Josh Herrenkohl, principal and global real estate advisory leader at EY, joined REIT.com for a video interview at REITWise 2017: NAREIT’s Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in La Quinta, California.
Herrenkohl discussed technology trends that could impact the real estate industry. One is robotic process automation, which Herrenkohl said has the opportunity to reduce lesser-value activity greatly within companies. Robotic process automation software allows employees to focus on more value-added functions, he noted.
Herrenkohl also commented on two dynamics impacting digital disruption. One is non-traditional companies entering the real estate industry, such as Airbnb. The other is the use of industry-agnostic technologies, such as analytics technologies, he said.
Companies are taking a number of steps to prepare for digital disruption, including hiring chief innovation officers to stay ahead of trends, Herrenkohl said. In addition, companies are making bigger investments into technology, emphasizing innovative strategic thinking and leveraging analytics to make more effective decisions, he noted.