Slow decision-making, poor innovation are industry ‘top peeves’

Tediously slow decision making and an unwillingness to innovate are the top peeves in the real estate industry when dealing with clients, according to Bell Management Consultants first ‘PropTech-Report 2017’ published this month.

Clients who drag their heels when it comes to decision making is the top peeve, according to 33% of the 45 PropTechs (start-ups) who participated in the survey, followed by an unwillingness to innovate (21%), lack of basic knowledge (12%), not prioritizing digital innovation (11%), privacy protection/trust (8%), prejudice/fear of new technology (6%) and other reasons (9%).

Indeed, a reluctance to innovate is the biggest barrier to digitalization, participants in the survey said, with 53% of them feeling that an unwillingness to innovate or a dependance on outdated technology is the biggest barrier, followed by lack of pressure/speed of clients (18%) fear of digital development (13%) and trust (5%).

However, respondents differed greatly in how they thought digitalization would impact on various aspects of their business: 26% thought that sales and leasings would benefit the most, followed by real estate management and marketing (12% each), all aspects of the business (10%), communications (10%) and financing , valuations and project development (7% each).

And despite a shifting real estate landscape, competence and cost savings are still highly valued. Of those surveyed, 17% said the main reason their clients chose them was because of their competence, followed by cost savings (16%), efficiency (13%), an interest in digitalization/innovation (9%) and an interest in better forms of communication (7%).