Everyone speaks a different IT language in real estate

The real estate sector has worked with clear agreements on floor area, energy performance and sustainability for decades. Everyone knows what a rentable floor area is and what an energy label means. For the digital quality of a building, such a shared agreement barely exists yet. As a result, the parties involved talk past each other, all while assuming they mean the same thing.

This rarely stems from unwillingness. It happens because every link in the chain looks at a building from its own daily practice. An agent thinks in terms of rentability, a landlord in terms of investments, a fit-out contractor in terms of technology and a tenant in terms of whether staff can actually work there next month. Each of them is right within their own field, but none of them speak the same language.

In this article, we walk through four practical situations that expose this confusion. We then show how a common delivery level removes that confusion, without taking over the role of existing standards.

The agent: internet as reassurance

During a viewing, an agent is almost always asked whether the building has good internet. The answer is often that fiber is available, that there is WiFi and that a patch cabinet is present. Factually, this is usually correct, but for the tenant it says remarkably little.

The questions that actually matter remain unanswered:

• How many providers are available in the building?
• Is there redundancy in the network connection?
• Is the cabling still suitable for modern applications?
• Is the network scalable to more users?
• Who manages the infrastructure after handover?

The agent is not a network specialist and does not need to be one. With an established delivery level, they can immediately indicate what digital quality a building has, without having to interpret technical details. This makes the conversation more honest and concrete, something that is increasingly seen by modern agents as part of their advisory role.

The landlord: investments that remain incomparable

A landlord who invests seriously often does so thoroughly. New fiber connections, high-quality cabling, a modern patch room, access control and camera surveillance. During leasing, this is often summarized in a single sentence: the building has excellent IT.

That is understandable, but it cannot be objectively compared. A competing building can advertise with the exact same sentence, while the underlying infrastructure is completely different. The landlord who has actually invested more cannot demonstrate that difference. The investment disappears into a general claim.

A building that has "excellent IT" says as much as a car that "drives well". Only when everyone uses the same measuring stick does an investment become visible.

With an established delivery level, it becomes visible what level has actually been achieved. As a result, an investment in digital infrastructure starts to count toward the valuation of the property instead of disappearing into a sales pitch.

The fit-out contractor: knowledge that evaporates after handover

The fit-out contractor or installer actually installs the technology. Data cabling, WiFi coverage, patch cabinets and connection points. At the moment of handover, the landlord knows exactly what has been installed, because the knowledge is still fresh.

But that knowledge is fleeting. A future tenant, years later, sees only an office space and has no visibility into what happens behind the walls and in the meter cupboard. The documentation is fragmented, the parties involved have moved on and the technical reality has become invisible. The investment from the construction phase remains physically present, but its meaning is largely lost.

A shared delivery level records that technical investment in an understandable form that continues to add value later on. The role of installers and IT providers thereby becomes visible and traceable, even for people who were not involved during construction.

The tenant: the reality only emerges after signing

For the tenant, IT is not an abstract concept, but the question of whether the organization can actually work. During a viewing, it sounds concrete: can we get to work here next month with a hundred and twenty employees? The answers are then often reassuring but vague. There is fiber, there is internet in the building, the previous tenant worked here too.

Only after signing does it regularly turn out that extra cabling is needed, that the patch room is too small, that WiFi coverage is insufficient, that a second internet connection is missing, or that security does not meet the organization's requirements. The result is extra investment, delay and frustration, precisely at the moment the move is already underway.

This explains why for many organizations the question about the internet connection is now the first question asked about a new location. Knowing the delivery level in advance prevents unpleasant surprises. For tenants who want to know what to look out for, the knowledge base offers an overview of the points of attention when renting a space.

The common thread: five different words for the same thing

Placing the four situations side by side reveals that everyone means something different by the words "good IT". The confusion is not in the technology itself, but in the language used to talk about it.

• The agent thinks of internet and rentability.
• The landlord thinks of the investments that have been made.
• The fit-out contractor thinks of the technology that was installed.
• The IT specialist thinks of network architecture and management.
• The tenant thinks of being able to work right away.

Each of these perspectives is legitimate. What is missing is a common standard that connects these perspectives to one another. As long as that is absent, "good IT" remains a phrase that means five different things at once, depending on who says it.

Why a common delivery level solves this

The IT-label does not judge whether a building is good or bad. That is an important distinction. The methodology shows which IT delivery level is present, so that all parties involved share the same expectation of the same building. It is a translation of the technical reality into an understandable classification, not a quality mark that passes judgment.

The classification ranges from buildings that are fully move-in ready and AI-ready under IT1+ PREMIUM to spaces without digital infrastructure under IT5 SHELL. In between are levels such as IT3 READY, where basic infrastructure is present. A tenant therefore knows in advance whether they are entering a shell-and-core situation or a building where work can start immediately. For those who want to know exactly how this classification comes about, an explanation can be found under how the IT-label works.

What this delivers in practice

Once all parties speak the same language, something changes in the way a building is communicated about:

1. More transparency during leasing and sale, because the level is established.
2. Fewer misunderstandings at handover, because expectations are clear in advance.
3. Better comparability between buildings based on the same measuring stick.
4. More recognition for investments in digital infrastructure, because they become visible.
5. A shared language for agents, landlords, fit-out contractors, IT specialists, operators and tenants.

In doing so, the IT-label does not take over the role of existing standards. It builds on what already exists. Where a standard such as NEN 1010 safeguards the technical safety of installations, the IT-label translates that technical reality into understandable information for the entire chain. Anyone who wants a clear picture of the differences between these frameworks can find an explanation in the article on building standards such as ISO, NEN, WELL and BREEAM.

From confusion to a shared measuring stick

The need for this kind of transparency is growing rapidly. Organizations are becoming increasingly dependent on reliable connectivity, cloud applications and AI. A building that is not set up for this costs time and money at the wrong moment. That is precisely why a shared way of talking about digital infrastructure is no longer a luxury, but a condition for future-proof real estate.

Would you like to know what delivery level applies to your building or your future rental space? Start with the overview page of all label categories to see what distinguishes the levels from one another, or get in touch through the contact page for a conversation about your specific situation. That way, you take the first step from confusion to a language that everyone in the chain understands.