Background
Tenant GDS allows storage customers to rent, reserve and communicate in any application. Tenant GDS takes storage inventory and distributes it out to multiple audiences in an efficient and transactional, user-friendly way.
Your data rules, not your real estate
Scaled data organization has served as the primary source of consolidation in many commercial real estate sectors. Recently, in the self-storage industry, this can be seen in the consolidation of technology, service and product providers who have purchased our supply chain, creating the largest collection of storage industry-specific actionable data. The growth of these consolidated companies has vastly outpaced the growth of REITs and private companies. This can be seen in the fact that Storable alone now controls an actionable database on approximately 18,000 facilities, as compared to the largest of the REITs, Public Storage, at nearly 2,500 facilities. Furthermore, Storable’s size and control of multiple marketing and business channels allows it to amplify its actionable data set to create valuable insights into the industry.
Size matters much less
Technology companies have realized that no single large operator is critical to their success and have taken the position that they will control the direction of the self-storage industry. This is very different from the past, when large operators in the industry could manage relationships with vendors and steer the course of technology development and innovation.
"Today the power of real estate owners, no matter how large, has been diminished as they have reduced control or voice in the creation of technology that drives their business and industry."
Learning from the past to
improve our future
"Wait and see” strategy"
Betting on the right horse?
Large operators in the self-storage industry were successful with a “wait and see approach,” where they would wait to see which products worked best before proceeding to adopt those technologies once they became more reliable and cost effective. This spawned companies who would replicate successful concepts, while avoiding the sunk costs of failed products. This works in an efficient market where no single buyer and seller is able to control the direction of the industry. Unfortunately for the self-storage industry, this is no longer true.
We believe there are many reasons storage companies have failed to collaborate effectively.
The solution:
Together, grow a platform to remain relevant
Aligning the solution to the self-storage real estate owner.
A significant number of industry owners have developed a data platform to provide the next level of flexibility. Tenant GDS provides real estate owners the tools to remain independent of the supply chain consolidation, while giving them a competitive edge only afforded to the new tech companies. The solution created the ability to find insight into data and quickly activate anything you want, lower distribution costs, and control data flow. The following are some of the opportunities of scaling this product:
- Ability to maintain brand identity and competitive advantages.
- Bring vendor alignment to the needs of our customers and companies.
- Provide a fair ecosystem that aligns the supply chain to the needs of their customers.
- Real estate owners are able to forge the path to data ownership and control.
- Create a governing body of real estate owners.
Concerns that we are addressing
Conclusion
The self-storage industry has seen unprecedented growth in the last 24 months which will have long term effects on vendors and owners, as well as adjacent industries. Data will be the key to success in the storage industry and other real estate sectors. Building a Global Distribution System, Tenant GDS, that is shared by real estate owners is a critical success factor to continue to align the industry toward efficient operations and a superior customer experience.
