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Innovation and disruption are the core tenets of the technology industry.
However, in 2020, the entire world was disrupted by a novel coronavirus,
the fifth global tragedy of the past 102 years. e global pandemic was
a stress test for the real estate industry, exposing cracks, and revealing
opportunities for positive steps that will prepare us for the future.
According to a Deloitte report on real
estate predictions, consumers' expectations
about service are driven by technology firms'
standards. e real estate industry has long
talked about how Amazon's customer-first
model has impacted how the real estate
industry views the customer experience. But
2020 pushed us all to transform rapidly and
move to offer contactless, responsive service
from virtual home showings to the ability to
sign closing documents remotely. As Deloitte
notes, "personal contact is no longer the major
relevant success factor in many processes."
States Title recently sponsored an
independent third-party survey of the real
estate industry conducted by Researchscape. It
revealed that 59% of real estate professionals
say that digital readiness is the number one
critical success factor for surviving in 2021.
Technology will not eliminate personal contact,
but, ready or not, the time has come to adopt
and embrace technological change.
TECHNOLOGY BECOMES ESSENTIAL
TO SAFETY
As we grappled with shelter-in-place orders
and the disruption of business, technology
not only became a lifeline but also a lifesaver.
From Zoom calls to document management,
Feature By: Max Simkoff
STRESS,
SAFETY, AND
SURVIVAL
A global tragedy has tested the real estate industry, exposed cracks, and
presented opportunities.
