Accelerated adoption and advancements in the latest technologies have disrupted the way organizations across industries do business. However, unlike retail, healthcare, or transportation, the real-estate sector has been considered a laggard in technology adoption. According to the latest report, Emerging Trends in Real Estate by PwC, COVID-19 has accelerated change in the real estate industry, focusing on social justice and safety, and wellness amid a backdrop of economic uncertainty. Real estate industry players invest and adopt accelerated digital transformation solutions to stay ahead of the competition and ensure business resilience in a technology-dominated future market. Proptech is gaining momentum and is redefining the traditional way of buying, selling, renting, and investing in real estate.
What is Proptech?
Proptech refers to the practice of incorporating technology into the real estate industry. Proptech players are committed to creating efficient & customized digital solutions for real estate developers, investors, insurance providers, brokers, and property management companies. This cross-industry technology collaboration is set to change the way people research, rent, buy, sell, manage, and invest in real estate.
Here is a list of Proptech technologies redefining the real estate industry:
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
AI and machine learning-enabled platforms allow enterprises to make insightful decisions. Processing a huge amount of available data enables companies to personalize and offer properties based on individual customer preferences, personality traits, and values, rather than just geographic location or size. It can also analyze and predict any safety hazard or construction defects, saving time and money. It also helps enterprises foresee future competition concerning any geography by evaluating the probability of occurrence of relevant events such as changes in the demographic pattern of the micro-market, income distribution of individuals in the vicinity, project viability in the future. Furthermore, correctly trained and designed Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning algorithms are helpful to determine the property valuation and help predict the pricing trends more precisely.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
The digital era has changed customer behavior – people now search online before making any purchase. Potential real estate buyers are no exception. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies open a new arena for real estate providers to make the buying experience more exciting and accessible. Maintaining a demo project has been a pain for real estate developers, costing them time and money. AR/VR enables them to create and conduct virtual tours of properties for their potential customers, which will allow them to experience the final product even before construction begins from the comfort of their own homes. This will also benefit long-distance customers who can’t physically visit the project. Real estate providers can use virtual tours that detail various parameters of the property, such as temperature control, safety precautions, community guidelines and help them get acquainted with the property well in advance. Virtual tours can also provide a realistic view of the project to the prospective customer. Their expectations are set before project initiation and can help deliver the final project by meeting the customer’s expectations.
Robotic Process Automation
Real estate and property management involve multiple documents that are data-heavy & rules-based, which reduces the productivity of employees and the business. Real estate companies can now bank on robotic process automation to automate these rule-based tasks and enable valuable human resources to focus on business-critical functions. Real estate operations such as tenant onboarding, portfolio management, payment reminders, NAV calculations, KYC compliances, maintenance scheduling, work orders, listing management, rent management, etc., can be automated leveraging RPA. Focusing on business-critical functions, such as interacting directly with potential buyers and sellers, enhances the probability of more closed deals, resulting in positive revenue growth. RPA improves transparency and visibility into various business processes, thus enabling realtors faster and wiser property management.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things (IoT) is helping the real estate industry grow and manage businesses more efficiently than ever before. IoT devices can send alerts and notifications to tenants or property managers in case of a safety hazard or other emergency issues. They can also keep track of maintenance history, identify potential problems and allow for predictive maintenance. IoT devices can also help property managers understand tenant behavior and preferences to improve properties and provide a superior customer experience. Before making a purchase, any prospective customer or tenant can evaluate the property’s history on maintenance, electric works, plumping, fire incidents, etc., through its connected IoT devices. Processing the immense variety of data available from IoT sensors through advanced analytics poses the enormous potential to offer meaningful & valuable insights that will change the way real estate works.
The Future of Proptech
The Proptech ecosystem is rising and will undoubtedly continue to grow, with budding start-ups becoming larger, global enterprises. Proptech will redefine the real estate industry, just like FinTech transformed financial services and InsurTech transformed insurance services. For real estate organizations to thrive and prosper in the increasingly digitalized future, understanding and effectively utilizing Proptech solutions is the way ahead.
But the question is, how can enterprises be prepared to leverage the Proptech revolution? How can you future-align your real estate & construction business? Black Rock IT Solutions can help! Drop a mail to sales@blackrockdxb.com. Our real estate professionals have the in-depth industry knowledge and the technical experience needed to help you achieve your business goals.