At REKalibrate, we believe customer data is the key to clarity, and unlocking its full potential requires a unified view across various data domains. Unification of data sources is essential for building a complete understanding of customer behavior and navigating today’s complex market.
Despite an abundance of data in commercial office environments, multi-billion-dollar decisions are still driven by instinct and outdated assumptions. Massive datasets are available, yet 60% of customer data remains “dark”—unstructured, siloed, and underutilized. Without the ability to integrate and activate this data, decision-making stays reactive, fragmented, and full of blind spots.
To truly understand the needs of customers, we need to master the ability to extract every meaningful signal from core datasets and elevate them into a clear, high-resolution view of customer needs, usage patterns, and preferences. Customer-centricity doesn’t necessarily require new data, but it does require a mastery of our existing datasets and a change of mindset.
SFO…like the Airport?
No, but having an acronym like the Bay Area’s favorite airport does make it easy to remember. When we say “SFO” we’re referring to our framework for understanding the the full picture of the customer’s performance.
A great deal of insight can be gained from each of these datasets on a standalone basis and when fused together, SFO gives a unified view of the customer behaviors that truly drive performance.
Mastering Spatial Data
Whether our perspective is that of an office owner, operator, or occupier, we are likely sitting on top of a wealth of knowledge that remains untapped. Most spatial information, like floor plans, often arrives in inconsistent formats, lacks structure, and isn’t designed to be mined for insight.
That said, occupiers are getting more savvy with gleaning insights from their spatial data and thus, it’s critical that owners and operators are able to do the same. Occupiers are looking to their spatial data for answers. They are asking:
Contextualizing Spatial Data with Industry Information
It’s imperative that space providers can see through the same lens. We don’t need to know every detail—like who sits where or how each department functions internally—but we do need to reach a comparable level of basic spatial understanding. This allows us to see the environment from the customer’s perspective.
Building this competency starts with a standardized framework—one that can be applied across buildings and portfolios. A consistent structure in analyzing floor plans should unlock key workplace metrics such as:
With a framework in place, spatial data becomes more than a static asset—it becomes a strategic layer of insight. This aligns the owner’s view with how their customers think about and interact with their built environments. Additionally, it lays the foundation for moving from reactive asset management to proactive customer success and engagement—ultimately creating more value between owner and occupier.
With all this information in place, we can start to do some really powerful (and fun) things—just from simply analyzing a floor plan.
By pairing spatial data with added context like industry, market location, and resource types, we begin to build a meaningful picture of how customers intend to use their space—without needing to ask them directly.
In the example above we see a dense, cubicle-heavy floor plan in a Southern US suburban market that is leased by an insurance company. That might indicate a back-office or call center function.
By contrast, here, we see a more open, collaborative layout in a central business district leased by a marketing agency. This likely reflects a client-facing or regional HQ presence.
Wrapping Up:
Mastering customer data starts with mastering spatial insights. By structuring and contextualizing spatial data through the SFO framework, commercial office providers can align more closely with how occupiers view and use their space. Standardizing floor plan analysis, integrating financial and occupancy data, and layering in industry context allows for a clearer, more actionable view of customer behavior. Thus commercial office providers can turn static layouts into strategic tools for value creation and customer success. As the journey to customer-centricity continues, those who invest in mastering their data will be best positioned to lead in a changing market.
