Why Connectivity is the New Cornerstone of Smart Buildings

19 June 2025, 19:13

Why Connectivity is the New Cornerstone of Smart Buildings

In commercial real estate, the priorities used to be clear: location, rent, and amenities. But today, there’s a new non-negotiable right at the top of the tenant wish list: connectivity.

A recent Boldyn Networks study featured by CREtech confirms what we’ve known in Belgium for years, that reliable, high-performance internet isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the bedrock of a modern building.

And yet, many buildings are still trying to serve 2025 tenants with 2010 infrastructure. It’s like installing solar panels on a typewriter – well-meaning, but very much off the mark.

Connectivity Has Outpaced Amenities

We love a good rooftop garden or a sleek lobby piano as much as the next person. But let’s be honest, when the WiFi drops during a tenant’s client pitch, no amount of lavender-scented yoga will save the lease.

Smart buildings aren’t defined by glass façades or designer lifts anymore. They’re defined by how seamlessly people connect, communicate, and get work done.

After two decades in real estate connectivity, we’ve seen firsthand how often this gets overlooked. And frankly? It’s costing building owners more than they realise – in complaints, churn, and lost reputation.

What Facility Managers Are Telling Us

At FlatTurtle, we work closely with facility managers across Belgium. And they’ve been wonderfully candid:

• “I don’t want to be a network technician. I just want things to work.”
• “We lose tenants over connectivity frustrations.”
• “Our legacy provider still treats internet like a static service. It’s not.”
• “Potential tenants have fiber questions we can’t answer – can we guarantee carrier-neutral, redundant access all the way to their floor?”

Tenants today expect instant onboarding, smooth access, and zero disruptions. That means connectivity must be proactively managed and not reactively fixed.

Smart Buildings Need Smart Connectivity

A truly smart building is one where:

• IoT devices run without hiccups
• Tenants move from lobbies to lounges to the shared meeting rooms to the restaurant without dropping signal
• Facility managers aren’t drowning in support tickets
• Upgrades are seamless and scaling doesn’t mean compromising
• All connections are firewalled and shielded from eavesdroppers

You don’t get that with duct tape and three different vendors. It takes end-to-end infrastructure, intentional design, and proactive monitoring, which is exactly what we’ve built FlatTurtle to deliver.

From Cost Centre to Value Driver

The biggest mistake? Treating connectivity as a cost centre.

In reality, it’s one of your strongest value drivers. Every uninterrupted Zoom call, every smart device that actually stays smart, every tenant who doesn’t email you about the WiFi – that’s a brand win.

And the best part? Done right, it’s invisible. It just works. And when it works, tenants stay longer, complain less, and recommend you more. That’s how buildings build reputation.

The Belgian Context

In Belgium, the market is ripe for modernization but many buildings are still lagging behind.

Telecom giants offer partial solutions. DIY setups introduce risk. And coworking spaces are quietly pulling ahead not because they’re trendier, but because they’ve nailed the basics.

If you’re managing a commercial property here, this is your moment to leapfrog and not patchwork. And it all starts with connectivity.

At FlatTurtle, we believe fuss-free connectivity should be the standard and not the aspiration. If you’re building the next generation of smart workplaces, you shouldn’t have to worry about what’s hidden behind drywall or above the ceiling tiles.

Just like power or water, the internet should flow flawlessly.

Let’s build buildings that think as fast as their tenants do.

Visit FlatTurtle Services to learn more about our solutions.