Most CRE technology that I encounter is awful: It is used wrong, the UI/UX doesn’t match what the user wants, the data is right. None of this means that the technology itself is bad. I have dealt with AMAZING tools that simply don’t work because they don’t understand the customer they are trying to reach. Brokers, VP of real estate, Transaction Managers, Lease Administrators, CFOs, consultants and entrepreneurs all want something different and unique which changes still again depending on if they are working for a small/medium/large/Fortune 500 business.
The tools that work most often are either one-off fit-for-purpose applications or home-grown Excel spreadsheets. Think about that – there are no truly successful CRE Enterprise applications. Sure, some will point to Tririga or Manhattan or Archibus or Accruent or FM Systems but I have yet to encounter a complete and fully operational implementation. Often I see Tririga paired with two or three one-off applications. Or teams using Excel instead because it is easier. Or data in Archibus that no one is actually accountable for keeping accurate. Or Workplace systems that track heads/seats that aren’t actually connected to the hiring process.
Typically this is caused by the fact that the CRE industry as a whole is fairly isolated from the rest of the business world. What we do is very different than what others do. The people that get into CRE follow very different paths than those in other functions. This difference is surprisingly large if you haven’t experienced it directly. You can’t take prior experience outside of CRE and expect it to be applicable here.
Think back to how software was built in the 90s – this is how you need to be building software for CRE today. You cannot treat it like an advanced application where there is background and shared knowledge and a shared mentality. No company handles real estate the same as another. No CRE lead approaches it the same as another. The budgets you are dealing with are miniscule. It’s a different world.
Don’t treat it like anything else you’ve dealt with.
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