Webcast: Can proptech solve real estate’s covid-19 woes?

Three specialist discuss the latest innovations and trends in the world of real estate technology that have proved most useful during the coronavirus pandemic.

Investors, managers and operators have leaned on technology in new ways during the covid-19 pandemic, according to the three panelists in our PERE Asia webcast. In some cases, this has been as simple as ditching paper documents for digital alternatives. More complex shifts include moving fund administration functions onto blockchain formats. As the sector wakes up from its government-induced slumber, so-called proptech innovations will only become more important as building cleanliness and social distancing take center-stage.

Yet, the industry must deal with what Bernie Devine, Yardi Systems’ regional director for Asia-Pacific sales, called the “expectation gap,” referring to how quickly and effectively a tech solution can be implemented: “Anything that’s machine-to-machine is relatively easy, but as soon as you get into the world of saying, ‘I’m going to connect devices with people and multiple devices with people,’ it starts to get really quite complex.”

Devine joins Adrian Lai, chief executive of Hong Kong-based Liquefy, and Dinaker Dhandi, vice-president of product management at Altus Group, in discussing the proptech breakthroughs that have been most helpful through the pandemic and the ones to pay attention to moving forward. This session was moderated by PERE senior reporter Kyle Campbell.