Planning for the future

RICS concentrates much of its efforts on raising the professional status of its surveyors worldwide, focusing on people. But the modern world is about more than people: it is awash with data, software applications, hardware components and digital companies, all interacting with each other. Expressions such as the "Internet of things" are becoming more than concepts, so behind every device should be a standardised way of communicating and representing data objects. Developers rely on clear standards to ensure that the data they are processing can be read consistently and potentially used in ways they have not considered. Costs, valuations and building measurements are clearly embedded in much of what will be digitised in the future and RICS must offer value to its members by staying relevant as the property sector is transformed.