One of the most significant trends in coworking and throughout the commercial real estate industry, is the advancement of uses for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). For managers and landlords, it leads to improvements in operational simplicity, features that increase revenue and reduce long-term costs with short-term investment. In our newest eBook, we analyze how AI and the IoT impact shared workspaces today and moving forward. We look at the most prevalent applications of advanced technologies in coworking then examine data on AI implementation and how it has evolved quickly over the past few years. Victor Vasev, Yardi senior director of coworking, explains how the Yardi Kube platform is using AI and IoT to help operators facilitate day-to-day business and adhere to social distancing guidelines for members. Finally, what is next for AI? Our eBook concludes with a look at the next steps for AI in the commercial and coworking sectors. Introduction to AI For the last decade, there has been consistent and rapid growth of coworking which has run parallel to the increase in the uses and potential for AI and IoT. Just about every aspect of our lives – comfort at home, entertainment, energy efficiency, transportation and now social distancing – have been altered by smart technology. The definitions of AI and IoT are intertwined, yet unique. The Internet of Things are internet-enabled devices, connected to collect and share data. Artificial Intelligence means your software gathers data, processes information and analyzes or makes predictions based off that data. In short, IoT is about connection and performing tasks, like requesting that Alexa turn down the temperature on your Nest thermostat. Artificial Intelligence goes beyond what human analysis is capable of to draw conclusions from data, like the Nest itself...

Back in 2015, General Motors, Google’s Waymo, Toyota and Honda made announcements that by 2020 they will have driverless cars. Elon Musk was even more optimistic and said that Tesla would do it by 2018, but when that failed, he moved up the release date to 2020. We are in 2020 and as we all see, there are no sign of driverless cars on the streets. Musk recently commented that by the end of this year, Tesla will have fully autonomous cars. While Tesla may have the technology to enable a car to finish a journey without any human input—what the industry calls level 5 autonomy—the actual development of the vehicle not only has to be safe, but also meet complex legal requirements. How do they work? In theory, self-driving cars need to be outfitted with cameras that can see all the objects around it and be able to react rather than steering into one. These cameras help the car to view objects, while there are also sensors that help them detect objects like pedestrians, other vehicles and road signs. Lidar uses lasers to measure the distance between objects and the vehicle, while tracking speed and direction. The sensors send data back to the car’s control system or computer to help it make decisions about where to steer or when to brake. There are also cases when bad weather, heavy traffic or roads signs with graffiti can negatively impact the accuracy of sensing capability to self-driving cars. We will have to wait and see if an autonomous car can drive as well as a human. Autonomous cars cannot make eye contact with others to confirm who has the right of way, react to weather conditions or make judgment decisions that are much more difficult...

Over the years, Yardi client Westmont Living has developed creative ways to honor esteemed residents. The tradition continues through the age of social distancing, requiring ingenious workarounds that still help residents feel appreciated and valued. Honoring Lt. Dever’s 105th birthday Westmont Mariposa at Ellwood Shores is home to veteran Charles “Charlie” Dever. First Lt. Dever enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941, and he served as a lead navigator in the 98th Bombardment Group flying B-24s during World War II. Devers lived independently until he was 103. He then joined the family at Mariposa at Ellewood Shores. The quiet life that he now lives gave no indication of the surprise that awaited him for his birthday. It began when Lt. Dever’s daughter, Kathy, emailed Vandenberg Air Force Base to plan a surprise for her father. In response, the 30th Space Wing leadership notified its members of the momentous occasion. Active Air Force servicemembers near and far penned more than a hundred thank you letters to the veteran. To deliver the letters and show their appreciation, Vandenberg staff, Kathy and Team Mariposa arranged a grand ceremony. Festivities kicked off with a color guard presentation and speeches by Westwood executive director Peter Bonilla and 30th Space Wing Commander, Anthony Mastalir. Mastalir presented Lt. Dever with a 30th Space Wing challenge coin and granted him honorary membership in the United States Space Force. Vandenberg leadership then presented Lt. Devers with an American flag. Party planners arranged a car parade that would allow friends, family and community members to safely show their support for the veteran. Dozens of cars streamed through the property, showcasing their decorations, cheering and sending well-wishes to Devers. During his speech, Commander Mastalir said, “While Charles will tell you that his years in...

