There are a lot of wheels in motion when it comes to commercial real estate (CRE) projects, from managing deals to ensuring an effective sales pipeline. The challenges faced by both brokers and agents can become overwhelming and add to job stress, project cost, and efficiency. However, innovative technology and automation are smoothing out operations and making life much easier for everyone involved.
Administrative Task Automation
Administrative tasks are a necessity, but they’re time-consuming, laborious, and distract from more important work. Traditionally, these jobs were a significant barrier for CRE project managers. In fact, a NewtonX and Northsprye survey found that 67% of project managers found administrative tasks to be the most challenging.
Automation technology is alleviating this issue, with software able to manage your entire portfolio, saving thousands of hours across projects. The tools aren’t necessarily new, but it’s only over the last couple of years that they’ve become readily available and affordable.
Accurate Budgeting
Completing a project within a budget is essential for maximizing outputs, but unforeseen issues including errors, stock problems, and staff shortages often lead to delays and overspending. Advances in AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) work to analyze projects in real-time and alert project leaders of potential issues before they come a problem. For example, they can predict when additional stock is needed, and they can even automatically place orders.
Communication and Collaboration
CRE development involves communication between a number of parties including designers, architects, investors, brokers, contractors, and suppliers. Expert project managers create an environment built on open collaboration between everyone. However, keeping in touch with stakeholders hasn’t always been easy.
In 2023, technology allows project managers to instantly update relevant parties with the click of a button. Communication platforms allow project managers to keep everyone updated using video calls, text messaging, document sharing, and much more.
Real-Time Data
A CRE project can take up to three years to complete, and that’s when they’re launched on the back of impeccable plans. As the project goes on and the market changes, plans have to change and project leaders may need to steer the ship in a different direction. However, traditional project management involved a reactional approach to these types of data – largely because it was impossible to collect enormous amounts of data, interpret it, and use it in time.
Thanks to the evolution of prop-tech, project managers can easily access real-time data about supply chain trains, pricing, vendor quality, macroeconomics, and other relevant trends. Armed with predictive data analytics, the reactional approach turns into an effective proactive approach.
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)
VR and AR technology aren’t new, but they have only recently begun being applied to areas like CRE to simplify operations and boost productivity. For example, instead of project managers having to travel to a site to retrieve updates, they can use VR to view the world in 3D without having to leave the office, which is a true blessing when managing multiple projects.
Document Management
The CRE industry involves a lot of paperwork, from legal documents to invoices. Traditionally, keeping all of these documents organized caused friction for project managers. However, with the introduction of cloud storage technology and e-signing platforms, all documents can be received, stored, and managed in good time and with swift organization.
Before modern technology came along, CRE project management felt like an uphill struggle. However, thanks to automation tools and other intuitive software, taking a project from its initial stages to completion feels much easier. This makes for happy shareholders, increased productivity, and a boost to the bottom line.
