Property management services oversee the daily operations on premises with a goal of maintaining the condition and the value of properties in the desired levels. This includes residential, commercial, and industrial real estate, and is usually done by a third party for the property owner.

Commercial property management focuses on public accommodations, office buildings, and retail properties, such as malls. Industrial properties that can benefit from property management include, for instance, heavy manufacturing facilities, distribution facilities, and warehouses. Additionally, special purpose facilities require management as well.

The responsibilities of property management consist of:

• managing tenants; collecting rent, screening tenants
• maintaining properties; snow removal and landscaping, arranging repairs
• managing lawful operations; laws and regulations, taxes

3 Ways to Create More Value by Using Real-Time AI Analytics

With hundreds of technology solutions for property management, ranging from task management platforms to simple foot fall counters, it might be difficult to find solutions that actually create value. Additionally, combining multiple solutions has its danger of becoming a patchwork nightmare from data analytics perspective. Hence, finding a solution that is not only nice-to-have, but also creates value on the investments in real estate is vital.

What real-time AI analytics can do, is provide insights in two different approaches:

• real-time: react to incidents immediately
• long-term: use historical data to optimize planning and decision-making

1. Demonstrate the Value of Your Property

Measuring the foot flow data of a property is an effective way of gaining better insights on the use rates of the premises. With real-time AI analytics, people flow can be calculated in in both outside and inside the buildings. The longer the areas are monitored, the more insightful the data becomes. The approach can be identifying the busiest areas on volume, or high and low peaks based on the volume and average duration spent on targeted areas. Then, the data could be utilized, for instance, adjusting rental prices according to the popularity of location or occupancy levels of the premises.

Use long-term people flow data for:

• identifying the best performing tenants
• adjusting the rental prices based on actual people flow on the premises
• identifying best leasing and tenant selection
• optimizing the rental planning in a long term
• minimizing vacancies

2. Manage Commercial Buildings and Public Areas Better

Maintaining the premises is one of the key objectives of property management. In order to create more value to the property owners, property managers constantly look for ways to provide better services. What we value most in any kind of customer service is quick response time. Using AI analytics cuts down the reaction time by providing real-time monitoring and instant responses on incidents, provides cost savings by reducing the number of needed check-ups, and helps to optimize the resources on most significant operations.

Use real-time AI for:

• reacting to immediate incidents (peak hours requiring more cleaning, service, or maintenance)
• identifying blocked entryways (alerts)
• making sure service tasks are completed on time (snow plowing, wet/dirty floors)
• reducing the amount of unnecessary maintenance visits
• optimizing the maintenance operations

In Finland, the property maintenance costs have been increasing mainly due to the skyrocketing costs on heating. The maintenance cost index calculated by ITK indicated a rise of 4.4 percent in residential estate properties, and 4.8 percent increase in costs in office buildings in 2021. This indicates high energy prices, but also, we are seeing a rise in consumption. During the prevailing global situation, the upcoming winter is setting unprecedented challenges.

The maintenance cost index calculated by ITK indicated 4.8 percent increase in costs in office buildings in 2021.

With each company re-thinking their cost-saving strategies, consider a unique solution based on immediate reaction – the use of real-time AI to adjust the heating based on people flow in large open premises, such as conference halls and auditoriums. With large crowds generating heat, we can react to the situation immediately when certain people count is crossed, or we can use the long-term data to draw forecasts for the upcoming events for better energy optimization.

3. Increase Property Potential

Let’s talk about property planning. There are many things to take into consideration when optimizing the property usage, the busier the better so to say. However, building the roadmap to maximize property’s potential can be difficult with even extensive amount of planning and resources. Understanding the traffic and people flows on existing premises can help identify the future potential. Additionally, by monitoring the traffic flow of certain areas helps to factualize the requirements of similar premises in new locations. With easily movable real-time AI analytics solution, we can perform A/B testing in different locations. What this data provides, is insights for stakeholders.

Use long-term people flow data for:

• preparing action plans for existing clients
• optimizing management of new properties
• helping clients meet their goals with expert property management
• forecasting needed resources on existing and future properties

At the end of the day, the best way to create more value on property management is by having a tool that makes both real-time and long-term planning effortless, allowing you to focus your time and resources on what really matters – maintaining the value and condition of the property.