The true ROI of tech

Richard Gerritsen, senior director at Yardi, discusses how

BE News: Are real estate companies seeing technology as a focus in their business?

Gerritsen: For a lot of companies, the pandemic pushed them to rethink their strategies and it hasn’t stopped. In the 2022 EPRA and Yardi Proptech Survey, we found that 46% of businesses did not consider proptech adoption as a high priority compared with other business initiatives. However, nearly 70% of participants recognised that the adoption of technology was now a business topic, which meant businesses were starting to realise that technology was required to run their business better.

However, despite people in the industry recognising the importance of tech in driving the future of business, nearly 46% are classifying this topic as a low priority – they are succumbing to the idea that they are not ready to digitise, which is an underlying issue that we need to change. The real question is: what is my cost if I don’t invest?

Digitalisation is a strategic business decision that drives the future of an organisation. Investing in technology is fundamental, but businesses need to be prepared to undergo this process before they can get to the other side of innovation.

BE News: If digitalising processes is key, what are your thoughts on artificial intelligence (AI) as it has become a hot topic with the release of ChatGPT?

Gerritsen: We utilise AI and machine learning within Yardi’s technology. These asset management solutions deep-dive into operational data and go beyond presentation with predictive insights and prescriptive recommendations. Our intuitive solutions help elevate portfolio performance by lowering costs, balancing risk and increasing revenue.

We now live and work in a digital world and residents and tenants want to have a digital experience going forward. By digitalising the customer journey from marketing websites and online leasing to online payments and reporting, you can save time. Technology helps you provide a better experience for both customers and staff and have more time to nurture and build those relationships with your customers. This is why every process in real estate, whether it’s residential, retail, commercial or coworking, is digitalised in our platform.

In the industry, we have seen that clients and customers are gathering their data from different places and aren’t focusing on having a strong data foundation. A strong data foundation can be utilised for AI, predictive analysis and the future of their business.

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Based on each factor, for example if I want to increase rent or reduce rent, the KPIs and predictive analysis we receive from AI can help us make the right decisions. So, we believe having a strong data foundation in place and aggregating this data will help companies be more productive and make better decisions in their future operations.

BE News: Where is the return on investment (ROI) in real estate technology?

Gerritsen: We work closely with our clients to ensure our solutions can support their requirements. As the market changes, the business requirements change, so our solutions need to be flexible and adapt to any changes in business processes and business operations. Customers are diversifying their real estate portfolios to reduce risk and to improve their ROI – especially after the past few years when they saw specific real estate verticals struggle more than others. Our technology has already helped clients save over 30 hours of data gathering and strategic planning, reduced the leasing planning cycle by 40% and saved 50% of time from automatic reporting. The unified platform helps to easily evaluate current and future occupancy with visual floorplans, helps attract prospects, improves customer experience and provides better analytical insights with a click of a button.

Yardi’s solutions help clients scale their businesses and save time through automation. Businesses need to move away from spreadsheets as you can’t gain valuable insights into your data or trends. It makes it difficult to find the right information and involves a lot of manual input. The industry is fast-moving and without the right technology that works with you and grows with you, you may start to struggle.

Within the retail sector, they generate more data each month than most vertical real estate markets. Automation is key to success as you can optimise your shopping centre revenue. Property management solutions such as Yardi’s, which is specifically designed for real estate, help remove manual processes and attract prospects, improve the customer experience and help retain current tenants.

BE News: Looking to the future, what’s next for Yardi?

Gerritsen: As we look ahead, data and technology are still important factors in real estate. There is recognition that proptech is an important factor in business, as mentioned previously. However, companies need to understand the true ROI of technology.

We are working hard to make sure we release new products and solutions that can support the everchanging requirements of our clients. As the market changes, the business requirements change, which puts stress on technology to make sure it’s flexible and can adapt to any changes in business processes and business operations.

We shouldn’t be relying on outdated software that requires a lot of manual input when proptech can save 50% of your time through automation alone. You cannot afford to not invest in technology, especially when planning for growth – there are a lot of overhead costs, but technology can help you save money and scale your business. This year, we will continue to demonstrate to the industry the true value of a single solution that is designed for real estate. Our commercial offering is strong with solutions such as Retail Manager and Deal Manager that are developed for niche market needs.

We will continue to help real estate businesses thrive with the use of a connected solution and one source of truth. By investing in the right technology and understanding the true ROI, real estate owners and operators can transform the way their business operates.