Last week at PropTech Connect, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel exploring an important question: is the biggest barrier to digital transformation really the technology, or is it the people? I was joined by:
As the co-founder of LMRE, a global built environment innovation recruitment firm, this is a subject particularly close to me. We work with property owners, operators, investment managers and technology companies across North America and Europe and see firsthand how closely innovation and I talent are connected. The panel reinforced a simple truth: even the best technology in the world cannot transform a business unless its people understand it, trust it and know how to use it.
Technology is rarely the only barrier
From a recruitment perspective, the biggest obstacle is often not access to technology. It is whether an organisation has the leadership, talent and structure required to implement it successfully. Businesses regularly invest in new platforms or transformation programmes before fully understanding the people and capabilities they need around them. A company might hire a brilliant technical team, but adoption will stall if its commercial teams cannot explain the value to customers. Equally, a strong sales team cannot compensate for poor implementation, disconnected data or a lack of technical leadership. Successful digital transformation requires technology, commercial strategy and talent strategy to be aligned. Too often, those decisions are still being made in separate rooms.
Integration must come before automation
Sam Wood from Cisco highlighted how technology itself can become a barrier when systems operate in silos, data is fragmented and security is implemented inconsistently. Secure integration is a prerequisite for effective automation. Without systems that can communicate across tenant and landlord environments, IT and operational technology, and data platforms and digital twins, the industry cannot deliver truly intelligent, AI-enabled buildings.
There is also a growing capability gap. Technology can already do more for organisations than many teams are currently trained to take advantage of. Cisco addresses this internally through mandatory quarterly training and dedicated “Time to Grow”, giving employees protected time to test new tools and develop their skills. The company also provides enablement for resellers, integrators, design firms, AEC businesses, consultants and contractors. This investment matters. If the wider ecosystem does not develop alongside the technology, projects will continue to be designed and delivered in the same way, regardless of how advanced the available tools become.
Buying technology is not the same as transforming
The organisations that genuinely transform do much more than purchase another platform. They begin with the business outcome they want to achieve. That might include creating a better workplace experience, improving health and wellbeing, making real estate decisions using better data or reaching net-zero targets. They then make deliberate decisions about what to buy, what to build internally and where to partner.
Cisco’s Penn 1 office in New York provides a strong example. Its workplace transformation brought together technology, design and operational thinking to deliver a more seamless employee experience. The results included a 36% like-for-like energy saving and transformed offices returning to pre-pandemic occupancy levels. The lesson was not simply that technology could improve the workplace. It was that successful transformation required clear outcomes, collaboration between specialist partners and a repeatable design centred on the user. As Sam put it, “user experience sits at the intersection of technology and the human component”.
Phil Gardner also highlighted that many organisations already possess good technology. The larger problem is its underuse. Technology only delivers value when there is a culture of adoption, discipline around processes and clear accountability for outcomes. Transformation therefore depends just as much on leadership, delegation and organisational behaviour as it does on the quality of the system itself.
Governance is about architecture and accountability
As organisations adopt more technology and AI, governance becomes increasingly important. The challenge is not simply about who is allowed to write code or introduce a new tool. It is about the overall architecture: how systems integrate, where data sits, how resilient the environment is and who remains accountable for its use. Sean Wright share that organisations need to understand where they possess genuine expertise and where buying or partnering will create a stronger competitive advantage. Centres of excellence can also help establish consistency, share knowledge and guide AI adoption across different business functions. Clear governance should not prevent innovation. It should give employees a safe and supported route through which to experiment, learn and adopt approved technology.
People need to be part of the change
Transformation naturally creates uncertainty. Bringing employees, customers and investors through that uncertainty requires more than a company-wide announcement.
People are much more likely to embrace change when they understand:
Benjamin shared various examples of the importance of recognising early adopters and creating internal technology champions. These individuals can demonstrate best practice, support colleagues and make adoption feel more relevant and achievable.
Clear leadership communication becomes even more important when transformation involves difficult decisions. Employees need honest explanations and a coherent understanding of the wider strategy. Without this, uncertainty quickly turns into mistrust.
Phil made another important point: technology providers and customers need to develop partnerships rather than purely transactional relationships. Long-term relationships allow vendors to understand how a customer operates, support adoption and evolve the technology around genuine business needs. Buying a system is only the beginning. The value comes from how effectively the vendor and customer work together after implementation.
Transformation should not be presented purely as replacement
One of the biggest mistakes organisations make is presenting transformation as a replacement exercise rather than a development opportunity. This is particularly relevant when discussing AI. Many of the most valuable technology hires are not replacing existing teams. They are helping those teams become more effective. An AI engineer might automate a repetitive process, but the business will still need domain experts, relationship builders, commercial leaders and people who understand how real estate actually operates.
Companies also need to be honest about the skills they do not currently possess. Sometimes the answer will be external recruitment. In other cases, it will involve retraining, restructuring or giving existing employees greater exposure to technology. The best transformation leaders make people feel that they are participating in the change, rather than waiting to become a casualty of it.
What will the future leader look like?
Our closing discussion considered which human skills will become more valuable as AI and digital transformation reshape real estate. The panel highlighted the importance of leaders who combine technical and commercial understanding and about the value of range and strong relationship-building skills. They also focused on adaptability. Technologies and AI models will continue to develop rapidly, so organisations cannot build their entire strategy around one platform or tool.
A Formula One analogy used captured this brilliantly: leaders do not need to build the cars, but they do need to understand their capabilities and train the best possible drivers.
From what we are seeing across recruitment, the ability to connect technical innovation with human and commercial understanding is already becoming a major differentiator. The most valuable people will increasingly be those who can work across traditional boundaries:
Curiosity will also be essential. Roles will continue to evolve, so businesses need people who are comfortable learning, adapting and challenging how things have always been done.
My final takeaway
People with both technical knowledge and genuine domain expertise will become increasingly valuable. However, I also believe emotional intelligence will become more important, not less. As more processes become automated, distinctly human qualities such as trust, judgement, leadership, communication and relationship-building will become major differentiators.
My advice to organisations is simple: treat talent strategy as part of digital transformation from day one, rather than something to address after the technology has already been selected.
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