It’s easy to attribute the successes of a company to exemplary individuals. Think Steve Jobs of Apple or Elon Musk of Tesla. But in truth, their accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible without those who supported them. Marc Vorkapich is quick to say that his people are the key to success. As the principal and CEO of Watercrest Senior Living, a Yardi client, he’s brought together a team of “servant leaders” who inspire trust from both residents and staff. It’s earned the company a Great Place to Work award, and it’s also caught the attention of Senior Housing News. They’ve given him the title of Changemaker for his history of nurturing strong leaders and promoting collaboration at Watercrest. When they asked him about the association between embracing change and taking risks, Vorkapich made it clear that although he may be in charge, his team gives him the confidence to see things through: “When a call for change derives from a desire to serve something greater than ourselves, any sense of risk is far outweighed by the depth of purpose. My risk tolerance is high, as my entire career over 27 years has developed by having faith that I and others surrounding me have been equipped for what lies ahead.” And during the pandemic, his commitment to teamwork and service has helped ensure that Watercrest can continue to provide great care. In this excerpt from his Changemakers interview, Vorkapich describes their COVID-19 response and offers his thoughts on how the virus may impact senior living as a whole. Do you see Covid-19 changing the senior living industry in lasting ways? If yes, how? One thing is certain, there is an increased awareness and understanding of the importance of having a highly competent operations management team laser-focused...

How do you reduce the costs of compliance such that affordable housing properties are more attractive to investors, easier for residents to find and qualify for, and less expensive to manage? That’s a question Chris Voss has spent the better part of 20 years answering, and he may just be on to the solution. Chris is Yardi’s vice president of affordable housing and PHA Sales and is the founder or RightSource, the newest addition to the Yardi family. A natural entrepreneur, Chris attended college on the east coast and focused his studies on economics. While there, Chris did some web development work for members of congress, an experience that helped grow his familiarity with emerging online technology. After college, Chris was hired by a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. that supported affordable housing developers and operators. Like many affordable housing professionals, Chris found himself unexpectedly in the industry, but soon realized a passion for its mission and processes. “I joke that growing up I wanted to be a doctor right up to the point that I realized I probably wasn’t patient enough to complete four years of medical school. However, my career does give me some of the experience I was looking for. I’m able to help clients realize their long-term operational goals by diagnosing their challenges and solving them with improvements to technology, processes, and people. So, while I’ve come to terms with not actually becoming a doctor, I have the sense of purpose and fulfilment of helping affordable housing organizations operate with a greater sense of health,” says Voss. The sole focus of the consulting firm Chris worked for in the early 2000’s was support of clients implementing Yardi Voyager. Chris describes his consulting career as a deep dive into affordable housing...

Bricks are a burden. For more than 5,000 years, we’ve used the same inefficient, environmentally destructive products to build homes, businesses and institutions. Their cumulative effects left landscapes barren, air polluted and contributed to warmer climates. Innovation is in place for smarter bricks—if the industry is ready to get onboard. The life of bad bricks Clay bricks are respected for their durability and simplicity. Unfortunately, the benefits stop there. Mining clay requires stripping landscapes of their plants, trees and topsoil. The sublayers of soil and stone are inhospitable to plant life, leaving bald scars on the landscape for at least a decade. Once mined, raw materials are transported to kilns where fossil fuels bake bricks at 2,280°F. Carbon emissions continue to climb as the finished product makes its way to distributors and work sites. At the end of their lives, companies demolish bricks and ship them off to landfills. Except for very few historic sites, bricks are not recycled or repurposed: to do so, workers would need to scrape off old mortar by hand. But more importantly, the industry does not have an efficient way to test the integrity of reclaimed material. It all becomes trash. Geological damage, long-term environmental concerns and poor disposal practices make our old bricks our new bad news. Fortunately, a team of innovators at Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University has created better bricks that can usher the industry into the future. Maybe. Stepping out on a limb (with the others) Professor Gabriela Medero set out to reinvent the brick. She knew that sustainable building would require more sustainable building materials. The outdated practice of brick making desperately needed modernization. “It’s the exploitation of natural resources, it’s the… massive volumes of waste, together with the massive volumes...

