One of the major and typical concerns of self storage owners are the freehold property worth. While this used to encompass just its tangible assets (land, buildings, site improvements, fittings and fixtures, etc) and its notional leasehold or business value elements, it now also needs to include its “digital real estate”. This has been defined as website names, social media accounts and other markers that stake out a digital space on the internet as being the property of the business. This will also include the person running these channels.
People and service are intertwined in digital self storage – so far! The industry now faces new challenges to stay relevant, front-of-mind, and profitable. Astute owners and operators need to recognise this earlier rather than later or risk seeing their value(s) erode as competitors win market share.
In our disruptive economy where change is relentless, current and future value relies upon management innovation and proactivity including your digital real estate presence. This is a fundamental as the world gets ever smaller and the choice(s) gets ever wider.
If you aren’t maximising your business and its digital real estate assets as part of your everyday operations, rest assured someone else is!
From a going concern valuation perspective, a contemporary question should now include how your digital real estate value is recognised (if you have one) and more particularly how it is:
- Quantified in dollar terms
- Measured as a contribution to overall value and
- Blended in to a valuation description and given a quantified value.
Answers to the above valuation questions require you as owner to possess and use cutting-edge operational systems to provide reliable, measurable, real-time data as a necessary first step in giving your digital real estate a value.
The impact of digital real estate on current and future value is a reality, and a valid point to consider when looking at the bigger picture of your self storage facility’s value.
Having online booking systems and payment options significantly improves the value of your business today. Speak to Storman Software about integration options and the future of your facility management and it’s online capability.
