Property professionals welcome digitisation to better manage transactions

The findings of the new ‘Thriving in a Pandemic’ report, recently published by tmgroup and mio, have highlighted that the market has not been able to cope with the sheer volume of transactions brought on by the post-lockdown and stamp duty holiday surge.

Yet this has prompted many to re-think their digital strategy into 2021 and beyond...

The pressure of the pandemic has focused the industry on making better use of technology

Despite creating unprecedented demand for property services, and helping the industry to appear to be thriving on the surface, a survey of over 600 property professionals – including estate agents, residential conveyancers, real estate professionals, developers, surveyors, and more – has revealed what’s really been happening ‘behind the scenes’; with an inability to handle rapidly increasing work volumes resulting in significant delays and an underwhelming customer experience.

Yet there is positive change afoot, with many property professionals acknowledging the need to review their systems and processes in 2021.

Joe Pepper, CEO at tmgroup commented: “2020 was the year that nobody planned for, and most of the industry has had to react and change at a pace not experienced for decades.”

“The reassuring factor is that the industry was able to change, and, looking ahead, the report findings showed a strong focus on better use of technology, including system integration, which could help improve overall business efficiency and ensure that all property professionals are better able to cope with high volumes in future.”

It’s a positive step in the right direction. Effective use of technology whether it be deploying new software or removing unnecessary paper has been heralded as the panacea for all manner of business ailments, since the early 90’s.

And, in some cases, rightly so – good technology, deployed well can and does make a huge difference. However, technology alone will never fix a broken process and focus on technology should not take precedent over the importance of having a great management team who employ brilliant people who consistently put the client first.

Remote working practices have also been welcomed by the industry

The cross-industry research also revealed that the acceptance of remote working has been welcomed by the industry and recognised as an outstanding positive of the COVID-19 outbreak – and captured key insight into the individual impact of these industry changes, which further reiterate the positive feeling towards the wider adoption of digital and remote working, including:

• “We’ve saved a lot of time and money – especially on travel costs – thanks to the collective shift to using technology instead of face-to-face meetings.” (Estate agent)

• “It’s been very challenging, but amazing how much can be done remotely.” (Residential conveyancer)

Want to find out more? The ‘Thriving in a Pandemic’ report is available to download now.

*Emma Vigus is managing director at mio