In his weekly review of proptech this week, James Dearsley of Unissu asks ‘how will robots make buildings more human?’ in reference to an EY Webinar on building automation. Selina Short describes how the team at EY looked at the whole real-estate sector to examine what kind of automation is happening and where companies are heading. As Safecility examines how we automate building safety testing and ensuring a safe environment for tenants and residents we were intrigued.
According to EY only 50% of real estate companies have already begun to adopt automation and in the CRE (commercial real estate) sector there are large barriers to adoption identified by companies.
We asked our webinar participants to name their biggest barriers, and 35% of respondents nominated stakeholder complexity, followed by regulation (24%) and scalability (21%). It’s clear that the biggest automation challenge facing real estate companies is creating an ecosystem that brings everyone together.
EY and MIT
At Safecility, we know that regulation is a crucial part of the real estate picture. For our customers, regulation revolves around duty-of-care and safety related testing. Our customers have to ensure compliance is maintained with safety regulations, fire system testing, water and gas safety and many other areas. This is often managed at scale, over thousands of buildings.
Automation Anxiety
This means preparing data that is properly aligned with each geographies regulations and providing hardware that creates a truly two-way, end-to-end automation process. It has also meant working with regulators to start tackling their forthcoming problems.
How are they going to adjust to a forthcoming stream of data from the buildings they are responsible for? We have some interesting answers in development and we think that regulation, as well as safety, can become more automated.
Automating is Collaborating
Ultimately, we cannot tick all the boxes on our own – we shouldn’t want to – and collaboration will be crucial for automation to take hold within our sector. That means more open innovation, more collaborative development and, yes, lots of APIs.
For those in the sector who are only setting out on the journey, the EY checklist is a sound place to start. And if you wan’t to learn more, you can always talk to us about how we have helped clients adopt safety testing automation in their estates.
EY has developed an intelligent automation road map, with several key steps outlined below as you build your automation strategy:
Pick the quick wins: Look at your processes and identify task-oriented activities across your organization
Choose the right technology: Consider what technology is needed for helping the job task.
Keep your eye on the horizon: Embrace automation today, but understand that technology is continuing to evolve.
Invest in an innovation culture:When you build a culture that encourages creative thinking, is focused on customers, and strategically analyzes your risks and opportunities, you will be ready for any future.
