Commercial Asset Management is just a fancy way of saying, maximize your revenue for what you already have, and what you will have one day.

Let’s take that last part and talk about future assets. With data analytics and access to National listings come a lot of new and exciting opportunities. And though we’ve made great strides, not all the needed tech is built into the new digital CRE infrastructures.

The Top 3 Rules of Asset Management in 2021

Technology

The existing format of real estate information exists in a quickly developing, technological vacuum. We’ve spoken before about how – throughout real estate’s modern history – the main cornerstones of business and marketing have remained the same though the platform and technologies have evolved. The history of asset management is inherently digital, a departure from the other key elements of successful commercial real estate, as asset management relies on data.

What’s needed for success is a modern system capable of performance monitoring, tracking, information gathering, and analysis. Why? Because property portfolios are dynamic – meaning the data is ‘living’ – constantly updating, and evolving.

The trick is doing this simply without the struggle of trying to get a myriad of applications to work together cohesively, or the expenditure of creating a comprehensive solution in-house. How?

1. Be picky when selecting a platform, request a demo and walk through the service. Look for an asset management solution that doesn’t isolate your assets from the rest of your business like; marketing, staff management, property management, and contract development.
2. Make sure you find a platform that can connect your assets to market with supporting targeted sales and marketing campaigns.
3. Look for a data-driven application that uses automation and analytics to customize your internal and external asset data for use by your team.

Defining the Asset Manager Role

Real estate business models are very comfortable with the idea of a property manager – someone to handle your day-to-day operations, meet with tenants, answer questions, and orchestrate maintenance. Though most real estate platforms have an asset management portal but what about the human aspect? How do pair asset management technology within your team? Consider an asset manager the “property manager” of your digital and intellectual properties because data is a big part of this job. An asset manager should:

• Manage big picture finances with property asset analytics. Automation organizes the data and facilitates the analysis but it doesn’t automate the application of that data. The tools are included but you need someone to drive them.
• Navigate a strategy to realize the maximum property value. Data from multiple sources provide inputs used to cultivate a plan and drive a strategy to the property managers, leasing agents and other professionals – it’s necessary to have an experienced strategist and good data
• Work to constantly monitor and increase the value of the property, constantly analyzing changes at the property and market level as well as capital markets and other variables.
• Use the data to make the deals, and work with lenders to negotiate for financing, equity or other capital markets functions or properly exit via a sale at the appropriate time.

Understanding Automation

You’re relying a lot on analytics for your major decision making, strategizing, and campaigning. But what does it actually mean for your data to be automated? First let’s understand a little bit about the accelerated growth of data. According to the International Data Center (IDC), “the global datasphere is expected to grow to 163 zettabytes by 2025”
If you’re not familiar with the size of a zettabyte, if a gigabyte is a pea, a zettabyte is Jupiter.

“The datasphere is expected to grow”, meaning the amount of collected data will accumulate to a point beyond our ability to manage manually, (if it’s not there already). Automation is programming that allows software to read your data and convert it into accessible files so you can actually use it to inform your business.

This is the core of asset management, converting data into actionable information and strategy. And the role is becoming more and more prevalent as data takes up a much bigger place on the stage.

Final Thoughts

Asset management mirrors a lot of the intention of automation – you want your decisions to be informed and appear like they were able to come together at the touch of a button, without needing to rely on a ‘mechanical’ understanding of the gears behind the scenes. Remember these key points:

• A comprehensive platform matters so there is no interruption in your data flow, or prevention to the application of that data from your asset portfolios through to your sales.
• Have a team that understands the technological aspects of asset management, and how to use and apply the generated data. (An easy to use platform with dedicated support is helpful here).
• Have a general understanding of how automation assists in your data collection, and where the data is being pulled from, so that all the data you collect is purposeful.

For all your other CRE questions, or to tour our solution, reach out to schedule your demo today.