The senior living industry can be competitive, but it also has no shortage of experienced professionals ready to work together and share their hard-earned knowledge. This sort of collaboration has been needed now more than ever as the industry has had to adapt to new challenges. In search of best practices everyone could use, we interviewed clients who had steadily grown their senior living organizations. We asked them what issues they faced, what goals they pursued and how they leveraged technology in innovative ways. Their answers formed the basis for our How Do You? video series, which you can access and watch on our resources page. But not every piece of advice made it into the final videos. These senior living leaders had a lot to say, and we want to ensure there’s a place for all their insights to be discovered. So we revisited their interviews and pulled their answers together for a new white paper: How do you excel with senior living technology? Here’s a sneak peek at questions we covered: How do you | encourage move-ins? “It’s always ideal to know how close a lead is to moving in. Some leads are two months out. Some are three months out. Some are years out. Understanding that allows us to input a call-out in two years maybe or a follow-up that works for them. We’re not that typical marketing person who’s going to bombard them every week.” – Nicole Graham, Licensed Administrator How do you | improve resident care? “By electronically charting as you go along, it cuts the background stuff out of the process of taking care of a resident. All of the time that they would spend trying to figure out when to chart and what to chart is gone....

Many jurisdictions are now allowing for reopening, requiring managers and landlords to balance the value of workers returning to the office with the need to keep them safe. There are tech advancements that will facilitate offices reopening, such as touchless door access, Bluetooth tracking, parking vacancy sensors, temperature readings and countless others. But the reality of this situation is that these enhancements were not created for a post-COVID world. We had the ability to leverage these tech drivers before, as Brandon Van Orden, senior vice president and CIO at Cousins Properties, explained. However, it has become a necessity for companies to use them more frequently now, some experts suggest. What about those who make a personal decision to stay remote? Some workers may have comorbidities making them especially vulnerable to COVID-19. Some may be unable to arrange childcare while schools remain virtual. Regardless of the reason, many workers may not be ready mentally or physically to re-enter the workplace, and businesses must weigh the human elements of this just as much as the tech components of reopening. In-office Value There is one big question that nobody can yet answer: how long will capacity restrictions be in place? Because this is an indefinite timeline, it is much harder to determine in-office schedules. Some offices are moving to a hybrid work environment, which many experts believe is the future of work. It could mean that workers alternate days or weeks in office or it could mean that each day has multiple shifts, but the benefits of being in a work setting are numerous. The initial wave of work from home success was tangible. Employers were generally pleased at the rapid adaptation to a WFH model and employees showed they can produce at a high rate when...

Charlie Trefzger is no stranger to change. Already this year, as president and CEO, he oversaw the rebrand of his company from Affinity Living Group to ALG Senior. At the same time, he reorganized his company’s operational structure. ALG communities now have more autonomy in how they operate, able to make decisions and take action without a set directive from headquarters. That’s not to say that Trefzger and his team don’t support their communities, however. When the coronavirus first started making news, they instituted change after change to ensure resident safety. They reacted fast thanks to having prepared well in advance just for this sort of emergency. “We implemented a pandemic flu policy some time ago. Since, we have tailored it to the COVID-19 policy, which is founded upon the CDC guidelines,” said Trefzger. “We’ve been drilling and practicing that for a good portion of the last year, and Lord have mercy, here we are right now dealing with it.” In recognition of the transformations Trefzger has driven, Senior Housing News has inducted him into the 2020 class of Changemakers. Read on to learn what steps ALG took to slow the spread of COVID-19 and how he believes the pandemic will impact senior living going forward. What have been the biggest changes that ALG Senior has made since COVID-19 hit in mid-March? Gosh, what hasn’t changed? There have been so many things that we’ve had to adapt to, such as visitation; narrowing our network of health care professionals; gathering data and having a greater reliance on data; the screening of our employees; using technology, both for visits as well as data-gathering and for activity programs; the need to address loneliness in our residents and trying to be innovative with visits. Probably our biggest change...

