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Proptech (or property technology) is real estate and property software that helps organizations manage and optimize their portfolios across the entire lifecycle of their buildings.
The term proptech is fairly new. Although other industries have long embraced innovations such as cloud storage, sensors, and mobile tech, the real estate sector has taken a little longer to start widely adopting these technologies.
Proptech solutions enable organizations to manage their properties more easily, operate buildings more efficiently, and better oversee construction and renovation projects. They allow companies to track things like costs, valuations, usage data, and much more. One study shows that in 2020, 81% of real estate organizations planned to use new digital technologies in traditional business processes.
Although proptech crosses into residential real estate, many US-based proptech companies are focused on the commercial and corporate sector.
The industry is evolving quickly. The following are a few key trends to keep an eye on as the technology (and consumer expectations) continue to evolve.
The pandemic drove an unprecedented interest in virtual and remote meetings and experiences. Although many companies have opened back up, employees and consumers (especially younger generations) are increasingly comfortable with virtual experiences such as remote meetings, events, and even virtual tours. Driving this innovation is technology like cloud solutions, mobile platforms, and AI. Proptech solutions are responding to this trend and including functionality like mobile space reservations and digital wayfinding functionality, which helps create a more seamless and human-centric experience.
According Forbes and JLL Technologies, the proptech sector has increased from 2,000 companies a decade ago to over 8,000 companies in 2021.
Because of this, there is a wide range of new proptech startups competing for their share of the real estate market; one Verdantix study shows that in 2019, proptech investments reached nearly $6 billion.
This makes it a volatile segment prone to acquisitions and mergers. In fact, in 2021 alone, there have been several high-profile acquisitions: iOFFICE was acquired by investment firm Thoma Bravo, Infor’s EAM business was acquired by Hexagon AB, Fortive acquired ServiceChannel (a SaaS-based facilities services solution), and MRI Software acquired Manhattan Real Estate and Workplace Solutions.
Learn more about changes to the proptech market.
Because there are so many solutions in the market, it can be difficult to know which features and capabilities are beneficial and which are not. The following list includes several capabilities to keep in mind as you wade through the different options in the proptech space.
NFX, a venture firm looking ahead at the proptech industry, predicts that new changes and catalysts will upend the construction market going forward, which will create a new surge of real estate tech startups.
When all data, deadlines, and financials are in one place (not spread out over multiple applications, departments, or spreadsheets), teams have better insight into how capital planning and construction projects are progressing throughout their lifecycles. This also spans capabilities like vendor management, in which capital project software solutions can help with the bidding process and provide support for managing and tracking those vendors throughout the project.
Plus, when everything is hosted on the cloud, construction teams can access the same project management software that other teams and departments are using, ensuring all groups are on the same page. Real estate and capital project managers can get detailed insights into all ongoing initiatives, not just the major ones.
Get insights into how to select construction project management software.
Additionally, when all information is hosted in one place, teams can get an unprecedented look at their data. Proptech software solutions make it easier to create reports and dashboards, so real estate professionals can set up alerts or quickly visualize their data and make better analytics-driven decisions about their properties.
One recent Forbes article notes that facilities and asset management are two activities that stand to gain much from improved data-driven practices. Proptech software solutions that include or integrate with facilities management solutions can provide better insights into how buildings and assets are performing.
Teams can create dashboards measuring work order response times, asset repair costs, reactive maintenance requests, and more. They can even keep track of factors like energy costs and sustainability metrics in addition to equipment and asset performance.
Watch the video to learn more about Nuvolo reporting and analytics capabilities.
Space management solutions are directly related to data and analytics capabilities. With the rise of sensor data, it is easier than ever to get insights into how space and facilities are being used.
Real estate professionals can track how many employees are utilizing a space—and with the right solutions, employees can book or reserve workspaces, desks, and more. Additionally, teams can visualize floorplans and then update and publish them so that all users can see the changes instantly. This provides a clearer view into space and building utilization.
As mentioned above, because remote and hybrid working is becoming increasingly popular, there is less demand for traditional, long-term commercial leases.
For this reason, real estate managers need to take a closer look at their portfolios. When real estate professionals can use proptech software to see space usage data across all facilities and buildings, they can make better data-driven decisions about their real estate portfolios—deciding where to expand, right-size, and optimize their facilities and buildings.
One other way proptech is changing the real estate landscape is by facilitating lease accounting and management. When teams have to manually track leases using disparate spreadsheets and home-grown databases, there’s a greater chance of errors, and they’re potentially missing insights into the bigger picture.
Cloud-based platforms enable you to track critical dates, contacts, renewals, payments, and other chosen attributes. Plus, you can create alerts and automate approval actions.
And when everything is located in one place, you can more easily share data with the rest of the organization. Proptech solutions that integrate lease management into enterprise platforms enable real estate managers to become true workplace strategists.
The proptech industry as a whole is a quickly changing market that consists of many disparate solutions—meaning there are numerous point solutions that organizations need to work to integrate into their existing systems and databases, making it difficult to predict what the future holds.
However, Nuvolo Connected Workplace is different. It is a unified platform that seamlessly connects business applications together. It enables teams to consolidate their databases and unify their tech solutions.
Connected Workplace is cloud-based, and it connects all people, places, and processes across an organization. It enables real estate professionals to manage leases, assets, and portfolios on the same platform as other business applications (like space management, facilities management, HR applications, and more).
With Connected Workplace, teams can create intuitive dashboards and reports based on all their space and real estate data so that they can make more informed, analytics-driven decisions.
Interested in learning more? Reach out to our team today. Or read more about our real estate solution.
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