In October 2022, we had the pleasure to announce our partnership with River Development, for their London and Oslo buildings. These are the newest class A buildings in the Sema Parc project in the west of Bucharest, and will be available for digital showcasing and leasing, through the Bright Spaces web platform.

Today, we dive deeper into our collaboration and talk to Ingrid Baltaretu, Director Of Communications And Public Relations, River Development, about innovation, how Bright Spaces will support business goals and the digitalisation of the real estate market.

“The real estate segment needs to align itself with the needs of the beneficiaries it serves.” says Ingrid, adding that developers need fast and efficient solutions to thrive when competition becomes fierce.

Until now, most of us, the commercial developers, have been struggling to produce the largest, most glossy and expensive leaflets or catalogues or the most expensive outdoor banner campaigns – a huge waste of resources and perishable. Then everyone migrated to the vast space of the internet, and the bulk of communication and marketing budgets went to digital marketing.

The digitisation of rental spaces and automation of rental processes is another turning point and we are eager to embrace the newest best practices in the industry.

River Development started a process of digitisation of operations a few years ago, and adopting the Bright Spaces solution comes as a natural step on this journey.

The digital leasing & showcasing for London and Oslo office buildings – the newest office buildings in River Development’s portfolio – will enhance the current experience for our prospects tenants, and allow us to present, remotely and in a very efficient way, both the general features of the building as well as the fitout options and 3D virtual tours.

In addition, implementing an automated end-to-end leasing process will mean better performance, faster decisions, accurate communication, and valuable analytics.

Ingrid says that most likely it was the chemistry and shared vision of elevating customer experience and effective communication of a space’s qualities that made River Development choose Bright Spaces for London and Oslo.

We have found in you a very interesting partner: one enthusiastic to listen, understand and come up with suitable solutions, rather than someone selling us a product with a certain degree of customization. Besides, since we have already started, it’s a bonus to find out that you are a partner with an uplifting energy!

Looking at how this solution can help Ingrid in her activity as a Director of Communications and PR, she says that improved communication across the organisation and with its clients is one of the main benefits.

The beauty and the cleverness of this digital solution for us is the simple fact that we have a tool that organises our entire communication process with potential tenants, from the first contact and the first offer to the negotiation and signing of the lease agreement.

We can consistently and effectively communicate all the strengths of our premises, we can answer the questions of those looking at a building or a space to rent in comprehensible and convincing terms from the first offer sent.

Internally we will have a simultaneous understanding of the dashboard for the rental process, per stakeholder. Which will hopefully translate into better coordination and faster business decisions.

Finally, we wanted to know how our partner sees the digitalisation of the real estate market in the years to come. Ingrid’s take, in a nutshell? “Digitisation will allow us to virtually see reality, not just imagine it.”

Digitalisation has changed the game in every area where it has found application. And the process has gone naturally. Now we all expect to find information about everything online. The experiences we want have also moved into cyberspace, and real estate is no exception. Now there is still timid talk about the metaverse and what social and utilitarian impact it could have.

But the era of digitisation of experiences, including the experiences that real estate developers deliver for their beneficiaries – tenants, communities, investors, and so on – is on an upward slope and will grow in importance and impact.

For the Sema Parc especially, because it is the largest urban regeneration project in Bucharest, I imagine it would be fantastic to be able to have an immersive virtual universe presented on a special display table that would show and expose 3D every building, every space, every functionality in different development scenarios or to map in real time certain elements.

So we can understand from the ideation phase every consequence of development decisions, in correlation with the interest of the community, the beneficiaries and the market in general.

Read more about our collaboration with River Development here.

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