Jason Jones of Cresa Technology Advisory Solutions joins a conversation with recent graduate Tiffany Din who receives a degree in both Finance and Computer Information Systems from the Georgia State Robinson School of Business. The discussion explores Return to Work strategies for fintech companies to consider and updates on recent fintech news in the world.
Jason Jones of Cresa Technology Advisory Solutions joins a conversation with recent graduate Tiffany Din who receives a degree in both Finance and Computer Information Systems from the Georgia State Robinson School of Business. The discussion explores Return to Work strategies for fintech companies to consider and updates on recent fintech news in the world.
spk_0: 0:06
Welcome to the Georgia Fintech Academy podcast. The Georgia Fintech Academy is a cooperation between Georgia's FINTECH industry and the university system of Georgia. This talent development initiative addresses a massive demand for fintech professionals and gives learners. The specialized education experience is needed to enter the fintech sector. Hello,
spk_1: 0:27
everybody. This is Tommy Marshall, the executive director of the Georgia Fintech Academy. Welcome back to listeners that have been with us on our previous nine episodes, and we are really excited to have you all with us today. I have two guests with me today. Jason Jones from Kresa and Tiffany Den, a student from a recently graduated student from Georgia State University. Is Robin School of Business. Welcome to you both.
spk_2: 1:01
Thank you for having us,
spk_1: 1:04
I guess. Let's ah, let's jump right in with getting to know each of you a little bit better. Um, Jason, tell it. Tell us about you. Tell us about you. Tell us about Kresser.
spk_2: 1:17
Sure, Absolutely. Um Well, I'm a principal at Kresa, which is the world's largest occupier Onley corporate real estate advisory firm, which is a mouthful. However, what that means is that ah, we advise corporate corporations across the globe on their real estate strategy. And we on Lee offer that sort of advice and advocacy for the occupier of space. Never the landlord, and we feel that avoids any potential conflicts of interest. Um, I have been with the firm for 17 years, and I always share with folks that have a bit of an odd duck Tommy in the corporate real estate industry. And, um, that is because I personally I really don't do, um, real estate advisory work exclusively anymore. I focus on a service line that I built called Kresa C three, which stands for communications, connectivity and cloud. And these are the technology components that support a workforce and ultimately integrate with the corporate real estate process. So it's ah, bit of a different twist. And what we saw was that our clients were not being served by the industry as we thought that they could or as well as they could be. And we just extended our service one level further well beyond the real estate advisory work beyond project management work and into what comes next, which is the technology to support the workspace to support the workforce and really circling back to the very beginning. It's those conversations that often times and we'll get into it our upstream conversations that lead to downstream real estate infrastructure and support. So that's Crescent in my role there.
spk_1: 3:20
Now, tell us, how did you get interested in, um, in what you do in real estate?
spk_2: 3:30
Well, um, a little bit of an unusual path, but Ah, just sort of a little bit of background about me is I am in Atlanta native. I, uh I went to ah, left local public the cab county school high school here and went to Duke for my undergraduate degree. Where? Ah, I did Navy ROTC. So I spent eight years flying jets off the aircraft carriers and
spk_1: 3:57
we had the flu that we had the Blue Angels flying over our finds me just the other
spk_2: 4:02
day, as we like to say, the sounds of freedom top
spk_1: 4:06
my favorite. Only I'm very Navy bias. So I don't watch the Thunderbirds. I only
spk_2: 4:13
well, they It's been said, um, Air Force wings or made a lead Navy wings made of gold. But But you didn't hear me say that? Um, no. It's a good, healthy rivalry and love my Air Force brethren and, ah, my sisters and brothers in the Air Force and Army and Marine Corps, for that matter. But, um, so, anyways, I, uh, I spent eight years and ah got an MBA at Arizona State and on my way out of the Navy, but then circled back home to Atlanta after a trip around the world over 15 months, um, but eventually landed here at home. And then I say, I started in the more dangerous world of, ah, office tenant rep advisory services and planted the flag. And I've been back and I love mob being back here in Atlanta. That's cool. The your question was, how did I get interested in? Ultimately, I, uh, it was Ah, this was right after 9 11 It was a very difficult time in the economy for everyone. And, um, I was just attracted to the sort of the entrepreneurial nature of real estate advisory services. It's very much a people business. It's, um you can sort of make your own. You're almost like a business inside of a business. Really. That's how real estate advisory work works. And I was attracted to that. So, um, I began my career with a very large, publicly traded ah traditional real estate firm and but then moved to Kresa, where I am now about one year later, and I've been there represents. And it is in a great experience.
