IT-Label per floor: what are you renting digitally?

A company finds a new office space. The location is right, the surface area fits, the rent is negotiable and the energy label is known. Then the IT manager asks a simple question: what IT will we actually get here? And often it turns out that nobody knows exactly.

Which internet connection is available, where does the fiber come in, what cabling is in place, is there a patch room, how is the wifi network arranged and what does the tenant still need to install themselves? These questions usually only come up after the lease has already been signed. The digital reality of a workspace only becomes visible at the moment the keys are handed over.

That is remarkable, because an organization rarely rents an entire building. It rents 150 square meters on the second floor, a full office floor, a business unit or a self-contained wing. So the question is not only how digital the building is, but how digital the space is that you actually use.

What does a tenant actually get in terms of IT?

There is an important difference between two sentences that sound alike. The first is: the building has this. The second is: the tenant gets this. A building can have fiber, but that does not automatically mean that fiber reaches your floor with sufficient capacity and that the connection point is in a usable location.

Assessing a rental space means looking at the entire chain up to the workspace. Think of available internet options, the fiber connection, network cabling, the patch room, wifi, access control and the question of who manages the network. Together these topics determine what we call the IT delivery level: what you actually have in hand the moment you start working.

Why is a floor different from the whole building?

A good comparison helps. A highway next to a building does not mean every tenant has a good on-ramp. The main structure can be excellent, while the connection between that structure and your floor determines what you can actually do. That is why it makes sense to look not only at the building, but at the route all the way to the user.

Can an IT-Label also apply to a floor?

Digital quality can be viewed at different levels. At building level, it concerns the digital quality of the whole. At floor level, it concerns what a user gets on that specific floor. At unit level, it concerns what is available within a defined space. And at user level, it concerns whether the delivery level matches the digital requirements of this organization.

The classification from PREMIUM to SHELL serves as a shared language for this. A building can score high as a whole, while a floor is deliberately delivered at a lower level. That is not a contradiction, as we described earlier when discussing why a building can have a high classification while a floor is delivered as a shell. The essence is that digital quality can be examined just as specifically as the way real estate is leased.

You do not rent fiber and you do not rent a patch cabinet. You rent a space in which your organization must be able to work, and that is a different question.

What is an IT-Label Audit?

A tenant does not have to wait for a landlord to make the digital level of a building visible. A tenant can commission an IT-Label Audit themselves. The goal is simple: know what you are actually going to rent before you sign.

The audit looks at the space from the user's point of view. That makes it demand-driven. Where a label mainly provides insight into the existing situation, an audit answers the question of whether the building or floor fits a concrete digital need, and what would need to happen to make it fit.

What does an IT audit check?

An audit essentially brings together four questions. What is already present, what does the tenant get from that upon delivery, what is still missing and what does the organization itself need? From this follows a fifth question: what investment does this require?

• Connectivity, fiber and available capacity up to the floor.
• Network cabling, patch room and the condition of the existing infrastructure.
• Wifi coverage, access control and existing building systems.
• Room for expansion and cybersecurity at building level.

From audit to upgrade plan

An audit does not have to end with the observation that this is simply the situation. It becomes more interesting when the outcome shows what you can do to improve that situation. That way, the IT-Label becomes not only a measuring instrument, but also a roadmap.

The reasoning is always the same. The current situation meets a certain level. The desired situation is higher. The difference shows which provisions are missing. The upgrade describes the required adjustments, with an indication of the investment and the level that results from it.

An example from practice

Take a growing technology company renting 500 square meters of office space. The organization sets high digital requirements: reliable high-capacity connectivity, heavy cloud use, videoconferencing, secured networks, smart access control and the ability to expand. The building has a good IT level, but the specific floor turns out to have insufficient internal cabling.

The audit makes this visible. The conclusion is not that this floor is unsuitable. The conclusion is that the floor currently meets a certain level and can be brought to a higher level with a number of adjustments. That is useful information for both the tenant and the landlord.

What does a tenant gain from this?

Without insight in advance, the digital reality only comes to light after signing. It then turns out that the connection still needs to be installed, the cabling needs to be replaced, extra patch room is needed or the wifi needs to be rebuilt entirely. That leads to unexpected costs, delays and discussions with the landlord during the move.

An IT-Label Audit makes these points visible in advance. The tenant knows what they will get, what is missing and what it costs to make the space digitally ready. This aligns with the insight that the internet connection is often the first question of modern tenants, even though that information rarely appears in the brochure.

What does a landlord gain from this?

This is not a tool against landlords. It is rather a way to position a space more sharply. Instead of 500 square meters of modern office space, a landlord can offer: 500 square meters of office space with a demonstrable digital delivery level and clear expansion options.

This makes digital infrastructure part of the real estate product. A landlord who makes this visible increases lettability and prevents discussions about expectations. For owners of office buildings, this is a concrete way to stand out.

Why is this interesting for brokers?

A broker normally provides insight into surface area, rent, energy label and parking spaces. The IT delivery level can be added to that. A search request thereby becomes more specific. Instead of an office with good IT, an organization can ask for a space in which it can work immediately and that offers room for expansion.

This makes the advice more concrete and better substantiated. It fits the broader development in which the modern broker learns to understand IT-Labels as part of leasing, letting and valuation.

What does this mean for real estate investors?

An investor can use an IT-Label Audit to determine how digital an asset is today, where the weak points are, which investments are needed and how they increase lettability. Digital infrastructure thus becomes part of asset management.

Just as an owner considers the facade, installations, sustainability measures and the long-term maintenance plan, a category of digital investments emerges. Network capacity, cybersecurity, smart building functionality and expandability increasingly belong to that category.

The digital passport of every floor

The digital passport of real estate does not have to stop at the building. It can become increasingly specific: a passport for the building, for the floor and for the unit, set against the desired digital needs of a tenant. This creates a match between what real estate offers and what a user needs.

The line of thinking thus shifts from what does the building have to what does the user get, and then to what does the user need. The final question is how you bring those two together. In summary: current situation, user need, difference, upgrade and a future-proof delivery level.

Frequently asked questions

Can an IT-Label also apply to a floor? Yes. The IT-Label can say something about digital quality at building, floor and unit level, because real estate is also leased at those levels.

What IT will I get if I rent an office? This differs per space. It concerns connectivity, fiber up to the floor, cabling, patch room, wifi, access control and existing building systems upon delivery.

What is an IT audit for an office? An IT-Label Audit maps, from the tenant's perspective, what is present, what will be delivered, what is missing and what is needed to meet the digital need.

How do I check the IT infrastructure of an office before signing? By commissioning an audit before signing, so that surprises after signing are prevented.

What is the IT delivery level of an office? This describes what a tenant actually has in hand at the moment of delivery, expressed in a recognizable classification.

What IT infrastructure does an office need? That depends on the organization. A data-driven company sets different requirements than an organization with a lighter digital way of working.

Does a low classification mean a floor is poor? No. A classification indicates what is present, not whether something is good or bad. A lower level can be deliberate and fitting.

How do I make an office digitally future-proof? By measuring the current situation, determining the desired situation and translating the difference into a concrete upgrade plan. Read more about this in the knowledge base on future-proof building.

This is how you know what you are renting before you sign

The IT-Label makes digital real estate quality visible at the level at which real estate is actually used: not just the building and not just the technology, but the floor, the unit and ultimately the user. Because you do not rent IT infrastructure, you rent a space in which your organization must be able to work.

Are you considering renting, letting or purchasing a space? Have the digital reality of the specific floor mapped out before signing. See how an IT-Label comes about or get in touch via the contact page to discuss what an audit means for your situation.