Innovation and Differentiation: Staying Ahead in a Competitive Property Management Landscape

According to recent-year research, the property management market industry was valued at $18.60 Billion in 2022 and is expected to grow up to USD 38.16 Billion by 2030. It should be noted that in recent decades this growth has been largely provoked by innovations, in particular, those that are implemented through digital technologies, and this factor will be relevant by 2030 as well. Let's talk about the future of property management in more detail below.

Understanding The Competitive Landscape 

Currently, the market has about a dozen strong players whose software dominates the international property management market. These include the following companies:

• RealPage (US)
• AppFolio (US)
• ARCHIBUS (US)
• SAP (Germany)
• Hitachi Vantara (US)
• JLL (US)
• Yardi (US)
• MCS Solutions (Belgium)
• Trimble (US)
• FSI (UK)

FSI (UK)ease in the profitability of their activities. In turn, innovative real estate solutions make it possible to reduce the cost of their regular business processes without loss and, thus, allow them to maintain a stable position in their niche.
Another challenge is the tightening of laws and regulatory requirements. Fortunately, popular digital solutions consider most of them (for example, GDPR and HIPAA), allowing real estate companies to move to new standards of their activities seamlessly.

The Power of Innovation 

In property management, innovation refers to the integration of advanced tech solutions into manual or digitized processes previously based on time-tested technologies. Typically, it implies the implementation of artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality, robotic process automation, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and storage, etc.
Thanks to this approach, the processes performed with the help of the above trends become faster, more accurate, more cost-effective, and less risky.
For example, if we are talking about cloud technologies, they have revolutionized the way in which property management applications are deployed and delivered to end users. Thus, the developers of such solutions got the opportunity to dedicate their time to improving the business logic instead of wasting it managing the server part (since now cloud providers have become responsible for this). As for the benefits of such software for the users, they can use it from anywhere where there is an Internet connection. This has become especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic as the vast majority of businesses have started working remotely.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning, in turn, helped companies to personalize the user experience by predicting unique user preferences and general market trends, compiling comprehensive market analytics based on real-time data, and so on.
With regard to augmented and virtual reality, these innovation property management trends have provided a more intense immersion in the checkup processes, allowing potential buyers and tenants to “visit” real estate objects from their personal devices without being physically present.
We can give such examples further, but the main thing here is to realize that innovative technologies in this niche turned out to be not just a tribute to fashion but full-fledged tools for optimizing tasks that were not effective enough before.

Differentiation Strategies for Property Management Companies 

Formally, we can differentiate the following areas to improve the competitiveness of companies in the field of property management.

Identifying the unique selling points of your business

A unique selling point (USP) is a distinctive consumer motive that is used as an alternative to image advertising. The USP is part of the competitive advantage on the basis of which the client chooses a specific company or product. In turn, incorporating technological innovations into your solutions can become your USP.

Developing a strong value proposition

Behind a strong value proposition, there is almost always some technological development that improves the outcome of customer interactions with companies. For example, property management based on the IoT platform will become a much more effective solution for the client than the one that allows you to only pay utility bills remotely.

Leveraging technology and automation for differentiation

Business process automation allows companies to reduce human-factor risks and significantly speed up the implementation of these processes without the need to expand the existing staff. At the same time, automation based on leading technologies will allow you to complete your business tasks faster and cheaper than ever before (and better than your competitors do).

Creating exceptional customer experiences

Today, creating an exceptional user experience or personalization is the unspoken sign of a high-quality service. Previously, companies used databases with information about previous interactions with their customers. Today, they can be replaced by AI-powered tools that analyze user data even before they have made a deal with a specific company.

Embracing Technological Advancements

Above, we have already outlined the leading innovations property trends: these are cloud computing and storage, AI and ML, virtual and augmented reality, and the Internet of Things. Used individually or in combination with each other, they can significantly optimize the internal processes of the company and, thus, ensure its long-term and stable competitiveness.
Moreover, some of them, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, which can perform in-depth real-time analysis of data from disparate sources, can act as auxiliary tools for the formation of more accurate and effective development strategies and predict the possible outcomes of certain measures.

Enhancing Customer Experience

Let's summarize the above with the thesis that along with the efficiency of internal business processes, a company in almost any business sector, including property management, requires for its competitiveness a high-quality service that will make its customers come back again and again. That is why it has to carry out comprehensive optimization in the next three areas.

Understanding customer needs and pain points

Understanding what your customers want from your services can be your key to success. However, this aspect must be taken inseparably from the realization of what your competitors offer their customers. In particular, you can highlight the weaknesses of your competitors and eliminate them in your service. Thus, you will achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

Implementing convenient online portals for tenants and property owners

Many companies in the property management sector decide to digitalize only their internal business processes, neglecting the need for access to digital solutions for their clients. And this can be a serious omission. The fact is that even having a primitive online portal that provides your services with instant feedback can help you to respond faster to the problems that your customers face. As for more advanced software solutions, they can bring even more significant benefits to your business.

Proactive communication strategies for customers

Finally, interaction with customers that involves anticipating their needs (as we noted above, artificial intelligence plays an important role in this) will ensure their increased loyalty to your company. Since even the most demanding customers cannot always understand exactly what they want, sometimes only technological advances can cope with determining the necessary patterns. 

Conclusion

We hope that we helped you understand the basics of ensuring competitiveness in the modern realities of the property management market. And, since adopting technological property innovation is one of the decisive factors in achieving this competitiveness, it may be the perfect moment to think about automating your workflows with a custom digital product. 
If you would like to discuss the details of developing such a solution for your business with a team of professionals to subsequently delegate this task to them, feel free to contact us. We have successfully implemented more than a dozen real estate projects and are confident that we will also benefit your business.