spk_1: 5:57
Yeah, that's fantastic. Well, thanks again for being with us today.
spk_2: 6:03
My pleasure.
spk_1: 6:04
Tiffany, you are a rock star and tell us about you. It's just great to have you on with us today.
spk_0: 6:13
Oh, firstly, Thank you, Tommy. Assholes. Jason, for having me here today Whom I am a senior. I just graduated from Georgia State. I Congratulations. Thank you. So I majored in finance and computer information systems with a concentration in Data Analytics. So my interest in computer information systems actually started when I first realized that there are a lot off, um, a lot off opportunities within finance that requires tech skills. So when I first did my first internship in my sophomore year, I realized that you know, if I have some knowledge and sq a or VBS cetra, that would definitely give me an edge. You know, in my internship and that got me started. I see. Took on my second major after that summer, which is in CS. And then I just went down the rabbit hole and then, you know, when into the intersection between both of my majors try to identify what the synergies are. And fintech was a natural progression off that. So I really had the privilege of being a part of the Fintech Academy that Khamis leading right now. We just recently had a really amazing curry affair with a lot of students. I think it was 400 students write 400 was really successful. And we had I think, around 10 employers. Right? We have,
spk_1: 7:38
right. We have 10 employers.
spk_0: 7:40
Yeah, who came on. And I thought that was an amazing opportunity for students like me Was interested in Fintech to get engaged and learn more about this field. So yeah,
spk_1: 7:52
in your, um, I know you're being modest too, So I'm gonna just brag about you. Look, bit number one. You stood up immediately when I was asking votes to get involved with our student advisory council that we just set up in January. So thank you for that. And I certainly hope you we can find a way to keep you in the mix. as even at knowing that you graduated. Uh, and then I know you were made The President's list. The dean's list have been part of the women lead signature program honors track and finance the Panthers on Wall Street program, which is just phenomenal and many and many other things. So I know Georgia State Robinson was gonna you sad to see you go.
spk_0: 8:43
Oh, thank you. Tell me it's really the school, you know, and the teachers who has given me all these opportunities to grow. So I'm really grateful for that.
spk_1: 8:52
And then, um, I think the other thing that's just really interesting about you is that you're an international student. Grew up in Singapore. Um, you know what? What got you interested in Georgia State? I've just and curious about that.
spk_0: 9:12
So before I applied to the school's, Firstly, I came to Georgia because I had relatives here. So my parents feel a lot safer for me to come over to the U. S. And specifically Georgia Atlanta. I was really just in Georgia State because when I was researching into different schools in the vicinity, I realized that Georgia State has a lot off really good programs like the pendant on Wall Street program was what really stood out to me is that nature programmes, the pace experience where we get to be consultants, right? Good. And consultants? Yeah, that really stood out to me as well, as well as the fact that Georgia state actually has one of the best teaching experiences. I think it was ranked second along with, you know, the school with best innovation. So I feel like this is an environment which truly, you know, advocates for quality teaching. And that's something that really attracted me and made me decide to come to Georgia State.
spk_1: 10:13
Yeah. And what? And I was also really interested. Um, as you are a double major between finance and computer information systems. What was it that drew you towards doing the dual nature And and I guess kind of adding on that computer information systems focus.
spk_0: 10:35
So initially, as I probably mentioned earlier, I was actually a finance major. Only then when I started doing my internships every internship that I did, I realized that I feel that my skill sets words sufficient. No, every job nowadays require some form of tech skills, you know, B V b A at the minimum or SQL. I think those two are the ones that I commonly see very often as well. As you know, if you have skill sets and python, you know, and just having experience dealing with coding or technology, that's something that I thought would be very advantages. And that's something that finance major a traditional finance degree does not provide. So after I finished my first internship, I came back and I was thinking, If I really want to get employed, you know, in the future I need to think about how I can value at to my current major. So I decided on taking on the CIA's major to, you know, learn some coating. You know, high thon are Java to boost my value App.
