The following article has been included in the fifth edition of Coliving Insights — Co-Tech: Innovating Coliving with Technology. Download your full copy of the publication by clicking this link.
Coliving has a (r)evolutionary nature from its conception: for being centered in building community and fostering human connection instead of benefiting from individualism and ownership notions, for having sustainable principles embedded in its DNA, and for understanding and factoring in current and future societal needs, coliving is not only a disruptive trend but an adaptable and transformative force as a business concept. It is no coincidence that coliving gained traction during the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) which is now in progress. In fact, both concepts are profoundly intertwined.
The Impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on Coliving
The World Economic Forum defines the 4IR as a combination of technologies that are “blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres”. Technology now connects billions of people and every new breakthrough has an exponential impact on entire systems of production, management, and governance. The impact of the 4IR has created a new type of consumer, thirsty for engagement, transparency, online access, and personalised services and products. This has a transformative effect especially in customer expectations, on product enhancement, on collaborative innovation, and on organisational forms (i.e. division of labor). To accommodate all these changes, new business models and global platforms — combining customer experience, data-based services, and asset management supported by effective analytics — are emerging all around the world.
The coliving industry, as we know, was born within the 4IR and continues to be fuelled by its impacts on global society. Due to its nature, coliving brings humanity back to its most deeply-rooted and essential needs and has an inherent understanding of the value of experiences and human connections. To thrive in today’s experience and data-driven world, coliving companies need to keep up with its innovative nature and embrace technology so it can further develop, scale, and help consolidate coliving as an asset class. Not just for coliving, but for any other industries looking to grow and evolve, adopting integrated tech solutions is not a matter of if anymore, it’s a matter of how.
Innovative operators are already developing proprietary tech that is empowering coliving and drawing attention within the sector. Before its acquisition by Starcity, Ollie had created its own suite of solutions to deliver hospitality services, foster community engagement, and even facilitate roommate matching. Ollie’s platform, which increased both the resident and overall community experience, includes the integration of multiple third-party tools such as property management, housekeeping, payments, and more. Common has also developed its own platform that works as a centralised hub for Common members including events, news, perks, community, and a member directory. Through Connect by Common members can stay up to date with social gatherings and even create their own events. The app also allows members to message each other through home-based groups.
Following Ollie’s and Common’s examples, the coliving industry needs to take advantage of tech innovations in order to tend to people’s needs, continue creating opportunities and build sustainable business models; however, it is imperative that the sector remains responsive to the consequent challenges that these disruptive advancements can have in our lives. For its focus on building community, coliving has an even bigger responsibility towards society when implementing transformative technology. Due to this focus and the facilitation of human connections, digital solutions need to be consciously implemented to augment and amplify human interactions, activities, group and individual capabilities, otherwise, it will diverge from the sector’s main purpose.
So we know that coliving needs tech, but how can we make sure to adopt the right tech solutions? How can businesses know that they are implementing technology that will embody the human nature of coliving?
Design Thinking: How to adopt human-centric tech to build an efficient and sustainable coliving business
Tech innovations offer coliving businesses a revolutionary potential to enhance community experience and connections, optimise operations, empower management through data-based decision making, increase engagement with industry stakeholders and showcase the sector’s maturity and credibility. However, to reap the benefits from the coliving tech revolution, companies need to be able to identify the right kind of tech that can support their goals. To attend to the coliving industry’s specific purposes, the best route to a tech transformation is taken via a user-centred approach to solving problems. The ideal methodology to carry out that approach is known as ‘Design Thinking’.
Design thinking is a human-centric approach to problem-solving that combines intense collaboration with strategies such as mapping customer journeys, surveying, concept creation, and prototyping. A design thinking process starts with gathering insights, then defining users’ pain points and the ideation phase follows through with a diligent brainstorming effort that addresses users' needs; ultimately leading to a prototyping phase. The last part of the process involves critical testing that assesses if the chosen prototype meets the defined goals, and then finally, implementing the solution in a way that genuinely serves the needs of different stakeholders.
The indisputable value of this methodology lies in its evolving character that allows for a dynamic adjustment of the service and product offering according to demand shifts, while also enabling the integration of new purpose-driven tech solutions. The knowledge gathered and the flexibility offered by design thinking empowers coliving businesses to better understand and swiftly enhance residents’ quality of living. The goal is to facilitate memorable living experiences through human-centric tech by optimising the product and cutting down on complex processes that can be onerous to both operators and users.
If you would like to continue reading, learn about growth-driven design applied to coliving and discover the key takeaways of this article, click on this link.
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Originally published at www.spatial-experience.com.
