Proptech evangelists would have you believe that emerging digital technologies can and will be applied imminently to any real estate use, in the process resolving all of the industry’s current inefficiencies overnight. However, as the saying goes: if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is!
Gartner’s hype cycle (figure 1), explained below, conceptualises the maturity and adoption of emerging technologies, providing a sound source of insight to manage their deployment within the context of specific business goals.
Figure 1: Gartner’s hype cycle
• Innovation trigger: A potential technology breakthrough kicks things off. Early proof-of-concept stories and media interest trigger significant publicity. Often no usable products exist, and commercial viability is unproven.
• Peak of inflated expectations: Early publicity produces a number of success stories, often accompanied by scores of failures. Some companies take action; many do not.
• Trough of disillusionment: Interest wanes as experiments and implementations fail to deliver. Producers of the technology shake out or fail. Investments continue only if the surviving providers improve their products to the satisfaction of
• Slope of enlightenment: More instances of how the technology can benefit the enterprise start to crystallise and become more widely understood. Second- and third-generation products appear from technology providers. More enterprises fund pilots; conservative companies remain cautious.
• Plateau of productivity: Mainstream adoption starts to take off. Criteria for assessing provider viability are more clearly defined. The technology’s broad market applicability and relevance are clearly paying off.
Table 1: Proptech applications’ position on the hype cycle