spk_1: 11:46
Yeah, you are the kind of ur fintech kind of pit if you epitomize effect in the fact that you've got this major in both finance and communication systems and I will mention to those of you looking for a really superstar employees that you're still exploring opportunities, right? Yeah. So, um, you know, Please, if any of you were listening and you want me to get you connected with Tiffany. You had to shoot me an email at Tommy dot marshall at USG dot edu and we will make that happen. Um, let's get into a bit of a discussion around thistle. Kind of really cool space that you work in, Jason. Um, And I think, I guess, first of all, for our listeners, yes, this is a fintech podcast. Um, and I hope you've all been listening, Teoh, the multiple podcast that we've We put out the air just in the last 2.5 months. So you may be asking, you know. OK, what What do we do in talking about, Um What? Talking about real estate and getting into real estate? Well, I've I've learned in my engagement with the fintech ecosystem just here in Atlanta over the last 10 years that, um, real estate really becomes an important strategic aspect of how these companies work, how they grow, how they begin to thrive. I know you're gonna hit on some of this, Jason. And so it just seemed like a really appropriate timeto have someone with your expertise on our podcast. Jason did. Just as we're all trying to figure out this really, really unique circumstance we find ourselves in, kind of hopefully soon transitioning or trained the midst of transitioning from this work from home, setting in it back back to the workplace. And what what might that look like? And how could that occur? But maybe start us out, Jason, telling us about this fintech occupancy here in Georgia, I guess I'm particularly in Atlanta.
spk_2: 14:18
Sure. Yeah. No. And you're right, Tommy. Um, what? We're all experiencing a shock to the system on where we work and how we work, and that includes the entire fintech community. Um, and there's going to be a discussion that's going on right now about how do we return to work And what does it look like? Is it gonna be a return to normal or what is the new normal? So it is absolutely relevant. Toe how a fintech company, um, is going to operate going forward. And, um, it's interesting. The Fintech community has definitely grown. Um, the statistics that that we have uncovered ah, defined by the um ah, Atlanta Business Chronicle was since 2014 the percentage of space that fintech companies occupy has grown by about 12.5%. So over five years that occupied space as we're on 12% and it's about 9% of the office face out there. So ah, pretty healthy proportion for one industry in our environment here in a while.
spk_1: 15:32
Um, yeah, yeah, just It's been a pretty amazing story, and I was just we all I got. Certainly I've had a sense of just how much growth there's been fintech in our in our community and you start to look at these real estate I've been to see numbers and, um, really, you can just see another indicator of of how that gross been, um, emanating itself. So help us with this kind of big traffic. I know you're spending a lot of time consulting your clients around now in these transition in and out a handle. What might be our kind of a new circumstance for work here? A sui come through this public health crisis?
spk_2: 16:20
Well, there's, ah, you know, tell me the way that we view things are in three phases, so, um, to health crisis. The phase one was the immediate face, and that was the system shock. That was, um, stay at home orders or mandates. And ah, everybody sent their employees based home and we had to figure it out overnight. And the company's raced to catch up with their employees. You know, using cell phones, home Internet, etcetera and trying to support them A's to is really sort of the, um, enduring phase, which we're in right now, But we feel we're coming to the end of, and that's the transition. That's about the happen to return toe work. Um, and then phase three, which I think is the really interesting opportunity phase, which will be How do companies take advantage of what they learned and this new normal And what is it? Um, but backing up to phase two right now? The conversations that were taking part in and where we're advising our clients and what we're going through ourselves is all around. How do we safely return to the work environment? And what does that look like in the considerations for that are first we advise three things. One create a team to help come up with a plan to develop the plan and then three communicate the plan. Those three things are critical. You need to have a group of people who are focused on this really dedicated to figuring it out, create the plan and then good communication is critical because people need to feel safe. They need to feel valued as they're coming back to the workplace. And some of the key elements of that plan would be figuring out how you're going to social distance inside the workplace. And we have designers that work for us on staff that can help people help companies. Lay that out. Um, traffic patterns sort of the flow of walking through the space because you want to try to minimize congested areas or, you know, sort bumping into each other in the hall as much as possible. Um, setting up sanitation stations. There may be, um, you could come up with policy for where you wear a mask or if you're in your private office. Perhaps you don't need to wear your mask there off furniture options out there for putting in, uh, shields in between employees who are sitting close to each other and sort of open Ah, workstation or benching areas. So you know, there's, ah, there's a whole host of sort of a checklist that companies air now going through and we're helping our clients. Ah, evaluate and ultimately get them back into the space on the time frame and the the people that they need coming back, um, you know, in an appropriate and safe manner,
spk_1: 19:18
does some of the strategies involve some sort of rotation where you're not bringing everyone or maybe Monday, Wednesday, Friday, you got Team A D. And Tuesday Thursday You got it. Teams seeing the something like that,
spk_2: 19:36
Yes, yes, that is the sort of shifts, um, are you know, it's a combination of shifts like you said, also phases, so, you know, phase one might be you're gonna have to shifts. And it's all X number of people in the office at any one time. These two might be you increase the number of people, ah, increased the number of shifts or you move away from shifts, whatever that ah process might be. But that is, that's certainly part of it. But I tell you, the first question is, who really needs to come back right now? And that, I think, leads to some of the interesting questions that companies air asking themselves about the new normal
spk_0: 20:24
I t
spk_1: 20:25
Yeah, go ahead. Sorry.
