Building AI-powered tools has never been easier, but distinguishing useful innovation from unnecessary features is becoming the property management industry’s biggest challenge.
While property management could be one of the sectors with the most to gain from implementing AI-driven automation, understanding where the technology actually adds value should become a key focus for PMs.
Managed co-founder and The Property Management Excellence (PMX) Podcast host Alex Whitlock said the industry was increasingly shifting towards creating their own purpose-built tools through the help of AI.
“We’ve seen this happening over the past five years. I’m not saying that everyone is going to want to go and build their own stuff, but we are seeing it more,” Whitlock said.
He said that most innovation in the space would likely come from customers and their feedback.
With professionals looking to streamline their day-to-day tasks, Managed operations manager Bairave Jeyasothy said the property management space had seen an influx of automation.
“That is where a lot of the feature requests would be coming in, whether it be better automations around managing compliance or workflows,” Jeyasothy said.
“That is where we’re hearing a lot more feedback now, with automations being able to speed that process up so PMs can unlock their data or focus on other items instead.”
She said that property managers were often looking for a minor enhancement, rather than a complete overhaul of their existing process.
“I actually don’t think that it is the big features that are more impactful to customers; it’s small enhancements that make a big difference in the long run,” Jeyasothy said.
Managed software engineer Louis Amon said that customer feedback had become more important in informing how businesses enhanced their products and processes.
He said as the tools became more prevalent, if there was a bug or something wasn’t working as intended, it needed to take priority.
“We still need to deliver features and deliver the work that needs to be done. But at the same time, never forget that we need to fix these problems.”
He said that as more professionals create their own systems using AI tools, they first need to understand the tools’ inner workings.
“You have to know the basics and understand the fundamentals so that at the end of the day, even if you choose to just vibe code, you understand exactly what is going on,” Amon said.
“You don’t really get left behind using AI, because you can learn very quickly.”
He said there was a danger that professionals could build something they didn’t fully understand, which could lead to difficulties further down the track.
“It’s not just about the coding; there are a lot of aspects to it. When you build something, is it performing? Is it secure?” Amon said.
Similarly, Amon said that with greater access to the tools required to build new systems, businesses needed to differentiate between technology additions that add value and those that don’t.
While developing new software used to require a significant financial outlay, Whitlock said the rise of AI had enabled businesses to build their own software without incurring costs.
Without the financial cost, Whitlock said there was a risk that businesses would create features that actually stifled their workflow rather than enhanced it.
“When you are weighing up spending millions of dollars, you think pretty carefully about what you’re building. The danger with AI is going ‘it’s not going to cost me anything to build.”
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?Make Real Estate Business a preferred news source on Google.
