What Ashish Bhutani teaches about AI in marketing

When you are at home, you basically sleep for 7 to 8 hours and you are awake for not more than couple of hours when you are at home. So you don't see the furniture around and everything around a lot. Whereas in your office, you spend about 9 to 10 hours every day. So it gets monotonous. People want the interiors and everything to be collapsible and then remade and redone as soon as possible because that is where they spend most of their awake time. In the last few years, the commercial real estate sector is seeing a boom.

Probably it's the only sector that's defying the economic slowdown. Do you agree, Ashir? I kind of agree, yes. Since, see, what has happened is people have now realized the returns are much more in commercial than in residential. Residential, the maximum amount of returns you can get on an average in the industry is from 1.5 to 2% per annum. Whereas the commercial returns, any good project, they start from 6.5 and go up to 8.5, 9% per annum as well. Right.

Also, the new age employees in general, they are looking for more collaborative, more colorful workspaces. Absolutely. Teaming with energy. Do you agree on that? A hundred percent. See, what happened was in the earlier generations, people used to pay in their houses when their kids got married. And now, as a thumb rule, every three years, the millennials want to change the apartments. And that is very true for the workspaces as well.

See, when you are at home, you basically sleep for 7 to 8 hours and you're awake for not more than couple of hours when you are at home. So, you don't see the furniture around and everything around a lot. Whereas in your office, you spend about 9 to 10 hours every day. So, it gets monotonous. People want the interiors and everything to be collapsible and then remade and redone as soon as possible. Because that is where they spend most of their awake time. Right. So, is it challenging as a real estate player to cater to this new emerging trend or how?

Not at all. Not at all challenging. It's, in fact, very interesting. What happens is now there is a concept called a false flooring which is relatively very new. Earlier, it used to be false ceilings. What happens with the flexibility that these kind of things gives you, you can rearrange the entire workspace without having to pay a lot. So, thanks to the technology which has now come, it's not very difficult to do it. Right. Also, two iconic projects of Bhutani group is the Al-Fatham and the Cybertham per se. Tell us more about these two projects.

See, Al-Fatham, what happened was, there were three buildings that had to be made given the frontage of the plot. It's approximately a 25-acre land parcel. So, in the front, when three buildings were made, I wanted something that was iconic in nature. That people would want to come back to. That people in the office would want to come back to. So, came the idea that why not join them. It has been done in the past. Buildings have been joined in the past.

But this was more of a challenge because such a big area has never been even attempted in the world before. This has crossed approximately 250 meters in ching towards 300. So, the thing was to join it, to get all the good people in. We had to do work which was unprecedented, uncharted territories. And with God's grace, we were able to do it, giving the delivery now. And what I truly believe with all the good cafes and all the good pubs and all the good restaurants, the gyms, the clubs coming up there,

it will turn out to be one of the most happening spots of the entire NCR. When people, in fact, come from outside as well, they would want to come and see the world's largest rooftop infinity pool. Right. Also, across industries, there is this lot of buzz with respect to using data and probably technology to come up with cost-efficient and sustainable solutions. So, even in real estate, I am sure data is being used in and out. Has Bhutani Group jumped into this bang? Yes, I have. But see, when it comes to this, it also comes with a moral dilemma.

Where is the data coming from? Is it rightly sourced? Because once I got to know that my group's data was being sold in the open market as well and without our consent. So, you have to be very, very careful, first of all, where the data is coming from. Second of all, there is another moral thing that comes when you say by using those technology, by using those data, are you actually cutting someone's jobs? Supposingly, there is a drone technology that has now come in wherein they fenced the entire perimeter. There are four drones that are being used.

And it cuts the jobs by almost 40%. The security jobs by almost 40%. Or a robot clinic, your building, which will cut down the jobs. So, these sort of moral dilemmas, you have to keep in balance with. But yes, where there is no moral dilemma, supposing the artificial intelligence, then absolutely, it is a must go for. Also, in general, co-working spaces are more gravitating towards startups. Do you think legacy companies are also opting for it? Absolutely. I wouldn't want to name them.

We signed a couple of very big companies for over a thousand seats each. And in fact, 1400 has been signed. And they are all marquee players. See, people right now do not want to invest in fixed assets. Fixed assets. As I said, people, they are not very sure what they will be after a few years. Whether they want change of horizon, whether they will be upgrading or will they be downgrading. So, they don't want their money stuck into furnishing. They want their money to be expanding into their own business. So, this is where the developers come in.

We say, we will give you a furnished space. We will give you a ready to move in space where you just have to bring your computer or your laptop and start working. Perfect. And we are sitting in 2020. If you had to give in a few pointers for investors who want to invest in real estate, what would they be? See, I will always request an investor to first always do a background check of a developer. Is there any kind of debt? How much exposure they have to the market? What sort of projects they have delivered? What sort of quality do they focus on?

Just comparing the price is not the right thing. Price is always an important criteria. But it also has to be what kind of product they are getting. If it is sustainable after 8 years, will it still be yielding them rent? These are the kind of and always review. My thing is, once you are sitting somewhere, you write a project's name and you write review on a website like Google. Google and most of your queries get answered. Just do not do a blind trust on any developer. Google and most of your queries are available.

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