Invest in technology and do more with less

I have a memory of a time when a commercial appraiser could travel to a job, meet with various people, look at the property, conduct market research, prepare analyses, reach an appropriate value and write a report for a handsome fee. Those days are long gone. Time spent in the field is much more compressed and while technology has eased some of the burden it has also created a more competitive market where turn-around time is at the top of every commercial appraiser’s mind. On its own, technology cannot do the work an appraiser does. The machinery and software can do some of the heavy lifting, but it cannot replace the nuance and experience that an appraiser brings to the process. However, technology can make the everyday life of a commercial appraiser easier, faster, more precise, more detailed and in the end, more compliant.

Even with all the technology at our fingertips, adoption is still slow. The number of appraisers still producing reports through one-dimensional and unwieldy spreadsheets is surprising. Technology use is rapidly increasing and every day there is an announcement of a new solution poised to revolutionize the way we do business. As commercial appraisers, we must adapt to changes in technology to remain competitive or be left behind in the technology revolution.

When to innovate for business growth?

Today there are more opportunities than ever to embrace the advances in appraisal technology and data that improves accuracy, efficiency, and profitability. Adoption is a challenge as well as deciding what technology is right for you. But the rewards for being an early adopter of new technologies far outweigh the challenges. By looking at early adopters and using their experiences to predict what can be expected, businesses can see what rewards may be possible.

1. Early adoption puts you ahead of competitors. This is the most important incentive for being an early adopter. Adopting innovative technology early means that you have time to learn how to leverage the technology to the best advantage and begin claiming market share while your competitors are still considering whether to move forward.
2. Successful implementation increases value for stakeholders. Successfully implementing technology can deliver business performance benefits to the bottom line.
3. Increased productivity leads to improved efficiency. Ideally, any new technology you implement will increase productivity, leading to improved business efficiencies and impressive ROI gains.

Tips for adopting technology and minimizing risk.

We are constantly expected to “do more with less.” And adding new and sometimes expensive technology seems counterintuitive, but I promise we will all be better off for it. If you’re looking to make innovation a reality, then you must be prepared to step outside your comfort zone and take some risks. The future is not always perfectly clear, but a strongly aligned business leadership and project team can achieve significant benefits through adopting new and innovative technologies. If you are apprehensive about making the leap you can minimize some of the risk by taking a staged and carefully considered approach and working with a technology partner that understands your business, challenges and goals will help tremendously. Additionally, here are some helpful tips to ensuring that technology adoption is a seamless process:

1. Choose the right technology for your business. Seems like an obvious tip, but with all the tools on the market today it can be overwhelming trying to find the right tools for your needs. A trustworthy technology partner will work with you to determine the needs of your business and how their platform will help make you more competitive and efficient. It’s also important to know what training and implementation support is provided as that will help further technology adoption amongst users.
2. Think about the future. When selecting new technology to implement don’t just think about what problems it will solve today. Look for technology that will grow with Think about how the technology will support your needs now and in the future.
3. Ensure adoption across your organization. When you introduce new technology and processes to your business, it is important to get buy-in from all employees. Make sure you take advantage of all training opportunities and remain up to date on product updates.

Innovation in CRE due diligence technology.

Historically, the commercial real estate industry has managed with extremely unstructured and manual due diligence processes. Commercial lenders and appraisers have operated in a fragmented community in which no one data standard emerged. Because of this, lenders and appraisers regularly encounter data quality errors and incomplete information increasing friction in the workflow and market.

Commercial appraisers are competing for business and looking for ways to set themselves apart from the rest. Meanwhile, banks are fighting harder for loans. Deals develop faster, and technology continues to accelerate the pace. Speed-to-market has never been more critical, and unfortunately, it is not enough to have a prior business relationship with a bank. Appraisers are competing with dozens of other appraisers on any given banks’ vendor panel – all offering the same price and promise. To a bank trying to close more business, most appraisers look the same. Lenders want a high-quality, compliant report in the shortest amount of time. Adding to this stressful appraisal process is the fact that in Commercial Real Estate no one data standard has emerged. Meaning the same subject property data is entered and then reentered manually creating data quality errors and hours spent by both parties editing data fields. For some reason, we have accepted this at the “way the world turns” in CRE due diligence. But what if it didn’t have to be that way?

Imagine subject property data between lender and appraiser automated throughout the appraisal process. Where lengthy appraisal summaries are no longer manually entered reducing errors and improving data quality. What if in this world there was a new way to market your business to lenders searching for appraisers to do business with? And not by spending money on advertising or cold calling lenders. What if there was a way to simply show a lender that by doing business with you they could save between 30 and 40 minutes per appraisal? Who do you think they would choose? You or the other appraiser? And who do you think they’re going to continue to do business with? The appraiser who continues to save them time while delivering a high-quality report or the other appraiser?

We have already begun to see innovations that will make the above scenario a reality. Just this year the industry was introduced to the first-ever integration of a commercial real estate appraisal management and appraiser software platforms effectively changing the way lenders and appraisers collaborate[1]. An integration that restructures commercial real estate due diligence processes into a uniform, transparent framework placing commercial appraisers in a better position to compete for business. Subject property data is now able to flow between appraiser and lender creating a more efficient workflow and increasing data accuracy. Subject property data is already exchanged during the appraisal process now but manually, what an integration between two appraisal platforms does is automate the process saving both lender and appraiser significant time and improving data accuracy[2].

Technology advancements must continue from the financial technology companies that serve the CRE industry. Instead of accepting limitations such as lack of data standards, we have an obligation to develop and adopt technology to advance CRE due diligence past “what we’ve always done.”

[1] ExactBid officially integrated RIMS, the appraisal workflow management software which handles 40% of the industry’s appraisals, and Narrative1, the industry leading appraisal software solution on April 18^, 2017.

[2] The integration between RIMS and Narrative1 captures ONLY subject property data from the appraisal report. Subject property data includes such fields as Date of Value, Occupancy, and Gross Rental Revenue.

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