Property Management  Does Technology Attract Tenants? "If you build it, They will come." Well, that's what it said in the movie. Many building operators seem to assume that's true with high-tech improvements in their facilities. What should you do? Just because someone says, "It's the latest technology" doesn't mean your prospective tenants want it. The wrong technology can talk tenants out of locating in your building, or get you stuck paying for bells and whistles that no one wants. First, conduct a "needs assessment" and a physical site survey. Examine what your building already has, and how it compares with other buildings in the area. Talk to your existing tenants — and to the kinds of clients you would like to attract — about their anticipated future needs. As you get a picture of what your customers want, keep your infrastructure plan broad enough to serve a wide range of clients. If it doesn't have a specific business purpose RIGHT NOW, then don't invest in it. Some "leading edge" technology doesn't manage to become the standard that's finally determined. Don't let your building become "beta-maxed" in a VHS world. Upgrading in communication technology and infrastructure is a safe place to start. There are 4 main areas that offer attractive returns on investments and are safe enough to consider. All 4 involved offering "more" rather than "different." Create multiple points of entry. This allows: Multiple access carriers. Several entry points and several carriers provides reliable communications by reducing the chance that external access will be entirely cut off. Develop multiple MDF rooms — (Main Distribution Frame). Again, it's a matter of decreasing the likelihood that a disaster will shut down everything in the building, assuring tenants that their business systems — and their businesses — can keep on functioning. Construct redundant and diverse riser shafts. Those are the vertical spaces within a building where cable is stored. Not only is this more "emergency protection," but it also offers more flexibility in how a business wires up their employees. As more and more businesses increase connectivity for more and more of their employees, "cable access" will mean a lot more than lots of TV shows. Once you figure out the details of these 4 areas, you will have a marketable PLAN that you can take to current and prospective tenants, and let them input their ideas on actual implementation. Executing the plan can become part of the leasing agreement — not just an expensively baited hook that hopes for the right tenant to come along. Plan it — let them "come," and then "build it" together. That's today's formula for success that's more certain than a field of dreams.