Rob Bould past chairman of the Investment Property Forum and NED of Coyote Group gives his perspective the tech revolution in the property industry and looks at the practical applications of these new technologies.
Few people can define ‘Big Data’ let alone say whether it’s a problem or a solution.
Doug Laney, a US IT industry analyst, was clear that big data isn’t just an unwieldy amount of information when he defined it in the early 2000s with the now classic ‘three Vs ‘model
- Volume
- Velocity
- Variety
The fourth V that has been proposed in recent years is Veracity which really starts to get to the nub of the issue because unless you have a source of truth all the data in the world won’t add value to an analytical process if the data is inaccurate.
There is clearly a buzz around prop tech which is attracting technology entrepreneurs and start-up businesses that have spotted an opportunity to capitalise on a wealthy sector which historically has been slow to adopt new technology. As a property person myself and having spent over forty years in the industry it’s great to finally see some momentum and a real commitment across the market to embrace technology’s ability to make data work harder and people work smarter.
Information, intelligence and data have always been the lifeblood of the property community and the currency in which its practitioners are valued. However, at a time when the market is faced with a tidal wave of data, the accumulation, management and presentation of data is becoming increasingly paramount. Knowing how to filter, interpret, package and present such data efficiently and effectively is the key to making technology make a fundamental change to the way we do our business.