Weekly Briefing

CRE’s First Business Process Automation Showcase Presented at Realcomm 2022

Listen to this article

There are myriad processes and prodigious amounts of data involved in developing, operating and transacting commercial real estate. Although we have increasingly sophisticated applications and platforms that help us collect, format and report on that data, we often still need to resort to manual data entry and manipulation to get the required results.

Identifying this as a unique educational opportunity for conference attendees, Realcomm 2022 presented the inaugural Process Automation Showcase on June 16 in Orlando. The Showcase featured over 12 of some of the industry’s most creative and innovative examples of commercial real estate process automation. These case studies spotlighted ways to shave thousands of hours from existing workflows. The interactive showcase provided attendees the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the technology architects for each unique automation project.

Following are some of the case studies that were featured at the Showcase:

Empire State Realty Trust | RPA for Data Integrity: Automated Data Cross-Check

Empire State Realty Trust is using Robotics Process Automation (RPA) to validate the integrity of their data by cross-checking Excel managed reports against their Yardi and Salesforce databases which saves both IT and Leasing Reporting teamwork hours and improves efficiency.

Inland Real Estate Group | Machine Learning for Property Portfolio Budgeting and Forecasting

The Inland Real Estate Group is working collaboratively with RETransform and Elevo.ai on a proof of concept (POC) to develop a machine learning (ML) model that will generate an accurate property/portfolio budget/forecast (within a variation of 1-2%) thus drastically reducing processing time while identifying outliers and prescribing corrective action.

Macerich | Fully Digitized Platform for Short-Term Leases

Developed as a way to reduce friction and eliminate administrative overhead for short-term leases, Macerich has introduced QuikSpace, a digital platform designed to make short-term leasing of retail space as easy and user-friendly, and offers lease execution for retail space of up to 12 months, plus intuitive tools for managing accounts, making payments, renewing leases and more.

Phillips Edison & Co. | CAM Tax BOTS Save 5,000 FTE Hours Annually

Phillips Edison & Co.’s (PECO) Common Area Maintenance (CAM) RPA BOTS are purpose built for their annual recovery reconciliation to eliminate manual data input and manipulation, handle the billing and the document management for our 300+ entities, reduce errors and improve billing efficiencies.

SITE Centers | Integrating Asset Management into a Single Pane of Glass

SITE Centers have automated sixty separate business processes using the Salesforce platform with the IBM AppConnect orchestration tool. This process supports data governance across critical infrastructure applications to provide the company with a single version of the truth through a data and content rich user experience.

Duke Realty | Invoice Automation with AI

To reduce labor cost and dependence on scarce labor supply, as well as increase data accuracy, increase processing speed and allocate labor time for other tasks, Duke Realty automated invoices with AI.

Howard Berger, Managing Partner, SVP Programs, Realcomm Howard Berger has over 30 years of experience in technology and commercial/investment real estate. As Realcomm's SVP Programs, he manages its US and international conferences and CIO programs. Previously, he was with The Jamesan Group, which specialized in strategic technology consulting for the commercial real estate industry and prior to that, he was with TRW Real Estate Information Systems where he developed real estate information systems for the mortgage, appraisal and title insurance industries.

Read Next

4/18/2024
Best Practices for Managing Lease Renewals When your commercial leases come up for renewal, it’s a great opportunity to assess your real estate portfolio, consider the value of current leases and possibly negotiate better terms.

4/11/2024
3 Reasons to Incorporate AI Into Your Talent Retention Strategy Introducing new technology into the workplace is often met with suspicion.

4/4/2024
Operational Technology (OT) Data Data has been a cornerstone of business since the early days of computing in the 1960s.

3/28/2024
The Tech-Forward Response to Rising CRE Cap Rates is Also People-First Cap rates on commercial real estate have been rising for five consecutive quarters, leading to an estimated 20% drop in value for many property types, according to CBRE’s latest U.S. Real Estate Market Outlook.