By Natalie Puchalski
THE commercial real estate industry is embracing opportunities in the digital environment, as technologies change the way businesses engage with the marketplace.
A strong online presence is a key element of successful business operations, according to John Kenny, Australian chief executive of Colliers International.
Online opportunities are inspiring the real estate industry.Credit: AFP
The Colliers website recently won the Sitecore award for Site of the Year in Australia and New Zealand, a contest that considers creative presentation, integrations with applications, the site's ability to educate, inform and motivate to action, as well as overall user experience.
"I'm told that our website is the most trafficked in our sector and 20 per cent ahead of our nearest competitor, which means we get greater exposure for our brand and our services, and for our clients' properties," Mr Kenny said.
"Real estate is a very relationship-based business and we invest a lot in our people to be the best they can and have a great relationship with our customers."
The website plays an important role in maintaining those relationships and as a result, Mr Kenny said it needed to be something the company invested in regularly.
He said websites provided a cost-effective, wide-reaching way of providing rich content for the audience and also allowed potential customers to do research themselves.
As well as larger online real estate directories, Mr Kenny said it was critical that individual companies built their own brand presence on the web.
"If you're just advertising on a portal, that might meet one of your needs by helping people find a property but it doesn't offer the opportunity to engage with your clients in a more private and direct way," he said.
A "great source of customer feedback" is social media, which Mr Kenny said provided Colliers with another way of keeping up-to-date with trends.
"Take the example of marketing a residential development or a new shopping centre - there'll be an audience commenting on what their views are of that centre or development. We need to contribute and lead that discussion where we can and hear the views of others."
In addition, Mr Kenny said Colliers had its own social media network that was used internally to connect with employees around the world.
Mr Kenny also said it was important that companies supported a wide range of technologies to provide their employees with choices. "We have a portion of our people with smartphones and iPads, as well as laptops and other technology - I think it is critical that they have all the information they need wherever they are."