Property should take a leaf from some other industries’ books and embrace increased automation to help the sector recover quicker and better from Covid. 

That’s the view of Peter Grant, chairman and chief executive at Openview – Powered by VTUK, who cites a raft of examples from the invention of the ATM to the fully-automated Docklands Light Railway to prove that businesses can benefit from enthusiastic support for technology.

“As long as agencies have a long-term goal in mind about what they want to achieve and are thoughtful when deciding the application, they can guarantee a forward momentum of progress to yield results” says Grant. 

“Since the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen some incredible signs of recovery and growth despite the pressures. Agencies can rely on automation to help optimise and scale work. 

“Without automation, the success rate of transactions and good customer relationships during the pandemic would not have been possible. For example, within the rental market, the role automation played in preventing rent arrears was significant. It allowed agencies to chase rents arrears, improve communication and avoid potential risk – and it was the same for Right to Rent checks and compliance checks.” 

Openview argues that mundane tasks in day-to-day life have been automated already around the globe and it is time the property industry did the same. 

Automation can also be also used to act as a reminder to agents about actions not yet performed. 

“Openview has something known as ‘management by acceptation’, a way in which automation can prompt a question, notification or report on certain actions, missing information, or even as a security feature if certain actions have been performed” Grant says. 

He says that rent statistics have suggested that the property industry is still perceived as being behind the curve – tenants treasure responsiveness and 69 of leads prefer chatbots over human interaction, because of the rapid response rate. 

“Whether it’s using the Siri app on a mobile device instead of scrolling online or connecting with a chatbot for a solution instead of being placed on hold, automation has changed the world” Grant concludes. 

“At Openview, we believe that automation can change the property industry for the better too.”