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

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participants in the survey said, with 53% of them feeling that an unwillingness to innovate or a dependance on outdated technology is the biggest barrier, followed by lack of pressure/speed of clients (18%) fear of digital development (13%) and trust (5%).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