The 2018 edition of Deloitte’s predictions for the Real Estate industry, developed by Deloitte Netherlands, examines the Real Estate trends for 2018. Especially interesting is the part that puts focus on Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
For some companies, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) might still sound like a technology of the far future and others might confuse it with an R2D2-like physical machine. But due to the ongoing extension and obvious business potential, RE companies are more and more starting to apply this technology in their daily business and boost the efficiency of their workforce. Nonetheless, looking at the sector-specific processes and the administrative effort which is related to the management of properties, we find ourselves only at the beginning of this trend.
To start with a short explanation—the idea behind RPA is simple: RPA, which is basically a software, automates manual, repetitive and rule-based processes and tasks. It is linked with end-user software like ERP systems, MS-Excel, internet pages or email programs and then carries out manual labor-intensive tasks automatically exactly as programmed in its RPA-source code.
What’s in it for real estate companies?
The obvious and already most tackled area of application is the back-office, e.g. the accounting department. Tasks in this department are often showing a relatively high share of repetitive and structured processes. To keep track of all invoices, payments, renewals and credit applications is a lot of work that is currently often performed with a significant amount of manual effort. Despite the lost time for the employees to perform more complex value-add tasks, human error or even the potential for fraud is a relevant business risk.
RPA helps with the execution of such transactions. Furthermore it can support automatic extraction of data from various systems, structure and format that information and distribute those reports automatically, respectively makes them available for download. This can be done for entire portfolios, administrative units or single facilities and can be considered as an easy example for the application of RPA. Especially for the real estate sector, there are far more areas of application that are currently not utilized, though. The general potential is illustrated in the following graphic.
For more information download Deloitte report: Real Estate Predictions 2018 Building the Future