Despite its surge in popularity over recent years, many people are still asking what is PropTech? And why should I invest?
Although real estate is a rapidly growing industry (expected to generate a revenue of over $4 billion globally by 2025), it is also notoriously slow to adopt new technology.
Traditional estate agents tend to resist emerging innovations, so the PropTech movement may feel overwhelming and intimidating. But the advancement of technology in the property industry is here to stay and only set to grow throughout 2020. So, the important thing is to understand how PropTech can work with, rather than against agents to help solve deep-seated industry frustrations and inefficient day-to-day processes.
Put simply, PropTech is property technology. It’s the use of I.T. to transform the traditional real estate procedures that are often paper-heavy, people-intensive and time-consuming. The property industry is one of the oldest in the world, making it both a prime target for innovation as well as a likely source of resistance to change.
Examples of PropTech could include property management apps, buying and selling platforms, research and data analysis, automation and smart home technology. The ultimate goals for all of these tools are to reduce paperwork, improve efficiencies and deliver an improved customer service.
Property agents are under immense daily stress to comply with fast-evolving legislation. And the pressure of changing regulations is only intensified by the regulator’s readiness to enforce them – whether that’s in the form of imposing fines or taking legal action.
But, with the use of technology, the burden of compliance can be alleviated through the streamlining and automation of manual processes. From small to large property agents, residential block managers and leading property management companies, PropTech empowers those in the industry to improve their daily activities, gain vital actionable insights and ultimately improve their service offering.
With the rapidly shifting legal landscape and recently enforced tenancy fees ban, agents need to streamline internal operations to combat the significant loss of revenue now more than ever.
Rather than getting overwhelmed by the onslaught of shiny new innovations, it’s important for agents to consider which areas of their business require improvement before considering how the introduction of PropTech could help. After all, innovation should only be driven by need. With that in mind, here are just 5 key areas that the investment of PropTech could assist with:
PropTech – and specifically RegTech (regulatory technology) can help your firm mitigate risk through automated and centralised workflow management. By bringing all of your documentation together into one space, internal collaboration can be improved, processes can be streamlined and oversights can be eradicated. As compliance continues to clamp down on the property industry, tech solutions that improve efficiency and accuracy should be incorporated to prevent regulatory repercussions down the line.
Automation can not only improve operational efficiencies but also reduces admin time for staff. It can take between 2-4 hours to complete the corresponding documentation that comes with an average property let. Tenancy and residential admin can demand the time of multiple employees and suppliers. But PropTech can make multiple spreadsheets and piles of paperwork a thing of the past. By negating the need for paper trails, automating mundane tasks and removing the risk of manual errors, the incorporation of PropTech can improve productivity, remove frustration and let your team focus on the important things like customer service and generating sales.
Instead of having multiple employees working on different versions of the same document, PropTech platforms enable agents and suppliers to work together across a portfolio, under one integrated dashboard – giving all parties greater accountability and transparency. Furthermore, the adoption of technologies like blockchain can help to improve trust and verification across the real estate industry by digitising legal and financial transactions such as the deed recording process.
Property managers can often be found with a calculator in one hand, a pen in the other, the computer screen on in the background and a client on speakerphone. Multitasking tends to come with the territory in real estate. But, with the help of PropTech, there can be less crossed wires, less mixed messages and less misplaced correspondence (the kind you find months later in the bottom of a drawer.) Apps and centralised platforms provide a dedicated space for message history, automated reminders and up-to-date record-keeping. Disparate communication can result in the breakdown of vital connections between agents, customers and suppliers. In an industry where everything hinges on building trust and long-term relationships, PropTech can be a viable solution. Discover our 6 ways to improve your supplier relationships.
For an industry steeped in tradition, it’s easy to get caught up in just doing things the way they’ve always been done. For this reason, property agents tend to make life harder for themselves than is really necessary. Big data, which describes the large volume of data collected by organisations via the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected devices, can be an indispensable source of analysis and insight to help firms reduce costs, reduce time, optimise their service offering and make smarter decisions. From more accurate market appraisals to predicted market fluctuations and personalised marketing, PropTech can remove the unnecessarily convoluted and delayed processes inherent in real estate transactions. These valuable insights can help to inform business strategy, improve profitability and modernise the customer experience.
Quite simply, we’re here to help make the job you’re doing easier. Our cloud-based accreditation platform helps to protect your business from reputational risk and legal repercussions by making compliance more manageable. Through a network of accredited suppliers, you’ll have access to the full, up-to-date history of supplier documentation, so you’ll no longer need to worry about expired policies or uncovered liability.
We want to remove the stress of scrambling around during audits to find the correct, up-to-date information you need. So, not only do we remove the communication overheads between staff and suppliers in the quest for updated insurance policies or health and safety certificates, but we also remove the back-and-forth required to find new suppliers and build trusted, long-lasting relationships. As a result, we can save your team valuable time with a streamlined, efficient solution to your supplier management while improving your business’s regulatory compliance.
Find out how our supplier onboarding and accreditation software can help your business.
