During the last few years, the real estate sector has undergone significant digital disruption, accelerated by necessity during the pandemic and driven by the subsequent efforts of thousands of entrepreneurs and startups.

As a passionate real estate professional and a lifelong advocate of advanced technology, I founded my own proptech business, PRYPCO, last year. We all know that the property ownership process can be overwhelming, which is why PRYPCO aims to simplify real estate transactions throughout the UAE. Our mission is to enable investors to take charge of their assets via a single, one-stop online portal. In doing so, our platform brings buyers, investors and homeowners together, simplifying property transactions and providing personalised advice from leading experts.

Nevertheless, I appreciate that the term ‘proptech’ is still off-putting for some real estate investors, who equate online platforms with a less personable service. As such, it is vital that brands like PRYPCO take measures to build confidence among prospective users by imbuing their platforms with high levels of customer-centricity and convenience.

Here are just a few of the things I think the proptech community needs to focus on to win over traditional real estate investors.

Broaden users’ options

Proptech is already streamlining investors’ transactions through advanced automation, which is assisting them with activities such as virtual viewing, valuations, marketing, deal closing and listings.

Many early adopters are also finding it much easier to visualise the architecture of properties through virtual and augmented reality technologies. At the same time, access to online channels is delivering information at the push of a button, allowing investors to receive prompt responses to queries on a 24/7 basis – functionality that is rare within the traditional real estate space.

Proptech continues to transform the real estate sector in numerous other ways. Time is being saved through automation, and advances within artificial intelligence (AI) are serving to improve communication channels, allowing proptech professionals to provide increased support.

We must continue to develop new functionality for users in a bid to further expand their options. Eventually, our industry will reach a tipping point wherein traditional investors cannot afford to ignore proptech channels.

Communicate the advantages

As someone who runs my own proptech company, I have seen that recent technological advancements have given investors a competitive edge. AI is already being utilised to complete a range of time-intensive, iterative tasks, including underwriting, property valuation, fraud checks and credit searches, and this technology will only get smarter over time.

Many investors are already embracing proptech as an efficient and convenient solution for property buying and selling. Nevertheless, there remains a sizeable, untapped audience of traditional real estate investors. Although proptech offers many advantages over traditional real estate, first impressions greatly influence whether we adopt new services. If our first experience is positive, we are more likely to use the service on multiple occasions.

As a business leader, I consider it my responsibility to understand my customers’ expectations and ensure their requirements are being met throughout their journey. Our sector cannot focus solely on digital capabilities to the detriment of attraction and retention. We must remain equally focused on positive customer experiences while communicating the myriad other advantages that proptech offers.

Drive widespread adoption

So, what else can proptech entrepreneurs do to grow their market share? Well, in my opinion, we must work hard to raise awareness of what we are striving to achieve.

We need to reiterate the fact that ‘digital’ does not equate to inferior customer service. On the contrary, it actually represents an opportunity to improve communication within the real estate industry, providing greater flexibility for customers. We must also make a concerted effort to enhance accessibility, focusing on the provision of user-friendly interfaces that are supported by comprehensive tutorials.

Last but not least, we must remember that proptech platforms are not a replacement for traditional property channels. There is sufficient space in our market for both digital and analogue tools. The primary advantage of platforms such as PRYPCO is that they enable the real estate community to engage with and manage their assets in a way that suits their needs.

Provided proptech professionals are able to position their platforms as supplementary tools, which add value to real estate operators while improving the overall customer experience, there is no ceiling to potential adoption.