spk_0: 20:26
Sorry. So I have a question, Jason. So do you think there's gonna be a change in how companies will be thinking about traditional office spaces Now that you know we have This is an acid test, right? The pandemic, where custom companies get the opportunity to test out their technology infrastructure and their capabilities at this point. And I feel like a lot of companies have already proven themselves that they are technology infrastructure has the capacity to, you know, move remote. So how is that? You know, what's your take on that? You think that companies would start thinking about maybe moving to a smaller office space or two more like collaborative spaces? How do you see the trend going forward?
spk_2: 21:09
Well, I think that is a great question, Tiffany. And it's very insightful because that is exactly what companies are thinking of and should be thinking of is. And I love you said, Hey, look, this is the acid test. And it was it was interesting. It was an imposed acid test. There was a cultural barrier to remote work prior to the health crisis, not everybody. Some companies embraced it. That's true but it was a smaller percentage. That's just statistics that I've seen was only 46% of companies had a remote work plan, our policy in place and of those how many really exercised it and used it, even if it was that they used it all the time. That's still, you know, 54% that had no remote work policy at all. And now suddenly it's 100%. Have something out there and and that's what's interesting is companies should be asking themselves, How do we take advantage of the smashing of the cultural barrier against remote work, and how can it make us more competitive? And if I'm a the the way that we view this is, um there's an old paradigm and a new paradigm of office space of the work place, I should say, and that is sort of the past. The old paradigm was built on four key elements of a successful workplace talent, culture, technology. In the physical space. You built a workplace that attracted and retained the best talent that stimulated a had a culture that stimulated creativity that leverage technology to facilitate collaboration and a design ah, floor plan that would increase productivity. It's number four that has been blown out of the water right now, and a new idea has erupted, as you have alluded to. And that's really well we consider workplace 2.0, which says it's not just about the physical office face and what that looks like. It's still that. But now there's an and And where do we office are people? Where can they work from, no matter where it is? Home office, a coffee shop? A ah, their commute on the train. Ah, public park. Where can they office or really work? Where's that workplace that maximizes productivity, talent and financial return? And that's where I think there's a real exciting opportunity for companies going forward in this new paradigm.
spk_1: 23:52
Um, Jason, one thing I was remembering I remember when there was this transformation in terms of the physical, the office based from these, like most of the employees er, staff having their own individual offices or kind ah, high, high walled cubicles to this transformation, which was more this open office plan or what I call for bullpen like could have more staff kind of sitting that kind of these big open spaces. Um, which baby started occurring even a 10 years or more ago. But where? I mean, I assume I recall there was a lot of argument around that productivity culture enhance. Met what? Not and changing those physical set ups. But what I was curious about was you did that. Did you see that? Realized where those changes that were made, um, over the last whatever it's been 10 or 15 years. Did you realize that companies realize the benefits they were hoping for for the changes? And is what can we learn from that that helps inform this new new go forward?
