Real estate businesses are continuing to make slow and steady progress in upping their digital game, but enterprise-wide digital strategies remain far from commonplace, according to the latest KPMG Global PropTech Survey.
KPMG’s third PropTech report – Is your digital future in the right hands? – reveals that 58% of real estate businesss have a digital strategy in place, up by 6% on the previous two years’ findings. However, while slight progress is being made, less than a third of respondents claim to have an enterprise-wide digital strategy.
Almost a fifth said their businesses had no digital strategy at all.
Andy Pyle, UK head of real estate at KPMG and chair of the British Property Federation’s Technology Innovation Working Group, said: “Real estate may be an industry deep-rooted in bricks and mortar, but it’s far from immune where digital disruption is concerned. It’s clear that the industry’s key players are slowly but steadily waking up to this fact, with many now focusing on the increased ability to improve efficiencies, reduce-costs, develop closer customer relationships and utilise enhanced decision-making capabilities.
“In its myriad of forms, proptech is an area that continues to climb the boardroom agenda, especially as competitors begin to demonstrate a competitive advantage through its use. Having said that, our findings suggest that many players might need to start looking further afield for expertise to fully execute their digital aspirations.”
While many companies may still not have a digital strategy in place, a growing number of businesses have appointed specialist leads for digital transformation. Some 95% of respondents said they had a designated digital transformation specialist, with 62% saying this was a senior level employee, often a C-suite individual. The vast majority (89%) said this individual reports directly into the business owner, chief executive, president or board member.
Despite this apparent prioritisation, in 65% of cases the digital strategy lead isn’t a technology specialist, with 40% of digital leaders actually coming from a core real estate, construction or finance background.
“In the UK, a number of property companies have begun looking further afield to acquire the skills needed for a digital future – whether that be data scientists, innovation specialists or to improve customer experience,” said Pyle.
“In parallel, we’ll increasingly see industry bodies and universities adapt their courses and professional training so that the surveyors of the future are fully equipped in this area. The industry clearly recognises the vital role talent and skills will play in the coming years.”
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