How the IT-Label Accelerates the Digital Economy

Discussions about AI mostly focus on work. Jobs are changing, processes are getting smarter, organizations are becoming more productive, and data is growing in importance. Companies are automating and shifting more and more activities into digital environments. One element is often left unmentioned: all those organizations still need somewhere to work.

AI does not make real estate less important. It can actually make real estate different, and more important. The more digital companies become, the more dependent they are on the digital quality of the buildings in which they work. That is exactly where an opportunity lies, not just for real estate, but for the broader economy.

In this article, we outline how transparency about digital building quality can accelerate the market, and what role a classification methodology such as the IT-Label can play in that.

AI makes the workplace more important, not obsolete

For years, the prediction was that technology would make the office less relevant. The cloud made work location-independent, video calling reduced the need for physical meetings, and remote work became the norm. Now AI could once again be seen as a reason to need less space.

What is more likely is that something else is happening. AI can make us use buildings more intensively, more intelligently, and more efficiently. Employees become more productive, buildings can be managed better, and workplaces can adapt to occupancy. Data helps deploy space more efficiently, and smart building technology can optimize climate, energy, security, and facility processes.

The office is therefore not disappearing. It is becoming digitally more powerful. And that places different demands on the building in which that organization is located.

Different requirements for real estate

An organization that increasingly relies on AI, cloud, and data gets little benefit from an attractive office if the digital foundation does not keep pace. Then other questions become important: is there sufficient connectivity, is there fiber optic available, are multiple providers possible, and is there redundancy in the connections?

Next come questions about the internal data cabling, WiFi coverage, the setup of technical rooms, digital continuity, and cybersecurity. And the most important question of all: can the infrastructure still support the organization's use in five to ten years?

These are no longer questions that belong solely to the IT department. They become real estate questions, and therefore questions that belong to the housing decision.

The tenant is changing

Today, an entrepreneur asks how much floor space he needs, how many workstations fit in it, what the rent is, how many parking spaces there are, and what energy label the building has. All relevant. But a new question is being added: what can my new workplace handle digitally?

Think of a law firm where hundreds of employees work with AI assistants, an engineering firm that pulls heavy models from the cloud, a fintech company processing real-time data, or a logistics company automating processes further. They use real estate differently, but share one thing: without digital infrastructure, their operations increasingly grind to a halt.

A tenant does not buy square meters. He rents the ability to run his business somewhere, and that functionality is becoming increasingly digital.

A new responsibility and opportunity for the landlord

This does not mean that the landlord must henceforth take care of all of his tenants' IT. Quite the opposite. Part of the infrastructure belongs to the building, another part to the tenant, and specific applications remain the responsibility of the user and their IT partners. Who is responsible for what is clearly laid out in our explanation of who arranges IT in rental real estate.

This is exactly why transparency matters. What does the landlord provide, what is present, what can the building facilitate, where is the boundary, and what must the tenant organize themselves? That sounds obvious, but in practice this information is not always easy to find.

A tenant can see exactly how much floor space he gets, and knows the energy label, service costs, and number of parking spaces. But ask what he gets delivered digitally, and the answer quickly becomes technical, fragmented, or unclear. That is the problem an IT-Label aims to solve.

Not more technology, but a better translation

There are plenty of good IT companies, telecom providers, cybersecurity specialists, installers, and network engineers. The IT-Label does not aim to replace their work, but to make the translation: from technical information to understandable real estate information.

That translation runs from IT specialist to landlord, from landlord to broker, from broker to tenant, and from building to user. An entrepreneur does not need to understand how a network is technically constructed. He mainly needs to understand what he is getting delivered digitally, and whether that fits his organization.

Transparency can accelerate the market

There is also an economic advantage here. Suppose a tenant is looking for 2,000 square meters of office space and considers five buildings. For each building, it must be separately determined which provider is present, whether fiber optic is available, what capacity is possible, whether redundancy can be realized, what cabling is in place, and who installs what.

That takes time. Advisors are brought in, technical assessments are carried out, and sometimes problems only come to light after the letter of intent, or even the lease itself, has already been signed. What internet outages actually cost a company when such problems surface too late is a question we address in a separate article.

When that information is made transparent in advance, the user can select faster, the broker can advise better, the landlord can communicate better, and the IT specialist can determine sooner what is still needed. Transparency reduces friction, and less friction can speed up transactions.

From square meters to functionality

A building is ultimately a product that a landlord offers to a user. We communicate all sorts of properties of that product: floor area, location, energy label, installations, parking, amenities, and delivery level. What is often missing is the digital delivery level.

The IT-Label aims to make exactly that transparent. Not to determine whether a building is good or bad, but to make clear what is present. A building with the classification IT1 HIGH PERFORMANCE facilitates a different type of user than a building with the classification IT3 READY, where digital fit-out still needs to be carried out by the tenant. That need not be a problem, as long as the user knows it in advance.

This shifts the perspective on real estate quality. Where it used to be viewed mainly in terms of location, building, and energy, the digital dimension now stands alongside it. That is where tomorrow's real estate emerges.

What sets the labels apart on one key point

To show that classification is not a judgment but a description, we summarize the delivery levels based on the question relevant to the user: how much does he still have to arrange himself?

AI can create new value in existing buildings

This development is also positive for owners. Not every building needs to be rebuilt. Existing buildings in particular can be digitally upgraded by investing in better connectivity, redundancy, modern data cabling, WiFi infrastructure, secured technical rooms, monitoring, and digital continuity.

This allows an existing building to be functionally prepared for a new generation of users. Digitalization thus becomes a new form of asset enhancement. Not just renewing the facade, improving the entrance, or making it more sustainable, but also upgrading digitally.

This leads to a new investment category. Alongside the familiar CAPEX for roofs, elevators, HVAC, and sustainability, room emerges for digital CAPEX: what digital investments are needed to keep the building attractive for future users? We explore what this means for the distribution of digital investments elsewhere.

IT-Label as economic infrastructure

The Netherlands and Europe want companies to use AI, become more productive, and strengthen the knowledge economy. But companies can only digitalize when their physical work environment facilitates that digitalization.

Better digital real estate thus contributes to an environment in which entrepreneurs can grow, innovate, implement AI, collaborate, and process data more easily. Digitally future-proof real estate is, in that sense, also economic infrastructure.

This does not necessarily require new legislation first. The market itself has an interest in transparency. The tenant wants to know what he is getting, the landlord wants to show what he offers, the broker wants to be able to explain the difference, the investor wants to know where investments are needed, and the IT specialist wants to know from which level to build further. A shared language between these parties is possibly more powerful than an obligation alone.

Your next step: map out the digital delivery level

Ultimately, everything comes back to the user. Without a user, no rent; without rent, no cash flow; without cash flow, no return; and without functionality, no satisfied user. Future-proof real estate therefore requires an answer to one question: what does the user need to run a successful business here today and tomorrow? AI is making that answer increasingly digital.

If you want to know what your building can facilitate digitally, start with insight. Read how the classification methodology works and learn more about how digital quality underpins the value of your real estate. That way, you make clear what a building can do digitally, so the user knows what he can do with it.