Property Industry Urged to Embrace Proptech to Enhance Customer Service

Proptech

The property industry has been one of the slowest adopters of new technology, while other industries such as the financial and retail sectors have embraced it to improve process, drive efficiencies and enhance the customer journey.

However, according to a recent report by Jones Lang LaSalle, the global real estate market is making strides in its efforts to play catch up. The first half of 2021 has seen over $9.7 billion in funding activity in the US for proptech start-ups, the most active first half on record.

The number of start-ups across the real estate industry has grown rapidly in the last decade, as companies look to apply new technologies like computing power, analysis and connectivity.

While real estate technology companies can be found in most countries around the world, there has been considerable growth in proptech in Brazil, China, India, the UK and Germany.  In the UK, the emphasis of proptech is on the residential sector with over 400 proptech companies, roughly 58% of the ecosystem, dedicated to supporting a challenging and complex housing market.

Andre Mansoori-Dara, Founder of The Eighth Door commented: “The slow adoption of technology in the property industry is leading to inefficiency, human error, a lack of data and no real-time delivery.

“The severe shortage of housing, Covid-19 and Brexit have brought great challenges to the sector and innovative proptechs are finding workable solutions.

“While there are many proptech companies targeing the B2B sector, few are aimed at B2C. Our mission is to revolutionise the way that business is conducted within the property sector, powering new deals, partnerships and business growth. In the Autumn, The Eighth Door will include a major new feature, ‘Pitch’. Think Dragons Den meets TikTok – a stream of tailored, innovative and valuable ideas, with users presenting their ideas and products in 30 second elevator ‘pitches’.

“Our next generation app is for all the property community across the globe, including developers, investors, estate agents, lawyers, interior designers, those in construction, plus many more across the sector.

“After successfully completing its first-round of funding, The Eighth Door is launching a second-round via Seedrs, to further develop and launch its ground-breaking, second-phase, proptech app for the UK and international markets.

Michael Hammond, Founder of Property TV commented: “It is more important than ever that the property industry embraces new technology and over the next decade, this will be paramount. Technology is transforming the property industry, from tenant apps to virtual house viewings.

“However, Raconteur’s Future of PropTech 2021 special report, highlights how the property industry has failed to embrace new technology to improve and enhance the customer experience. Whether it is navigating to a location on Waze, hailing a taxi on Uber or ordering a pizza on Deliveroo, many other sectors have invested heavily in the consumer’s digital journey, as expectations have evolved, while the property sector has left consumers frustrated.

“Many next generation property professionals are frustrated by the industry’s apathy to new technology. They are tech-savvy and heavy users of apps for their personal and business life. The Eighth Door app, created for our industry has huge potential for the sector.

“Traditionally, it would take property professionals years to build an extensive network of contacts, nurture good relationships and create new business opportunities. However, The Eighth Door enables users to achieve this is in a much shorter time frame and with considerably lower costs.

“My team and I have used the app over the last 12 month and I am a big fan. I have been able to connect with some great industry professionals and as a result, close many new business deals. The real-time pitching platform is designed to make it easy for users to showcase and promote their products, services, opportunities or requirements through a short video, audio or visual content in seconds.”

Users will be able to access the app’s Pitch studio to record and upload their pitch and select the property professionals, or community they wish to target.  Pitchers can easily reach out to interested parties to discuss, share and ultimately conduct business, with a spam-free environment.

What’s more, users can connect with pitchers and new contacts, open-up direct message conversations, arrange a call or meeting. The Eighth Door App is available from the App Store and Google Play.