Real estate firms are being held back from digital transformation by an inherent resistance to change, according to a new report.
A survey of more than 175 innovation leads in worldwide real estate organisations including British Land, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield and Buro Happold, has claimed that a lack of commitment to innovation along with a lack of resources are preventing firms from adopting new technology.
The study, Digital Transformation – Survive and Thrive, was authored by Swedish proptech academic Olli Vigren and conducted in collaboration with property recruitment specialist Cherry Pick People and Unissu, a global proptech procurement platform.
Based on a survey of innovation leads as well as one-to-one interviews, the findings underline how much further the sector has to go on digital transformation.
Barely half of survey respondents were actually hired to manage innovation. The other half are employed in another capacity. The majority (57%) said they spend less than half of their time on innovation. The vast majority (71%) of innovation teams are tiny, comprising five or fewer people.
And there seems to be little consistency about what an innovation role should be. Between them, the 176 respondents had 139 different job titles.
Alain Waha, Buro Happold’s chief technology officer, told the survey: “What is incredible about our industry is the level of naivety and unwillingness to go and look at other industries that had to figure this out 20 or 30 years ago.”
Chris Marriott, chief executive of Savills in South East Asia, said digital transformation needed to be driven “top down and bottom up”, adding: “Everyone in the business must be the spotter of opportunities.”
While Nick Wright, head of digital sales at CBRE, highlighted a shortage of the right kind of skills: “The industry is really challenged in this space right now with finding innovation leaders and change leaders and digital leads.”
The report makes five recommendations for businesses in the sector and the individuals within them who have responsibility for innovation:
- Make culture a priority in transformation.
- Ensure innovation leads have a full-time focus on innovation.
- Individuals and teams with responsibility for innovation should have titles that include “innovation”, “change” or “transformation”.
- Real estate businesses must evolve or be sidelined.
- Innovation leads need to lead.
Alex Wiffen, managing director at Cherry Pick People, said: “We firmly believe that people leading innovation strategies are going to play an increasingly important role in the real estate industry. By providing insight, our study will help them to manage their careers and encourage more people to take this journey.”
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