What is the “new oil” in commercial real estate?

Data can be kind of scary

“A lot of times, you know, we hear data and it’s kind of this scary monster in the corner,” Remynse said. “And so we think that it’s something that’s kind of abstract and hard to really get a grasp on. But my job is really to help you understand that even if you are not a data scientist, you can still find value in data and provide value to your organization by understanding data.”

Ho took the stance further, labeling data as fun – an adjective that doesn’t spring to most minds when grasping the concept: “I think data is a fun topic, and commercial real estate data is extremely fun,” he said. “And I think we have a completely different set of challenges than other industries.”

In describing her work, Remynse illustrated the mystery data holds for many, yielding a need to demystify the topic: “What we do is we educate the masses on data all the way from being a beginner, a complete beginner, just trying to figure out what data really means,” she said. “I’m trying to become an advanced machine learning data scientist and everything in between. So I’ve spent the last several years in this space and also working in banking and in fintechs, really trying to educate the masses on data.”

Data is the new oil

She agreed with the oil analogy as it relates to data: “Data is the new oil, but just like oil, you have to know how to work with it for you to find the actual value. If you just were to dig in your backyard and find oil, you would probably be like, ‘OK, now what’? And that’s the same thing that a lot of people run into with data. I might have a lot of data, but I have to actually know how to process it. Predictive is a great word to think of – we have to use it to predict. We also have to be there and educated enough to be able to interpret whatever those predictions end up being for us to really find the value from data.”

The value of data, she said, can be surprising: “A lot of times if you go into looking at data or working with data with this idea of already knowing what the outcome is going to be, you’re going to miss a bigger picture,” she said. “So going in with an open mind and being able to explore it holistically and not necessarily having that predetermined outcome. And also relying on those industry experts. Relying on your data analyst or data scientist and your people within your organization who have a lot to say about data and know the ins and outs of the data they’re working with – those are the ones that can help provide that value.”