Business is booming, and your operations are growing fast. Along with the chaos of everything going on in your company, you’re in the midst of contemplating a move to a new, bigger facility. The last thing you want to do is take hours out of your day touring through various real estate options or — dare I say it — get stuck in a car with your friendly real estate broker driving from location to location. Time is scarce.

Imagine if, in a single sitting, you were able to pop on a spanking new virtual reality headset and walk through every viable option in the city. Moving from building to building and even changing floor layouts at the click of a button, you stroll virtually through each meeting room, office and lunch area – perhaps even the parking lot.

With the rapid advancements in special effects technology and the declining costs of virtual reality hardware, this scenario is becoming real — thanks to work being done by Colliers International in Vancouver with local graphics effects company Vividus.

Spearheaded by Hari Minhas, who serves as Director or Marketing and Market Intelligence for Colliers in Vancouver, the program is just one of several innovative technologies integrated into its service offerings to improve client experiences.

Hari Minhas, Director of Marketing & Market Intelligence for Colliers in Vancouver, takes the new virtual reality office tour prototype for a spin. Image courtesy of Vancouver Sun.

Minhas further explained how he’s meeting the needs of clients and professionals, “I’ve long thought that the industry has been lagging in terms of what we can be doing with technology. There are many new tools out there that allow everyone – from owners, occupiers and sales professionals – to be more efficient [and] effective, and lead to better formed decisions across the industry.”

You can check out a quick video of the rendering here, but I encourage you to imagine the experience with a full virtual reality headset where you are in the driver’s seat.

We’re starting to reach an interesting tipping point in technology and real estate. The next few years promise to be exciting times for the industry.

For more about virtual reality in CRE marketing, check out this story as covered in the Vancouver Sun.

Lex Perry is Director of Marketing and Communications for Colliers International in Canada, where he focuses on corporate brand strategy, market research and intelligence, content marketing, public relations and digital marketing.