January 9, 2002—Despite tough times in the Dot Com world, real estate companies should not shy away from new technology initiatives. In fact, according to industry observers at Ernst & Young LLP, the time is right to embrace technology—especially market-tested tools that can offer immediate value by bolstering profits through operational efficiencies.
“Each day costly, inefficient processes in the real estate industry demonstrate the need for technology-enabled performance improvement,” says Joseph Rubin, Director of Ernst & Young’s Real Estate eBusiness Solutions Group. In a recent paper, “Online Real Estate: The Path to Operational Excellence,” Rubin said that because real estate is a highly fragmented, transaction-centric, data-intensive industry, it is the perfect venue for web-based solutions that deliver on their true promise: greater efficiency leading to revenue enhancement and cost reductions. “Recent softening in real estate markets nationally adds urgency to performance improvement initiatives,” he added.
Rubin also points to a variety of business processes—from procurement to accounts payable and workflow management—where technology is already enabling management to reduce costs, improve communications with customers and, perhaps most importantly, get better control over their operating data. “Accessible, reliable, actionable data is a key goal of web-enablement,” he said.
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