How ESRI's Revolutionary Apps Can Help CRE Practitioners

How ESRI’s Revolutionary Apps Can Help CRE Practitioners

In the world of commercial real estate, geographic data and statistics are a key factor in determining successful strategies. Luckily for CRE practitioners, ESRI, a geography-based business solutions company based in California, has developed a series of useful apps for smartphones and tablets. Fortunately for us CRE professionals, ESRI is also very familiar with commercial real estate as they are the information provider for the CCIM Institute and CCIM TECH in powering the Site To Do Business (STDB). 

The apps ESRI has created include the BAO (Business Analyst Online) app and the ArcGIS app, two tools proving themselves to be extremely useful in the field of CRE. So, what do these apps do, how do they work, and how can they help the CRE practitioner? Let’s break them down one at a time:

ESRI BAO App

            ESRI’s BAO (Business Analyst Online) is a free app that is able to access demographic info and market data for any location in the US directly from your smartphone or tablet. The BAO app has a variety of functions, including listing the types of people in a certain area, including their Tapestry or Lifestyle segmentation, the differences in demographics between two locations, displays a list of competition in a given area, and determines if a location is suitable for you based on specific criteria. The App is available for the iPhone, iPad and Android market.  The free version has limited reports and will allow you to obtain the market data within a 1-mile radius.  Power users and desktop users may find it beneficial to purchase a subscription, which is required to access further data.

Simon Thompson, Director of Commercial Business Solutions at ESRI, recently talked to me about their BAO App, and had this to say, “Getting BAO onto the iPad and other SmartPhones was like swapping a Mini for a Maserati. It freed people up, enabling them to drop the laptop and leave the office. Having all those reports available anywhere is important but what matters is that they’re on the device which is your essential work tool - alongside email, calendar, contacts, phone and all those apps that you can’t live without. It means you work how and where you need, on location or on the way to a site.”

ESRI ArcGIS App

            The ArcGIS App (geographic information system), can “extend the reach of your GIS from the office to the field”. It’s capable of mapping, organizing, and sharing geographic information and data directly from your smartphone or tablet. So, how can an app like ArcGIS help a CRE practitioner? In addition to a myriad of geographical features, ArcGIS can aid in the accuracy of GIS databases, seamlessly share enterprise data, manage future work tasks, and collect and edit data to share with colleagues. The ArcGIS App is a true all-in one, available across the Apple, Android, Windows, and Amazon platforms for free.

Simon’s parting comment to me on these ESRI Apps resonated as it applies to so many commercial real estate apps.  He stated, “Think about what it means to analyze anything from anywhere and then send the information that you and your clients need all from the one app. BAO’s and ArcGIS’s beauty is its simplicity. You don’t think about how vital, powerful and productive it is until you don’t have it. That’s the real test of an essential tool.” 

            The bottom line? ESRI’s geographical data apps will prove to be extremely useful to any commercial real estate practitioner. With features that allow for instantaneous data collection on the go, ESRI’s free apps are definitely worth a try.

Sources:

ESRI BAO App (http://www.esri.com/software/bao-for-smartphones-tablets)

ESRI ArcGIS App (http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/smartphones)

ESRI ArcGIS Brochures/Articles/Podcasts (http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/smartphones/brochures-articles)

ESRI What Is GIS? (http://www.esri.com/what-is-gis/index.html)