spk_2: 25:05
Yeah, and I think you're speaking of sort of the dense ification that was a social with the open floor plan. Is that what you're referring to? Her rose Now it was just open workstations and fewer offices. Yeah, exactly. Well, what you So that saves a lot of money. So let's not forget that real estate is typically the second largest line item on a piano right after labor. So your people cost the most. That's the most important. But right under it is your eyes. Your your corporate real estate built typically an office lease or warehouse lease. And when you are able to, um, take people out of hard walled offices and put them into workstations, a couple different things happen. One is perhaps that's a design function for greater mobility of your workforce inside the space in greater collaboration. So there's some soft reasons why you do that. But there's also hard financial reasons why you do that, because just to give you very, um, back in the napkin mask if one person occupies 200 square feet, and that includes the circulation areas where they walk and their workstation etcetera. But it's somewhere between 152 150 square feet per person. That's the rule of thumb in our industry, so I'm just gonna use 200 is a round number if you multiply that times the cost per square foot. In Atlanta, let's take the King and Queen buildings, which most people are familiar with that concourse. Those mid ride buildings are approximately $30 her square foot, so 200 times 30 equal $6000. So for every employee that you can now have working remote or if you just you reduce your square footage that you need by dense if I ng. As you said with open work plans, you need $6000 for every 200 square feet each year that can add up. Multiply that by him. You're up to 60,000 by 100 there, 600. I mean, it
spk_1: 27:13
is a cost advantage in going to that kind of arrangement. And then But then I guess now the foot his home that we've got this public health concern that I mean, obviously more open space, more interaction. You know what? Not to be.
spk_2: 27:29
That's true. But I I think what we're going to see it's gonna be very interesting because we now have people. As I mentioned, the cultural barrier has been broken, and the sort of the genie is out of the bottle. What I'm hearing from my clients as they're talking to their work force is there getting a little bit of pushback on coming back to work, not only for immediate term health care concerns, but also for commute times, productivity reasons. I mean, they, they have a greater work life balance. Believe it or not, you can if you if you if you have a place to work, and that's part of the consideration. A dedicated place to work at home. So there's some pushback from employees, some not all. Some are dying to get back. But I think there's going to be in an era where we hell looking like a economic downturn believe are financial officers are going to be looking for cost control. And if they have an opportunity to reduce their square footage and still operate effectively productively by having a remote work strategy, I believe you're going to see that happen, right?
spk_0: 28:40
So, Jason, I have another question. So even though remote work strategies are definitely very enticing for especially financial officers who are trying to cut costs at the same time, there is immense value in having you know, a common space that employees can go to. You know, that's what are the synergy happens. Collaboration and innovation happens. So what are your thoughts about? You know, we work, for example, those type of like hybrid models, collaborative spaces, you know, with technological infrastructure. What are your thoughts about? You know that trend?
spk_2: 29:16
Sure. Well, I absolutely feel that a a centralized office for most companies is something that is going to continue to be critical for their success. You can't beat in person collaboration. The question is simply going to be okay. Which job types need that type of in person collaboration and how often? Because if they only needed one or two days per week, Or maybe they only need it in the morning and not be afternoon. I mean this any number of different scenarios, then you know, the key is and it all goes back to business drivers, right that drive this old thing. It's really not about remote work or our office face. It's about what does my fintech company need to be successful? Where do I put them? My people? How do they collaborate with each other? Can they collaborate? Virtually? How often do they need to collaborate? What's best for them collaborating in person? It's looking at the operations the human resource is attracting and retaining talent, and it's looking at the financial return, and it's that combination that then leads downstream to the appropriate strategy.
spk_1: 30:31
That's super helpful, Jason and it's just really understanding, and I think it's important to be I just learned so much, Um, in talking about these topics, and it helps to emphasize just how important these real estate related strategies are to the success of a business. I want to pivot a bit. Teoh. You know, news, fintech news over the past week that have caught our respective eyes. Tiffany, how about you? Any Any news that jumped out at you? Uh, since last. Perfect.
spk_0: 31:11
Yeah, definitely. Tommy, Did you see the news about, um, f i s, I think just came out last week. F i s They're targeting to invest 101 115 million over the next three years in some promising fintech startups and thing That's really interesting. What do you think about it?
