The real estate industry is under pressure from the growing power of AI, big data, and analytics. In a 2018 survey conducted by KPMG, 49% of participants concluded that AI, big data, and data analysis were the factors that will have the biggest impact on the real estate industry in the long term.
However, the current state of real estate data analytics software has not yet caught up with the unlimited potential of newer generation offerings. We’ll explore the most popular embedded analytics solutions in the industry, outline the pros and cons, and explain which solution might be the best for your business.
Toucan
As a leader in embedded analytics according to G2, Toucan has focused its efforts to understand the data hurdles of real estate firms. With a thorough and increased focus on embedded, Toucan’s apps harness the power of guided analytics and data storytelling, giving real estate professionals the power to view KPI measurements in real-time.
Pros of Toucan:
- Rapid app deployment
- Simplicity for non-technical users, no data team or extra support required
- Ideal for mid-sized real estate firms with a smaller budget
- High personalization and thorough visuals
- Emphasis on collaboration and mobile optimization
- Third-party support with thousands of connectors
Cons:
- Not ideal for firms looking for extreme big data analytics
Toucan’s platform solves the problems other real estate software brings to its end-users. Instead of providing an unrealistic expectation for a mind-boggling price, we master real estate reporting, allowing professionals to extract the most from the other investments in their portfolios.
After extraction, Toucan arranges all your requested data into simple visuals, all of which can be accessed from any device, at any time. No more complicated software operated by actuary teams, or data employees can’t access. Instantly collaborate with agents, investors, and developers while receiving data insights in real-time.
Qlik
Qlik for Real Estate is an embedded analytics tool that allows users to:
- View Clients in summary or detail format
- View Client statements, documents & arrears
- Monitor Portfolios and individual manager performances
- Review individual properties and tenancy details
- Monitor and review outstanding rent & service charges
- Visualize your property base geographically
These KPIs and many others are displayable in graphical format, allowing users to view strengths, weaknesses, and investment opportunities.
Pros of Qlik:
- Versatility allows both internal and external users access to data
- Easier for non-technical users to understand from a coding standpoint
- Abundance of onboarding and tutorial videos to help users get acquainted with the platform
Cons:
- Support can be lacking
- Although non-technical users can acquaint themselves with the platform, mastery of more intricate tasks is difficult, with the platform utilizing its own language and naming system
Qlik for Property Service and Facilities Management is for real estate firms that do not high coding knowledge. However, to extract the most out of this tool, a data/developer team may be necessary, limiting its usability to real estate firms with a tech budget.
Sisense
Sisense, another analytics solution, caters to the needs of real estate. The data analytics provider has a proven track record in the industry, gaining valuable insights for clients.
Pros of Sisense:
- Rapid app deployment
- Can build data processes without outsourced experts
- Professional service option provides support for startups
Cons:
- Collaboration between members at the firm may be difficult, if one member is unavailable, the whole data process stalls.
- Without a professional, visualizations are difficult to create without a robust knowledge of JavaScript and JSON.
- Difficulty handling large data sets, identification and categorizations are clear weaknesses of the platform.
Like Qlik, Sisense advertises itself as an easy-to-use platform that does not necessitate professional support. Although Sisense offers a professional support plan, this is costly and only makes sense for firms with a higher budget.
In the real estate industry, predictive insights are key to making the best investment decisions. Plenty of vendors have capitalized on this pain point, including Revaluate, Offrs, and First.io. These solutions aim to leverage AI to analyze past and current events to predict future trends by extracting millions of data points to predict, for example, when someone at a property will choose to move.
For agents, these tools are especially useful to identify opportunities before they arise. For example, a real estate agent can reach out to a potential seller before they reach out to another agent. Agents input their databases of contacts to the solution’s AI-powered analytics platform, from which the software processes the information for 48-72 hours.
Although in practice, these AI predictive solutions present an attractive proposition to firms trying to get ahead of the curve, its plentiful cons leave much to be desired.
Domo
Like other competitors, Domo has moved to integrate real estate solutions into its offering. The platform offers multiple third-party connectors, including Zillow, US Census data, Entrata, and PropertyMe. As a BI solution, Domo has recently branched out into embedded analytics, aiming to “digitally connect all your people, your data and your systems, empowering them to collaborate better.
Pros of Domo:
- Integration of widely used real estate platforms
- Users report the ease and simplicity of dashboards
- Easy usability for non-technical, Excel-based users
Cons:
- Clunky data integration and storing
- Slow data filtering and reports
- Limited personalization
- Self-service that requires experts
- Misleading demo
Domo has aimed high to cater to many industries, including the real estate industry. However, the platform currently has too many weaknesses to recommend to a real estate firm with a big budget.
