Using CRE Tech to Satisfy Evolving Investor Expectations
The investor experience has become a critical component of commercial real estate deals. And with today’s political and economic uncertainty, it’s more important now than ever before to meet and exceed investor expectations. This is largely because investors in today’s on-demand, instant gratification culture have come to expect accessibility and transparency about their CRE investments, with real-time, on-the-go availability for both added convenience and control.
Technology is driving change in the commercial real estate industry, empowering sponsors to meet evolving investor expectations. There are a lot of late adopters in the real estate industry, but some companies are looking to stay ahead of the curve and adopt early habits when it comes to technology that will make it easier for investors and sponsors to interact.
Modern investment firms must understand the importance of leveraging technology to create a value-add investor experience and adapt accordingly. Read ahead to learn how your firm can use CRE tech to create an unparalleled experience for your investors.
Constant Communication
To enhance investor communications, a CRM is vital. A CRM, like RealPage IMS, simplifies, centralizes, and scales investor management and engagement. This tool can be leveraged to reduce the stress of managing pre-existing and newly cultivated investor relationships simultaneously and gives firms more time to focus on developing meaningful relationships with current investors. As a result, capital raise opportunities and the probability of generating repeat investments are increased.
Additionally, a CRM makes organizing and managing investors’ contact information significantly easier, which helps firms save time. The amount of time saved by using this type of platform creates additional opportunities for crafting individual, relevant messages for each investor. With 81% of today’s consumers wishing that companies knew them better, firms that leverage technology to craft personalized communications are more likely to receive a higher volume of engagement from investors than those who do not.
Enhanced Transparency
Today, commercial real estate investors are allocating more capital to investment deals than ever before. At the same time, there is increasing demand for greater transparency across the industry. With 2/3 of investors citing ‘degree of transparency’ as an important investment consideration, firms are feeling the pressure, both internally and externally, to become more open and honest with investors with regards to each of their transactions.
With such a large amount of money being invested, investors want to feel confident that they are making an informed decision about choosing a sponsor and making an investment. Thus, there desire for on-demand, real-time insights into how their money is performing and where it’s going has grown tremendously in recent years.
Fortunately, technology makes it easier than ever to be transparent with investors. Leveraging technology to increase transparency enables sponsors to build credibility with their investors. This open exchange of information ultimately facilitates a smoother transactional process and makes it more efficient for sponsors and investors to contact each other and share information at all times. As such, technology leads to deeper connections and enables effective engagement between sponsors and their investors.
Increased Accessibility
CRE is an increasingly global business. Investors across the country or across the world need instant access to key information, regardless of your own time zone and business hours. This information could include updates about deal flow, deal interaction, and deal progress, as well as historical distributions. Similarly, people don’t just want access to information when they are in the office. They may need access to information while they are traveling, working remote, or even during their commute.
With these requirements, investors expect to have their portfolio readily available online with 24/7 access from mobile or browser. They want real-time updates and the ability to access all investment and legal details instantaneously. An intuitive yet powerful mobile platform enables investors to track the performance of their investments, providing the data they need, anytime and anywhere.
Download this free eBook to learn more about Investor Expectations and Experiences.
