Category Archives for "CRE Technology"

Has CRE Technology made us better?

By John Rice | CRE Technology , Lease Administration

A look at how CRE tech has impacted our knowledge, skills and market.

Ever wonder who would win the game if the best sports team today played the best team of 20 years ago? I mean with all the innovation in fitness, training, nutrition, and equipment certainly our athletes today would dominate their predecessors, right? Was it just Hollywood romanticism that enabled Rocky to defeat Ivan Drago or Will Smith to defeat the aliens?

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Embracing the Future: How the Human Element and CRE Technology Work Together For Success

By Guy Gray | CRE Technology

If you’ve ever watched a post-apocalyptic, sci-fi movie you’ve probably encountered the frightening scenario where artificial intelligence or computer programs take over for human decision making. In the last few months alone we’ve seen alarming, if not sensationalized, reports of sophisticated tech developing language and processes of its own. It’s enough to make you plug that rotary phone back into the wall and disconnect your televisions from the wireless network.

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Will Technology Kill Brick and Mortar

By Guy Gray | CRE Technology

Everywhere we look the headlines regarding online, Internet and mobile sales are striking fear into the hearts of brick-and-mortar retailers across the country.  2016 saw the largest Internet and mobile driven black Friday sales to date with totals of well over $3 billion. CRE professionals know that trends that affect their client’s and tenant’s business ultimately affect their ability to continue to grow and generate revenue from a diverse commercial real estate portfolio.  Before you start a fire-sale on your retail units, let’s talk about a few reasons you may want to maintain some level of optimism regarding technology’s potential future impact on traditional retail business.

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Refuting the Idea that Added Technology in Property Management may be a Distraction

By Guy Gray | CRE Technology , Property Management , Property Management Software

It’s become such a common theme that television and pop culture parody the event.  Miss manners columns give advice regarding the appropriate time of its use.  Advice articles even make up handy games to avoid it during meals with family or friends, lest you be the one left footing the bill.

We’re talking technology’s increasing view as a distraction, and even an interruption when it comes to work, family and social activities.  And while that may be the case for smartphones with Facebook, social media and “how many bubbles can you pop” games available at the click of a finger, not all tech is created equal.  When it comes to your CRE portfolio and property management software, technology is a tool that adds value and is worlds apart from time sinks designed to entertain.

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Has Technology Made Your Sensitive CRE Data More or Less Secure?

By Guy Gray | CRE Technology

Modern technology has brought a number of advantages in efficiency, cost and time savings and capabilities to do large scale business on small-scale budgets.  Unfortunately, the same systems that allow us to gather information and store it in easy-to-access communications hubs are increasingly attractive to would-be criminals who trade in sensitive data and personal information.  Given these trends, it’s only natural that both CRE professionals and their clients have concerns regarding security of data.

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Brokerage: Transactional to Consultative

By John Rice | CRE Technology

How CRE Tech can transform a deal-driven business into an interpretive advisory

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What is a Lease Abstract?

By Guy Gray | CRE Technology , Lease Abstract

Whether you are leasing a single property or an entire portfolio, contract, payment and other logistical details can stack up fast.  What starts out as a plan to invest, manage and otherwise grow your real estate empire can quickly become an overwhelming logistical nightmare as you attempt to keep up with terms and conditions, lease termination dates, rent projections, security deposits, maintenance terms and a myriad of other logistical minutia.  Enter the lease abstract.

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Do I really need Lease Administration software?

By John Rice | CRE Software , CRE Technology , Lease Administration

A real-world look at the basics of CRE property and lease administration:

The direct and short answer is if you don’t already have a Lease Administration system in place, then no you don’t. Obviously life has gone on and operations are humming along without one. But if you have ten or more leases, then yes, you should have a Lease Administration system.

But before we dive into the “whys”, let’s look at this topic through the lens of mission critical.  When does Lease Administration software become mission critical? After 20 years of performing this role and designing applications to manage leases, here is my breakdown:

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Commercial Real Estate Tech firms | why aren’t they growing faster?

By John Rice | Commerical Real Estate , CRE Technology

I just read an interesting article posted on Twitter written by Konrad Putzier (CRE Tech: A Promise Unfulfilled) published by The Real Deal, New York Real Estate News. The article covers the surge in CRE-related tech startups over the last decade and how most have failed to live up to the valuations and market dominance that was expected.  It’s a concise and provocative piece. It can be found here:  http://therealdeal.com/2016/08/05/cre-tech-a-promise-unfulfilled/#proptech

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Do You Remember Peter Pike and his biweekly email blogs?

By John Rice | CRE Technology

If you were in the commercial real estate business in the 90s, chances are you were receiving his emails. His no-nonsense commentary about the CRE industry often focused on technology at a time when the tech world was barely noticing the stodgy, sticks and bricks business. Peter had no problem taking on topics that were controversial and at times down right insulting to some of the most powerful CRE organizations. He challenged the status-quo with provocative questions about our processes, our good ol’ boy networks and our resistance to investing in technologies to improve our capabilities and services.

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