Yardi’s Justin Harley joined a panel discussion at Property Week’s Student Accommodation Conference alongside Richard Skeels from CRM Students, Scott Berry from Fresh and Tim Pankhurst from CBRE who moderated the conversation about what impact can smart technology have on operational efficiency and reducing costs.
As the industry grapples with tech solutions and the data this yields, there is an opportunity for the sector to turn the data into actionable insights that drive innovation and smart decision making. Pankhurst opened the discussion by asking the panel, what smart tech are we talking about at the moment in real estate?
Skeels replied, “Smart tech for me is something that either drives efficiency or cost within your business. This isn’t ‘tech for the sake of tech,’ it’s making sure you invest in something that will make a difference. That could either be onsite or it could be efficiencies in terms of head office and Yardi is currently helping us connect some of those different types of tech up.”
The conversations at the panel all agreed that smart technology is great for providing additional data about your buildings, your tenants and much more. Berry stated, “Smart tech allows us to improve efficiencies, save on costs, but then on top of that is also customer experience.
“There’s a lot of technology that brings about data, but there’s also ‘data for data’s sake’. So, it’s almost like a balancing act and making sure what’s been invested actually creates an efficiency in some way, and it’s not just data being there for the sake of it,” Berry added.
Technology Helps Remove Friction
Technology allows us to gather data that then helps provide the tools we need to gain analytical insights, real-time information and can assist with business decisions to help reduce costs. Harley explained, “As the technologist in the room, my take is quite simple. It’s not so much about the technology as it is about the people. It’s the people that give the experience.
“What the technology needs to do is free up your time – give your people the time so that they can make the student experience better. ‘Removing friction is everything about the student experience’ and technology is the tool to remove that friction,” Harley continued.
Smart Improvements and Measuring Success
Pankhurst asked the panel, who actually leads the smart improvements? Is it the investors, the clients or is it the operational business? Berry stated that students are naturally technologically advanced, so they’re the ones who question us about why they can’t do things or interact in various forms.
The students are the ones who are using the latest smart tech, so Berry believes it’s the students who are leading the innovations as you need to keep up with the demands of the tenant and stay ahead of the competition.
By listening to the tenants, you can provide the service they want and expect, which instantly helps to improve your success and hit your KPI targets. It’s the human interaction that solidifies your success rather than just the technology because you’re no longer providing what you believe is right, you’re providing your tenants with exactly what they need. With the use of smart tech, you can then enhance that journey and remove friction to make a greater experience to your students.
Harley expressed that having real-time data is important as it allows you to instantly see if you need to be doing more or less of something. But he agreed that having those in-person discussions as a team is also crucial as it gives you that opportunity to bounce ideas around together. Don’t just use data for data’s sake, it’s a tool to be used as a base so you can easily measure and assess your strategies, access one source of truth for your reporting and utilise it for making better business decisions.
Smart technology is a great tool for enhancing your PBSA as it provides you with better insights into your business and can show you where you could start reducing operational costs with advanced data reports. However, it won’t replace the social side of student accommodation as you need to keep that humanised interaction with your students, but it should be utilised to enhance your service to your students, such as with a resident app, virtual tours or even interactive maps for an immersive experience.
Book a demo and see how Yardi’s integrated technology can power your student accommodation.