Professional services firm Accenture is expanding its support for the property insights platform, Podium Property Insights. Launched in July 2020, the platform collects real-time data through sensors placed throughout building environments to provide real estate managers with sustainability and productivity insights. The tool is primarily used to gather information on sustainability, cost, and employee engagement goals. However, Lendlease, the company behind the platform, aims to grow its capabilities further and sees the expanded partnership with Accenture as a means of developing its use in retail portfolios. A successful trial was conducted earlier this year.
In celebration of Chinese New Year, Lendlease’s shopping malls in Singapore launched an experiment that utilized artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality to bridge the gap between online and in-person shopping experiences.
The customers who visited the mall during the four-week trial period were able to access digital tokens, in-store offers, and NFTs through a mobile app that created 10,000 wallets. Furthermore, the trial saw the collection of 29,000 offers from 50 participating stores.
Lendlease’s digital CEO, William Ruh, explained that recent events have compelled his team to expand their platform’s capabilities. The disruptions caused by the pandemic and the emergence of new trends in the workplace and retail industries have pushed them to embrace new trends and use those insights to reimagine how people interact with their built environment.
Mr. Ruh believes that blended reality has a crucial role to play in creating the best places of the future.
In a recent report, Accenture found that technology and innovation are believed to enhance the shopping experience by two-thirds of in-store and mobile shoppers. Peter Burns, the head of Accenture’s business in Australia and New Zealand, hopes that this technology can help businesses cope with the numerous challenges facing commerce today.
According to Burns, Accenture’s research reveals that 93% of CEOs globally face ten or more simultaneous business challenges, such as climate change, rising energy costs, skill shortages, inflation, and price volatility. By collaborating with Lendlease, Accenture hopes to assist companies in adapting their corporate and retail real estate to this changing environment. This collaboration will help companies meet their sustainability and efficiency goals while also creating environments in which their employees can thrive.
