Yardi’s Dennis Kasch, regional sales manager for DACH, sat down with HI HEUTE editor-in-chief, Thorsten Müller, at the MIPIM international real estate trade fair in Cannes to discuss Yardi’s latest developments, digitisation and innovation in real estate.
HI HEUTE: How has the year started for you in economic terms? Are there any notable changes compared to 2023?
Fortunately for us, tougher market conditions result in an increased interest from real estate investment firms as they make their operations more streamlined and effective. This trend started last year, and I expect this to continue through 2024. This means there is an increased interest in technology and innovation in general and, more specifically, a continued growing interest in the benefits of adopting Yardi technology.
HI HEUTE: What special plans does Yardi have for the future?
Yardi is celebrating 40 years of the business in 2024. We have a lot of exciting projects and products coming up. For example, the accelerating adoption of the Yardi platform for residential and student housing. Our offering is unmatched in the European markets and connects marketing, leasing and management with the back-office to create a frictionless experience. Our solutions form a single, end-to-end platform that is designed to digitise and automate operations. It also empowers teams to free up valuable time so they can focus on nurturing tenants and communities. Next to this, we are very excited about the innovative technology we’re introducing around flex office and coworking. This is on top of our continued growth in the commercial real estate verticals and with fund administrators.
HI HEUTE: Do your customers have new software requirements for Yardi and, conversely, do you have new tools that you can offer them?
AI has become a big topic in real estate. In 2023 we announced Yardi Virtuoso, Yardi’s platform for artificial intelligence. We’re excited about AI as we’ve been investing and experimenting with how AI and machine learning can be used effectively. I think this is another great example where Yardi manages to use new technologies, in this case AI, to develop real solutions for real issues. The first AI-supported Yardi solutions came to market last year and we will be introducing three additional Virtuoso products in 2024. We expect the roadmap for 2025 and beyond will drive future growth of Yardi globally and also in Germany.
HI HEUTE: How do you assess the progress of digitisation among companies in the retail real estate industry?
There will be a combination of digitisation and innovation. In short, digitisation is doing the things you do now but doing them faster and more efficiently using technology. Innovation is doing different things with the use of technology. Retail real estate has access to, and is used to working with, larger data sets and more transactional data than any other real estate asset class.
In my opinion, I expect the adoption of AI-supported concepts and technologies to be quicker and more meaningful than other asset classes.
HI HEUTE: Where does Germany stand in this respect compared to other countries in Europe?
Compared to other European countries, Germany is still behind in adopting new and modern technologies. It’s one of my goals to try and speed up this adoption process, especially as modern technology is now incorporating AI.
As I mentioned earlier, Yardi Virtuoso is another step to push the real estate market into the future. AI solutions delve deep into operational data, going beyond mere presentation. Today, it’s no longer technology that is the limiting factor in innovation, but people. I believe that in the next five years, AI will have reached “adult status” in the real estate industry and will be something completely normal in many companies.
The foundational data that is harnessed from AI applications can help with predictive analysis and growth of a business. KPIs and predictive analysis generated by AI empower us to make informed decisions. With a strong data foundation, and aggregating this data, companies can operate more efficiently and make better business decisions.
Source: MIPIM Interview: Thorsten Müller and Dennis Kasch “We see a combination of digitalization and innovation for the HI industry”