Author: Scott Willson
The past decade has seen an explosion in the number of specialist SaaS vendors targeting key industries and vertical markets. While fintech, martech and legal-tech have boomed, prop-tech has been slow to launch, largely due to lack of interest from major players in the historically tech-averse property and construction sectors.
That’s changed recently, thanks to COVID. In common with their counterparts in other sectors, property companies turned to technology when the pandemic struck and business continuity became the over-riding concern. The remote working experience piqued the interest of leaders and decision makers, by demonstrating in situ the extraordinary potential and power of digital solutions.
Thus, after years of doing things as they’ve always been done, property and construction companies are now showing an unprecedented appetite for tools and solutions that can help them do those things smarter and faster – and obtain accurate, up-to-the-minute data about unfolding trends.
That nascent demand has triggered a wave of supply-side activity from specialist vendors and the emergence of a healthy prop-tech eco-system in Australia and New Zealand. Industry bodies like the Proptech Association of Australia are working hard to build momentum while specialist venture capital funds are following the money, backing businesses whose platforms and products appear most likely to emerge as market leaders.
Early adoption of technology presents both risk and opportunity and first movers must navigate the former, in order to enjoy the latter. This year and next, we can expect to see a significant minority of organisations committing to wholesale digitisation and gaining a competitive advantage over their slower moving counterparts as a result.
Where innovators go, the majority, in time, follows.
At Forbury, we’re excited to be part of the journey, with clients old and new. We’re looking forward to working alongside other best of breed developers to help the property sector realise the extraordinary benefits proptech can deliver.
