The business case for making automation business as usual
When dealing with the management and sales of bricks and mortar, robotics and automation can be seen as a world apart.
As the property sector embraces proptech and see the benefits of the technology, there remains some scepticism around robotics and automation or ‘RPA’ – the benefits, how difficult it is to implement, and the costs related to its upkeep.
What is RPA?
Simply put, RPA is about automating the most mundane and repetitive computer-based tasks and processes in the workplace. It is a technology that will free up your workforce for more meaningful pursuits and drive your business toward a greater level of efficiency.
Enabler, not Replacer
RPA is not a human replacer, but rather a human enabler. Automation can take care of all those tasks that eat into valuable hours and resources. This becomes more acute during tough economic times when cost savings and efficiencies allow us to keep our businesses going and keep our best staff onboard to close those property deals or strengthen relationships with the most profitable clients.
Tasks that RPA can handle
RPA can help you do the following on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis:
- Bank Reconciliation – automated reconciliation on a cadence suited to your business.
- Bank to Book - Daily monitoring of predefined bank transactions and the automated recording of cash receipts or journal entries.
- Report distribution – Running, formatting, and distributing reports with customisations including cover pages, varied lists of reports by stakeholder, or data completion checks.
- Data entry – our bots can read and interpret documents from a variety of sources, sort data into various systems, and even attach original documents.
- Market intelligence reports – to aid decision-making when it comes to real estate investment or to add value to service offerings to clients.
Not a one-size-fits-all solution
Although there are clear benefits to implementing the technology, some business owners may have concerns about spending money on solutions that could prove to be a white elephant.
RPA can be tailored to the needs of individual organisations. For a start-up property company that needs to be client-facing and doesn’t have the funds available to employ a bookkeeper, RPA can be used to handle numerous accounting and administrative tasks. One the other end of the scale, for an established company with a large team, RPA can be used to increase staff availability for client relationship management or to provide regular market intelligence reports to inform investors.
Change is good for business if there is a plan
Whilst some companies have traditionally feared proptech, this kind of technology can be implemented easily alongside existing structures. In turn, it creates minimal disruption to the business and maximum output when it comes to efficiency, cost saving, and employee satisfaction.
A reputable proptech firm will assess the needs of the individual business, develop a strategy based on those requirements, and develop an implementation programme to minimise any disruption whilst the new technology is being adopted.
Training staff on how to use the system is essential for a seamless transition to any new processes or ways of working. It is also a good way of gaining employee buy-in and helps them to understand the benefits early doors. Additional support during the adoption process is also important, whilst staff are getting used to the new systems - change is a team effort between the business and the tech provider and it’s essential to get everyone on board.
More time is a good thing
The true benefit of robotics and automation is time. Benefits could include invoices, reminders, reports, banking, payments, and receipts all happening automatically, helping businesses to reach a new level of professionalism in a very competitive market. It could mean the difference between having a competitive edge or lagging behind.
It also frees up your team to take on more tasks and diversify their workload, helping the business move toward future growth.
RPA is not something out there in the future. It is here now and property companies who want to be at the top of their game are implementing it.
