Emerging technologies in commercial real estate

The pandemic has turned the entire mode of business in commercial real estate on its head. Site visits, paperwork, bank cheques and handshakes are passe. Thanks to the penetration of cutting-edge technology, transactions in the commercial real estate domain today are enabled by contactless remote technology including virtual tours, paperless deals and the like, powered by artificial intelligence, with the aim of reducing human interaction and boosting efficiency.



In the light of such sweeping changes in the commercial real estate landscape, you can’t afford to lag behind in adopting smart tech. It’s no longer an option, it’s now a necessity.

So, what are the must-have tech tools you should invest in?

# Virtual tours and CRM: One of the biggest disruptions in the real estate industry in recent years has been the use of virtual 3-D tours of properties, a technology further perfected during the pandemic. This is an absolute must-have in today’s context with customers less mobile and hamstrung in many other ways. Such virtual visits must be supported by a sophisticated customer relationship management (CRM) system through which you can guide the prospective customer through the entire process by using chat and email, answering each and every query along the way to close the loop efficiently.



# Digital storage, automation: The era of mountains of paper files and folders is gone. Documents must be digitally stored these days and you need to invest in that mechanism. Also, the entire ecosystem of payments and invoicing and rent collection, etc must be automated so that keeping track of changes and increments becomes a lot easier and you deploy a lot less manpower in those areas. The investment you make in such automation is worth every penny as you will recover the cost in double quick time.

# AI or Artificial Intelligence: Today, commercial real estate owners can make use of AI tools to take care of the entire property management infrastructure which would span security to monitoring to temperature control to running repairs and routine maintenance. This AI comfort saves both time and manpower, which you can gainfully redirect towards handling the sales pipeline and boost lead conversion.

# Building Information Modelling (BIM) software: This is a relatively new tool that enables the entire team of developers, architects, engineers, investors, etc to work in tandem through the planning, designing and execution process of the property using 3D models. So, instead of the old-fashioned blueprints of designs and drawings, BIM can provide a detailed 3D imagery of the project, giving both developer and buyer a clearer picture at the press of a key.



# Tenant management portals: Transparency is the buzzword in today’s real estate industry and since the commercial real estate segment is dominated by lease rentals, tenants are always looking for the assurance of transparency from their landlords. By using these portals to manage lease renewal or amendment, easy access to lease documents, maintenance requests, rent collection, etc, you can ensure transparency is at the core of your business philosophy. It also substantially cuts down on the time and bandwidth you spend on calls and emails.

# Automation in social media advertising: Using social media advertising automation, commercial real estate developers can generate new campaigns automatically through hi-tech software systems and market those campaigns to a targeted audience for optimum results. Such ad automation allows realtors to access real-time data analytics like demographics, views, clicks, etc, and thus fine-tune marketing strategy as they go along. With fast-changing algorithms used by search engines, it has become more pertinent to harp on market leadership and boost brand awareness. It helps when your social media ad systems are automated to reach the right audience every time.

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