference for an open and flexible work culture are changing the employment marketplace and will result in significant competition for talent.”
3) Cloud and Mobile
Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, where you can access shared resources, data and information on-demand. This information is stored on a computer or server that you can access through the Internet. Accessing the cloud with a mobile device gives you access to your entire business on the go. You can communicate and share virtually any document with anyone anywhere.
4) Take Control of Data
Taking control of company information is one of the most difficult and one of the most critical tasks any company can take on. And believe it or now, SharePoint is still one of the top enterprise tools out there for collaboration, and sharing and organizing information.
Anyone can start using the cloud and mobile devices. Any company can stand up SharePoint and make it a company initiative for all employees to use it. But if the information is not organized and found easily, and you can’t maximize the out-of-the-box solutions or customize SharePoint to work the way you want it, your enterprise style tools probably won't be effective.
Bryce Finnerty, CEO and Founder of HingePoint, said more commercial real estate developers are completely changing their systems.
“Many developers are going straight to customization. They want their systems and software to work the way they want it,” he said.
5) Getting rid of the old, upgrading legacy systems
Many commercial real estate developers are still using systems created in the first decade of this century, and some are still just relying on 2D CAD, email and paper. With mobile, the cloud and Autodesk’s newer capabilities, commercial real estate developers are seeing that they can leapfrog in productivity.
Many developers will begin to completely overhaul their legacy systems and software. They will take an integrated approach, which means software will automatically share data and information with other software. For example, many developers want SalesForce and SharePoint to share information and data with each other. It streamlines effort of employees and makes collaboration better.
Manual data entry and redundant tasks will dramatically fall. More employees will have access to critical information they need to do their job effectively.
6) 3D Virtual Prototypes
New technology allows Commercial Real Estate to build prototypes with photorealistic renderings and validate design selections. This helps developers sell properties with renovations first, gets approvals faster, and markets buildings faster for less upfront cost.
3D Virtual Prototypes speed up the design and construction phases on projects. Clients often gain 20% on their project timelines. Improved collaboration, decision-making, visualization, and clash detection are benefits proven to reduce costly change orders, delays, and rework.
7) New tech like 3D printing and augmented reality
Augmented and virtual reality are so new for commercial real estate, some headsets are still being tested. For example augmented reality headsets like DAQRI’s Smart Helmet could revolutionize how new developments are built and how construction companies troubleshoot problems.
They are also altering how real estate developers show off new properties. Instead of photorealistic prototypes on a computer screen, marketers can send headsets to prospects to let them literally walk around a multi-million dollar condominium or office. It makes data truly 3D.
Bonus Trend) Drones to Market Properties
Sell and lease real estate faster by using one aerial drone photography. Create a video with drone footage to show off your property in a way never shown before. Perfect for marketing properties to prospects.
Real Estate Executives focus on replacing outdated systems and the need for cloud and mobile solutions.
Positive year-over-year growth is almost any businesses primary objective. In the commercial real estate or CRE area, there seems to be an accelerating disruption curve caused by “rapid changes in tenant dynamics, customer demographic shifts, and ever-increasing needs for better and faster data access”. This disruption influences how these companies work and affect their ability to achieve maximum and revenue.1) Real Estate Investment Staying Strong in the United States
It’s a good time to be a real estate developer. The United States continues to be the most favored destination for real estate investments, according to the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE). In their annual survey, foreign investors placed the United States as the top destination to invest in real estate.
According to the AFIRE’s press release, 95% of respondents to the survey say they will maintain or increase their investment in the United States. Dallas—where HingePoint is headquartered—ranks 12th in the world for places to invest in real estate. Almost half of the top cities to invest in are within the United States.
2) Need to Keep Top Talent
With increased investment in the United States, real estate developers will need to keep top talent and get them up to speed faster when they hire new employees. Onboarding can be frustrating at a company that does not have a process in place or a one-stop shop for internal employees and contractors. They’ll need to onboard new talent more efficiently and give instant access to needed information so employees can do their job better and come up to speed faster.
Many developers and construction companies expected to grow are upgrading their internal SharePoint sites so employees can instantly access what they need to be more productively.
Deloitte seems to think that competition for talent is going to be fierce.
“A shortage of candidates with strong skills in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); rising urbanization; and Millennials’ preference for an open and flexible work culture are changing the employment marketplace and will result in significant competition for talent.”
3) Cloud and Mobile
Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, where you can access shared resources, data and information on-demand. This information is stored on a computer or server that you can access through the Internet. Accessing the cloud with a mobile device gives you access to your entire business on the go. You can communicate and share virtually any document with anyone anywhere.
4) Take Control of Data
Taking control of company information is one of the most difficult and one of the most critical tasks any company can take on. And believe it or not, SharePoint is still one of the top enterprise tools out there for collaboration, and sharing and organizing information.
Anyone can start using the cloud and mobile devices. Any company can stand up SharePoint and make it a company initiative for all employees to use it. But if the information is not organized and found easily, and you can’t maximize the out-of-the-box solutions or customize SharePoint to work the way you want it, your enterprise style tools probably won't be effective.
Bryce Finnerty, CEO and Founder of HingePoint, said more commercial real estate developers are completely changing their systems.
“Many developers are going straight to customization. They want their systems and software to work the way they want it,” he said.
5) Getting rid of the old, upgrading legacy systems
Many commercial real estate developers are still using systems created in the first decade of this century, and some are still just relying on 2D CAD, email and paper. With mobile, the cloud and Autodesk’s newer capabilities, commercial real estate developers are seeing that they can leapfrog in productivity.
Many developers will begin to completely overhaul their legacy systems and software. They will take an integrated approach, which means software will automatically share data and information with other software. For example, many developers want SalesForce and SharePoint to share information and data with each other. It streamlines effort of employees and makes collaboration better.
Manual data entry and redundant tasks will dramatically fall. More employees will have access to critical information they need to do their job effectively.
6) 3D Virtual Prototypes
New technology allows Commercial Real Estate to build prototypes with photorealistic renderings and validate design selections. This helps developers sell properties with renovations first, gets approvals faster, and markets buildings faster for less upfront cost.
3D Virtual Prototypes speed up the design and construction phases on projects. Clients often gain 20% on their project timelines. Improved collaboration, decision-making, visualization, and clash detection are benefits proven to reduce costly change orders, delays, and rework.
7) New tech like 3D printing and augmented reality
Augmented and virtual reality are so new for commercial real estate, some headsets are still being tested. For example augmented reality headsets like DAQRI’s Smart Helmet could revolutionize how new developments are built and how construction companies troubleshoot problems.
They are also altering how real estate developers show off new properties. Instead of photorealistic prototypes on a computer screen, marketers can send headsets to prospects to let them literally walk around a multi-million dollar condominium or office. It makes data truly 3D.