During every Yardi Matrix webinar, vice president and presenter Jeff Adler shares the big picture of current economic conditions and conundrums – also known as the Yardi Matrix House View. Here’s how the view is looking from the Matrix vantage point these days: “We had a deep recession. We’re in the middle of a recovery. That recovery is likely to be choppy,” summarized Adler to close out Thursday’s Matrix update on the self storage sector. A recording of the presentation is now available, and you can view that here. But for those invested or interested in the self storage market, the seas are not looking quite so rough. Of all commercial real estate sectors, storage had a brief negative impact from COVID-19’s rise in the U.S., and then quickly recovered. “Storage is actually doing quite well,” said Chris Nebenzahl, editorial director for Yardi Matrix. “The demand for storage has been consistent and is stronger than some of the other asset classes in commercial real estate.” Key factors for the sector’s resiliency include: Relocations and population migration. Americans are leaving congested big cities like New York and Los Angeles for second-tier markets where they have more space. Residential volatility. For example, college students have faced ever-changing mandates about whether they would resume classes in person and online, prompting quick moves that often involve a need for storage. Economic hardship. Job losses for millions of Americans are contributing to relocations and downsizing. According to a Pew Research Center Survey, roughly one in five U.S. adults say they have either changed their residence due to the pandemic or know someone who did. The proof of sustained demand for storage is in the street rates, particularly for the non-climate-controlled category. Month-over-month rates reported for August showed that national...

Global real estate technology provider Yardi has been named for the fifth time to the Forbes Cloud 100, the definitive list of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world. Yardi was a member of the inaugural Cloud 100 in 2016, landed at No. 30 for 2019, and is No. 34 this year. “We’re honored that Forbes has recognized Yardi yet again for our industry-leading cloud solutions,” said Jay Shobe, vice president of cloud services at Yardi. “To continue to rank among these prestigious companies reflects the efforts of our employees and the tremendous support of our clients worldwide.” The evaluation process involved four factors: market leadership (35%), estimated valuation (30%), operating metrics (20%), people and culture (15%). The Forbes Cloud 100 judge panel weighed the factors to select, score and rank the winners. With that data, the judge panel, which includes major public cloud company CEOs, was then responsible for selecting and ranking the top 100 companies globally. “The private cloud ecosystem continues to mature in light of rapid digital transformations, making the competition to land one of the coveted spots on the Cloud 100 list steeper than ever,” said Byron Deeter, a top cloud investor, and partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “Private cloud valuations are getting bigger as the market’s appetite for cloud continues to grow. Over the past five years, the average Cloud 100 valuation has grown by a tremendous 2.5x, from $1 billion in 2016 to $2.7 billion in 2020. In fact, our 2020 Cloud 100 includes over 87 private cloud unicorns! These founders represent the absolute best in cloud computing today.” “For five years now, we have ranked the best and brightest emerging companies in the cloud sector,” said Alex Konrad, Forbes editor of The Cloud 100. “With...

Argentum’s largest event of the year is back. And this time, it’s virtual. The Senior Living Executive Conference, originally scheduled for the spring, is now set for September 22-24. Out of consideration for safety, Argentum leadership made the choice back at the start of the pandemic to go virtual, but they’re committed to making the experience as valuable and insightful as it’s ever been. “Through the virtual event, we can continue to educate and advance the industry on important matters through a medium more accessible and convenient given the extraordinary circumstances we are facing as an industry and as a country,” said James Balda in an email announcing the decision. “We can incorporate much of what we are learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as focus on what support the industry needs to get through — and eventually beyond — this crisis.” Argentum is offering 30 hours of programming across the three-day live event. From big general sessions with C-suite panelists to smaller breakouts across multiple tracks, there are plenty of opportunities to come together. Those include sessions with best practices and lessons learned for COVID-19. Plan on attending? We hope you do. We’re sponsoring the registration this year, and we’re also hosting a special Zoom Room discussion about business intelligence that you don’t want to miss. Join us for our virtual session Today’s communities require data that combines real-time financial, clinical and marketing intelligence. How can technological advances in BI help? Richard Nix and J.R. Southerland from the Yardi Senior Living team will discuss emerging technologies and how they could impact your community, including your operational processes, resources and residents. We plan to highlight Yardi Senior IQ, our new BI tool built for senior living. The solution offers hundreds...