spk_1: 31:30
I saw that and was excited. Teoh, just see that move. You know, I've f i s is a great partner for the Fintech Academy. There are our founding investor, actually of our program and a C four on G is a serial entrepreneur. Are successful, successful. I'm very successful doctor here in Atlanta and he is his most recent company was paying metric diesel that world a now world pay was acquired by F i s So it's safe now finds himself is to chief revenue, Chief Growth officer, Chief Growth Officer F. I. S. And he is the one that has helped establish this venture fund. And it's just gonna build on some really interesting efforts that f i s has been driving. Really? I think over the last six or seven years. And they've had a, uh, fintech accelerator that they've run in collaboration with the Venture Center and Little Rock Azan. Example. Of course, this unsure this in tech vigil fund is gonna help provide some funding to select companies in the program. And they're involved in other accelerator programs that that nature And then they've also been a prolific acquirer of fintech companies. Early stage, mid stage over the years. So it just makes total sense to me, um, this venture fund that they're creating, um, Jason, how about you? What's caught your eye?
spk_2: 33:06
Well, I I saw this news, and I was I was amazed. And it really speaks to, um yeah, uh, with payments industry. I saw that, um hey, Pau had a a bigger day May 1st that it had the most transactions in the company's history. Bigger than even Black Friday or Cyber Monday of 2019 and ah, I was just, you know, in a record breaking month, they've added 10 million net new accounts. I'm just I haven't had a chance to really think about a deeply, but that surprises may, um and I'm just curious if you anybody has thoughts on what his paper on. I'm sure Ben Most doing well. Also, um, how is this happening, or what is the driver behind that?
spk_1: 34:00
Tiffany, against this, this always brings up my favorite question ends that you Are you a Venmo user up a power user? Both Zell pay. What? What's your preferred way to pay for? Pray for things.
spk_0: 34:19
Definitely So as well as Venmo. I use vandal almost like every time when I go out, you know, hang out with friends because that's such a convenient way to pay, you know, in, you know, split payments, you know, So I feel like, especially with what's going on right now, but the pandemic it feels natural almost that there is an increase in contact less payments because, you know, for example, a lot of us nowadays would be ordering in instead off eating out, you know, And it will be, you know, using our Ben mo's to pay or those different deliveries and stuff. So,
spk_1: 35:02
yeah, in Venmo for those that aren't aware is part of PayPal. PayPal phones, Venmo, um, Idol. I didn't look closely at the news toe whether those transaction numbers from bin Mo um and the active account numbers were inclusive between pay pounding. But I'm gonna assume they are because they're so dramatic. But yeah, that is just I think it's just another just really remarkable data point showing how this public health crisis has accelerated the adoption of digital everything. And, of course, when it fintech and sent that companies like PayPal are huge beneficiaries of thes behavior changes that we're just seeing up in real time. Rapidly. My anecdote. I like Venmo, too, and I are our family anecdote around this. Over the last couple of months has been my kids piano teacher have been asking us to pay him in paper texts or the last whatever's been year that he's been instructing our kids, which drives me crazy. I just like what I would you know. Definitely. That's my last in preference in terms of payment instruments, and so we finally have got him taking payment now By Vin Bo Azzam Uh, the start of this this crisis That's great. But those are Yeah, I think, you know, good. Good week of news overall, if intact, there were a couple other standouts. Ah, stash, which is a kind of cools savings fintech. They did a series F rays of $112 million. LendingTree up in Charlotte took a lead role on that. And and then Google continues to make a lot of news in terms of supporting the the payment protection program as it rolls out in supporting banks with it with their technology. Well, it's amazingly, and we come to the end of our time. Um, this thanks to you both for your thoughts base And thanks for helping us think a bit more deeply about what what's happening and how the changes are occurring in the real estate basin. And Tiffany wish you all the luck I can muster as you begin toe, take your first steps in tow. What I know is gonna be an amazingly successful
spk_2: 37:46
Yes. Well, thank you for having us on it. And also, I I second what Tommy says. Congratulations, Emily. You have had a stellar career there, so to speak, Uh, at school. So best of luck to you, somebody's gonna be really lucky to have yard.
spk_0: 38:01
Thank you so much. Both. Thank you for this opportunity. The Georgia Fintech Academy. Podcasts are available on iTunes and Spotify. To obtain additional information about the Georgia Fintech Academy, please visit our website at Georgia fintech academy dot org's.