Embracing Digital Transformation in Student Living: Insights from the THE Estates Symposium
In our final blog article following the THE Estates Symposium, we discuss digital transformation. You can check out our previous articles on the physical estate and sustainability in our earlier blogs.
Changes to education that support a flexible hybrid online and in-person learning model will need continued digital services investment. But what does this mean for universities, and how can developers of student and young peoples' living environments learn from this cultural shift?
The digital-first campus
Whilst not intended, 2020 was the year of digital transformation. At the THE Estates Symposium, we learned that where universities had countless new tech approaches to support their online learning platforms, there was a clear shift in how digital transformation was considered. Namely, before the pandemic, it was nice to do, but of course, in 2020, it became vital to operate business and continue to deliver your product to customers. This has shown universities how digital transformation can genuinely benefit their model—reducing space requirement, breaking down financial and geographically barriers to study and improving customer experience seamlessly. In fact, Stephen Talboys, with the rare role of Director of Technology, Estates and Facilities, spoke about the push for the University to be digital-first.
As we discussed in our blog, "The future university and how this impacts how we study and live", how university spaces are utilised going forward will all be affected by a move to a hybrid learning model. This could signal the large lecture theatre's death with all large areas given over to flexible social, study space. The point made by Stephen Talboys is that any development of the campus should be done through a combined digital and physical lens, as the digital transformation has the power to bring more significant and quicker benefits to the organisation, which in turn can help fund the more costly physical re-development.
The possibilities of a digital-first campus for a generation who only knows the ease, convenience and seamless benefits of tech excites us here at The Property Marketing Strategists. Universities are at the forefront of research, design, innovation and technology – the spaces they create in the future could be genuinely unique. And, in their way, they are testbeds for the often talked about 15min city.
We discussed previously that if people have less requirement to be on campus to attend lectures, universities will need to find ways to engage their cohort back to their community. An actual digital-first campus could be a very effective way to achieve this. Another important factor to note is that the mental health crisis talked so often about in pre-pandemic university communities is still at large and, unfortunately, more elevated. We all know that creating a connected place is essential for mental wellbeing, where having a community, a point of engagement and a sense of belonging is vitally important. Whilst digital can often be blamed for some of these issues, an interconnected digital campus could also be a big part of the solution.
Making student homes part of the digital transformation
In our opinion, this approach to transformation through tech has long been overdue, yet whilst universities had to forge forward with digital transformation overnight, the innovation in student housing was less so. Yes, student accommodation operators moved their residential life programmes online, but without as many students in room – the requirement to transform its digital approach was not a priority. There are systems for everything – booking accommodation, UCAS, your accommodation broadband, your laundry, video lessons, submitting work remotely, res life, booking social space…the list goes on. This is very time inefficient and not at all integrated. Indeed universities and accommodation providers could work together to make this more seamless for the user? This is not about making the technology and digital investment always obvious. It is more subtle than that. Our future customers do not know life with complicated paper or website forms or the requirement to scan or photocopy documents - they only know logging into a system with one tap. Seamless, integrated and convenient is key. How many operators can say their digital offering is genuinely groundbreaking?
What does this mean for student homes?
If digital-first campuses become the norm, will students whose study experience is seamless, intuitive, supportive and convenient choose to come home to an outdated, clunky, not forward-thinking living experience? Most likely not.
For digital transformation to succeed, it needs time, funding and engagement across the business. But it is an investment that will bring rewards – tech and digital innovation are not going away. Collaboration will be essential to ensure that digital is factored into any new-build to make it as cost and resource-efficient as possible whilst considering long-term upgrades, maintenance and staff training. In the same way that academics need technical support to deliver online classes, operators need training on giving a digital-first accommodation experience. Digital literacy is a real issue for many workforces, and to maintain it will mean an ongoing investment in your teams' skills. For years, we have been designing student accommodation with postboxes near reception to ensure that day to day interaction with operational teams happens. So with an increase of seamless in-your-hand technology, how do we ensure that on-site teams still can spot worrying signs of deteriorating mental health and still get to know residents. Maybe technology has the answer here too. Perhaps a streamlined digital-first operating platform enables a reduced operating cost and a workforce with more time to notice and build those personal relationships. And with staff being one of the most significant overheads, how can we utilise this to focus on the other big elephant in the room – affordability?
In our Property Lounge Episode 1, Martin Hadland of Student First Group (SFG) shared insight into a building he has been working on that has been monitoring the usage of different accommodation areas digitally. This could hugely influence decisions about what communal spaces are used, which can positively impact the environment (for example, turning lights off spaces when they are not in use) and contribute to how future buildings are built, making them more efficient. If you combine this with actual customer insight, future buildings could be precisely what the market is demanding with qualitative and quantitative evidence. From a marketers perspective, influencing decisions on the design of future living spaces is essential. Not only for being the customer's eyes and ears but also to keep ahead of the market. This will all ensure your product remains a sellable, scalable and future-proofed product.
The Property Marketing Strategists can help you obtain this position, using their extensive network of experts to stay ahead of trends and discussions. We can empower your marketing team to become the strategic support your business needs, or we can provide you with strategic insight to set your business on the right track. And we are passionate about using technology to build a better and more robust product for a continually changing environment.