“Grubb has a top-down philosophy of promoting long-term residents,” said Shawn Cardner, executive vice president of operations at Grubb Properties. “We always felt our long-term resident program that caps rent at five years was the right thing to do and was working, but we didn’t have a lot of data on it. We do now thanks to deep property and portfolio analytics, and that’s very exciting.” The analytics Cardner refers to come from Yardi Asset IQ, part of the Yardi Elevate Suite for multifamily. Asset IQ is taking Grubb beyond business intelligence by providing property, portfolio and market analytics for benchmarking, budgeting, analyzing collections and adjusting quickly to changing needs. Cardner and other execs get fast insights from dashboards that display real-time performance with drilldown to details. They not only have stats that show residents are staying longer but can also “get into the weeds” and see what’s behind the numbers to really understand what’s happening at their properties. Validating a long-term renter program At one of Grubb’s apartment communities, an impressive 42% increase in length of residency was only part of the story. “Using data from Asset IQ, we correlated the success of a long-term resident program to important financial metrics: $30 increase in rental income per unit and $32 lower expenses,” said Cardner. Grubb utilizes the benchmark KPIs on its Asset IQ dashboard for renewal rates, renewal percentages and new lease rates. The company also likes to keep a close eye on maintenance expenditures. Cardner added, “I see benchmark data as a tool that brings visibility into possible areas of improvement.” Benchmarking against peers and budget With Asset IQ, Grubb can compare its actual leasing, financial and operational data to a defined peer set and to its own budget. An easy-to-use dashboard...

The pandemic has brought change to senior living like nothing else before it. But through it all, the industry’s commitment to care has never wavered. In fact, many caregivers have gone above and beyond to keep their residents healthy and happy. In honor of these heroes, NCAL has announced “Caring Is EssentiAL” as the theme for this year’s National Assisted Living Week, set for September 13 -19. Established in 1995, National Assisted Living Week provides an opportunity for residents, loved ones, staff and the broader community to recognize the role of assisted living in helping seniors and those with intellectual disabilities. By encouraging senior living providers nationwide to host special events and activities all week long, NCAL plans to celebrate residents and caregivers together as well as educate the public about long-term care. The annual observance will have to adapt to COVID-19 restrictions this year, but despite the hurdles, the staff of senior living deserve to be recognized for their incredible work. And although the event many not look quite the same on the surface, the spirit of celebration will still be there. Socially distant activities for National Assisted Living Week Each year, NCAL puts out a planning guide for National Assisted Living Week with event ideas to inspire providers. This time around the suggestions focus on ways to have fun even with the extra safety protocols in place. Here’s a quick rundown of what they recommend: Celebrations: Try an end-of-summer ice cream delivery, schedule a family car parade and get creative with a dress-up day. Music: Host a hallway singalong, invite musicians among the community to share their gifts or stream a recorded concert. Exploration: Encourage virtual museum visits, share live webcams of zoo animals and “tour” favorite destinations through photos. Connections: Organize...

Editor’s note: The following interview was originally published in Pacific Ports Magazine’s August edition. It is reprinted here with permission. With over 30 years of property management and software implementation experience, Jay Rainaldi is the professional services director for government business at Yardi. and oversees the implementation, support and client acquisition in the government space. He has served on many boards and committees in the residential, military, single-family and government arenas during his career and has been a speaker and moderator at numerous industry conferences and events. Over the past decade — not to mention the past few pandemic challenged months  — efficient port management has increasingly become an art in and of itself. Whether it be for management of property, facilities or construction projects, tenant services, accounting and payment processing, budgeting and forecasting or even to gain energy efficiencies, the many tasks related to port management have multiplied as the maritime world moves toward digitization, industry growth, environmental sustainability and increasing government regulations. The APP recently discussed the topic of port management with Jay Rainaldi, director of government solutions at Yardi, to gain insights into the many factors affecting efficient operations and how solutions, such as the Yardi Ports Suite, can provide much needed assistance. Jay, first, thanks for helping the Association investigate ways to assist Port Members on best practices. Could we start by identifying the trends you’ve seen in port management over the past 10 or 20 years, including how technological advances have impacted on port staff and how has port management changed? JR: Increasing globalization, world trade and financial constraints have created changes in port management in the last several years. Ports have been forced to modify their infrastructure to allow for larger ships and containers. Additionally, ports are doing...