What's Real? It's Time to Rethink the Internet

Finding Net Promise ... Contrary to much of the deathwatch press about the web, the March 26, 2000 issue of BusinessWeek magazine offered an encouraging special report on "Rethinking the Internet."  The pundits interviewed preached "patience" and offered predictions on how "the net's power to transform will play out unevenly and in stages."  Nowhere could this be truer than in the commercial real estate world. The five areas of virtual activity: (1) electronic commerce; (2) e-marketplaces; (3) procurement; (4) knowledge management and (5) customer relationships are going to unfold differently.    Web beneficiaries and profits will likely arise in some surprising sectors of our industry.

Next month at the PikeNet Forum, this debate will be explored in-depth with a group of progressive commercial real estate leaders.  Equity Office, AEW and Lincoln will discuss how their firms are maximizing property returns through electronic commerce and procurement -- what's worked and what's failed.  Notions about using the web to unify knowledge management to improve building operations and tenant relations will also be offered.  Yes, the challenges are enormous in aggregating portfolio data, but future gains look worth the effort.

In another key sector, corporate real estate executives from Amazon, Bank of America and Cisco will be talking about the windows of virtual opportunity for streamlining their organizations.  Despite Wall Street's chill on the Internet, these corporate executives -- just like John F. Welch, CEO of GE -- aren't slowing down their move to conduct business on the web.  Forward progress towards online transaction management is happening.

As BusinessWeek reported, "the first phase of the Net may be over."  However, in the dawning e-business era "incumbent companies have got to come to grips with this new technology because it is very, very powerful."  The PikeNet Forum is designed as far more than a showcase for new e-commerce wares.  It's about understanding how, where and why the traditional real estate community should invest resources behind specific Internet initiatives.  Just because the bubble has burst doesn't mean there's not real potential for long-term competitive advantage.  The Forum will help explain why.

Clarification ... RentPort According to Frank DeFazio, VP of Marketing, RentPort, which was mentioned in the March 28 Dispatch, is very much alive and well and focused on its mission to become the source for payment data in the multifamily industry.  Last week the company moved and contact availability was disrupted.  RentPort, which recently acquired CreditRetriever, an applicant screening service, has signed contracts with over 65 customers representing over one million units.

--Eileen Circo