Technology is driving the future of real estate

The real estate sector is adopting technology in a big way,talking about the same, Rakesh Reddy, Director, Aparna Constructions shares histhoughts on this trend and exclusively briefs Realty Plus that how  technology is bringing in a paradigm shift to the real estate sector. Excerpts...  Adoption of technology across ERP, project management and customer service are not buzzwords any more. All these are basics for the survival as well as the growth of any real estate business. Globally, realtors are spending 1-3% of project costs as the budget for technologies to create efficiencies in terms of cost and time. During the previous year, we witnessed ae spurt in the use of drones as well as VR and AR technologies. The use of AR can help providing a customer a better sense of scale and details. The use of Big Data and Big Data Analytics is more prominent than VR and AR technology. Big Data, mapping and machine learning will be used to present the prospective properties to the investors and customers. Other than that Big Data is used in procurement, logistics and customer service, to make the whole process more efficient. In the coming times, more and more real estate companies will use these technologies to transform their businesses. Real estate goes through cyclical ups and downs. In the next cycle, only those companies that leverage these technologies to drive scalability and efficiency, will emerge as winners.

• What were the key challenges that you were facing before implementing the Oracle Marketing Cloud solution? What was Oracle’s role in transforming these challenges into quantitative and qualitative business benefits for Aparna Constructions?

  One of the key challenges that we were facing was the lack of clarity in terms of the profile of the leads. We were not able to dedicate the required time to the query resulting in time wastage and loss of leads as well. Moreover, we did not have complete information on which of our marketing activities were working. We were not able to nurture our sales models and our engagement activities effectively.   With the help of Oracle Eloqua, we introduced sales forms across levels in the sales team. We were able to qualify our leads and started giving these leads to our CRM and Sales teams. That enabled us to differentiate our nurturing programs based on the qualities of the leads and has helped us to increase total conversions by 10-12% per month.  

• What is the importance of delivering exceptional customer experience in real estate? Do you see merit in driving the connected business trend that’s catching up within organizations with the advent of emerging technologies?

  Real estate does not sell just a home or a workplace, it sells the dreams of people of owning that property. Buying a property is not an impulsive decision, a lot of thought and research goes into making one. There are other aspects as well, which need to be considered like loans and other legal aspects. That means, that customers will be nervous and will have a lot of questions. They need someone to guide them through the process and give them answers in the way, that they are able to understand. The realtor must be cognizant of all these aspects and should be ready to accompany the customers in the journey of acquiring the property. Every realtor claims to provide world class infrastructure; however, customer experience is something, which will set them apart. In today’s market the customer is spoilt for choice, they do not hesitate to switch to another seller, if they are not satisfied. Providing service is not enough, it is the entire experience, which is the game changer.   Another important aspect to keep in mind is that the actual sale is just an important part of the process of creating the complete experience. This encompasses even the small and often overlooked factorslike the response time, the way queries are responded to etc. The most important factor is that the realtor should be able to develop an emotional connect with the customer. Customer experience is all about letting your customer identify with you at every level of the interaction. They need to cater to their emotional needs too – a sense of belongingness and security are key.  

• Real estate is a highly competitive sector, with many big players in the fray. How do you differentiate yourself from others?

  We at Aparna Constructions have been pioneering innovation since 1996. It is our vision to bring homes that would enthral our customers and offer sustainable balance between affordability and luxury. Our strength lies in our experience, skill and dedication to deliver the best to our customers. What sets apart from the crowd is our transparency. We are transparent in all our interactions with our stakeholders like employees, vendors amongst others, not just the end-customer. A high degree of transparency is one of our core values that makes us accountable in all our business practices.   Aparna Constructions has a long history of 100% commitment to delivering projects to customers on time. We ensure the use of high quality building material by the way of backward integration. We believe in delivering not just the best infrastructure to our customers but also the best service. The astounding success of Aparna Constructions, having delivered 38 projects with a built-up aread of 20+ million sft and with 12000+ customers, is a testament to our passion, commitment towards building long-term relationships with our customers and becoming a brand synonymous with trust, integrity and growth.