Empty commercial property doesn’t need to hemorrhage money - it's time to act and go digital

Mixed messages and changing advice are forcing the nation to once again WFH (work from home!). As lockdown measures ebb and flow in different variations across the UK, businesses are following these changing rules and as a result this leaves many commercial properties lying empty.
 
Digital technologies (Zoom and Microsoft Teams etc) have enabled us to keep in contact with our colleagues and customers, but…
 
What is happening to the buildings we have all left behind?
 
The commercial properties that sit empty waiting for a new change in legislation that will allow us to – in part – return to the office and work ‘with’ our colleagues once more are still the responsibility of the business.  Whether owned or leased, they are, for the most part, now considered an unnecessary overhead; and some are even hemorrhaging money on a daily basis
 
With businesses looking to hunker down and keep cash flow tight to weather out this storm, taking a good look at commercial properties is a perfect place to start to ‘save’ money today and for the future.
 
If you look at your buildings there are a great number of assets and systems within that could be eating away at your business’ cash – HVAC, pumps, chillers, split air conditioning systems, lighting and boilers to name but a few. If these assets are left alone, unmanned in an empty building, they could be whirling away without anyone knowing about it. They could be running on auto, on all the time, operating on poorly set time switches and temperature settings.
 
They’re having a fabulous time operating at your expense!
 
This has to change, not just for financial savings but for environmental considerations.
 
It’s time to embrace the digital technologies available for your business’ buildings - to save your business money today and for the future
 
Digital comes in a variety of forms and, as many of my clients agree, the benefits of total digital control are far outweighed by the cost.  
 
Here's how digital technologies can help your business today and for the future; to save you money and also make money. 

• Let’s look at the equipment in your building, operating without any care in the world, costing you money every minute of every day.  Implementing digital technologies - IoT solutions and services - will ensure that, from the comfort of your new WFH location, these systems are off and only operating as the ‘empty’ building requires (frost protection, emergency lighting for example). Instantly these IoT solutions deliver operational, maintenance and energy savings for the business.
• Next, let’s take a good look at those energy bills. Your contracts are all set up based on previous business operations. But, if all your staff are WFH and your commercial properties are empty, your energy consumption will dramatically change (only if you've done the bullet point above!).  Coupled with that, when legislation changes, if you intend to only have a few staff return to the office, or rotate teams back to the office, your future energy profile will not be as per the previous. Digital technologies that can consume your paper bills, normalise the data and profile a future energy contract based on your new-normal will save you money today and for the future. One of my clients does just this and will also look back over 6years of bill payments often reaping £0000’s in money owed back you from the supplier. - making you money!

Right now, every business should look at their buildings with a digital hat on and consider what’s happening in your empty buildings and what you are paying on your energy bills.
 
And the best part…. It’s really easy if you turn to the experts for support and advice on how to do this.
 
A small spend now will help reap future energy and financial savings.
 
Let’s go digital! 
 
If you would like to find out more about these products and services please get in touch. Our Founder Lisa Gingell has a wealth of experience in implementing digital technologies into commercial properties to save and make money from a business’ real estate.