How real estate companies can overcome technology obstacles by embracing technology that provides clean, single source data
Using a variety of software solutions to manage assets is not always a way for organisations to thrive or grow in today’s technology-fuelled world. In a recent survey by KPMG, 32% of real estate firms stated that the use of disparate systems with a lack of integration is their greatest data capture obstacle, with a further 20% struggling with data standardisation, aggregation, and consolidation from multiple external sources.
Companies have become inundated with technology solutions that do not work together well because systems were added without a comprehensive plan. As a result, you may spend a large part of the day jumping between applications to perform certain tasks or trying to locate the right data from several different spreadsheets, systems or databases.
For many firms, this challenge severely impacts efficiencies and the ability to search for relevant data and documents. For scalability, it is critical to have fully auditable processes, workflows and data. This is best achieved with a single database that functions as an accurate and reliable source of truth.
When the global pandemic forced organisations to work from home, it highlighted the benefits and need for single source, fully integrated cloud solutions, with 34% of real estate firms accelerating plans to define and implement a data strategy to overcome these challenges.
In the modern workplace we work with more data than ever before, and by using disparate systems this data can become difficult to manage, analyse or provide relevant results. By moving to one fully connected solution, you can seamlessly leverage this data to elevate asset performance, lower the total cost of ownership over technology, balance risk and increase revenue.
Here are 4 key areas that you can improve with single platform asset management software:
Elevate Visibility
If you don’t have clear visibility of KPIs and business metrics, you will not have accurate and timely information to make informed decisions and report to investors.
To progress and push organisational growth, you need to be able to utilise actionable insights and gain a true picture of business performance. The issue with having multiple solutions that aren’t compatible and do not fully or accurately integrate means that records are susceptible to human error. Poor visibility of data can also result in identifying critical problems too late and wasting valuable time to manually build key reports.
KPMG’s survey found that 76% of real estate firms still use Excel as their analytical tool. By switching to an effective integrated solution that automates most of your asset management tasks, you can eliminate the manual, time-consuming processes such as using spreadsheets and other disparate systems, whilst gaining access to real-time interactive analytics to quantify decisions. Companies that have already adopted single connected solutions have seen higher levels of success due to working with organised, qualitative data and insightful analytics.
Elevate Flexibility
As we saw during 2020, organisations needed to be flexible and able to quickly adapt to new ways of working. However, this was not the first global event to expose legacy operating models, processes and disparate systems as roadblocks. In 2008 when the global financial crash occurred, organisations struggled to unite systems and gain valuable data insights into how they could develop and survive. The crash spurred on technology adoption, but was it enough?
Companies grow at different rates and the same applies to technology platforms. How do you know if one platform will keep up with another before it becomes obsolete or causes additional issues down the line?
This is where there’s a need for one connected solution that provides flexibility within a corporate environment, that is cloud-based and easily accessible to everyone in the organisation, as well as external partners. All teams can benefit from working together during the asset lifecycle in one system, whether it’s for visualising portfolio health, analysing tenant risk, managing collections, ensuring better leasing deals, or managing capital projects to ensure they are on time and on budget.
Elevate Scalability
Your technology should work with you, not against you, which is why you should opt for a solution that can allow for growth. When starting your business, you may have a small group of people and only need one solution to assist with data, but as your organisation scales, you need a solution that grows and adapts with you.
Flexible solutions are imperative because they work with you and your business needs, rather than third-party solutions that you need to adapt to and try and make work with your existing technology. You need a solution that is adaptable, can evolve, and seamlessly incorporates relevant modules that provide insight into portfolio health while streamlining commercial operations such as forecasting, deal management, construction management or lease management to name a few.
Elevate Collaboration
Companies that easily adapted during this unprecedented time use solutions that work together because they access better data and analytics, connect teams and allow collaboration. All internal and external teams such as lawyers, finance, leasing, asset and development managers can connect and collaborate with ease during the asset management lifecycle.
Teams can access secure, relevant and up to date information (including data and analytics) from any location without having to scavenge for data. Being able to streamline operations helps you reach revenue targets, react faster to high-risk situations and market changes to elevate asset performance.
Having a unified single connected solution provides accurate and transparent information that’s easily accessible. It helps improve productivity and provides enhanced data that doesn’t contradict across platforms, allowing for enhanced decision making and improved business performance, no matter the size of your business or goals. By embracing cloud-based, single-sign-on, easily scalable solutions, you can adapt, grow, and thrive in any environment.