Introducing Clean Data to Boost ROI

The Importance of Clean Data

In the realm of real estate investment, clean data is the cornerstone of effective data-driven decision-making. Imagine a scenario where a Chief Investment Officer has access to a fully automated dashboard that integrates top-level data with asset-level data points and transactional data from service providers. The data sets delivered by the various departments and service providers are seamlessly assembled in a central reporting system that represents the Single Source of Truth. This is ideal state Data-Driven Decision Making and should be viewed as the end goal that all real estate investment companies are striving to achieve.

Clean data – accurate, complete, and standardised data, allowing for meaningful analysis and insights – can bring real estate investment companies closer to this ideal state. In contrast, fragmented and inconsistent data lead to inefficiencies, poor decision-making, and significant financial losses. Therefore, achieving clean data is critical for real estate firms aiming to enhance their ROI and operational efficiency.

The Journey to Clean Data

1. Business Strategy and Company Culture – Clean data initiatives must start at the top, with clear goals and a mission statement from senior management. High-level data requirements should align with the company’s investment strategy and risk management objectives. Additionally, a culture that values data as a strategic asset must be fostered throughout the organization.
2. People – Change management is essential to build momentum and get buy-in from all employees. Staff must be redeployed and upskilled to handle new data processes. Furthermore, top and middle management should adopt a cross-functional, data-driven management approach.
3. Business Processes – Existing procedures need to be rethought and aligned with new business goals and technological capabilities. Implementing a Target Operating Model that adapts to the Unified Data Model and leveraging automation are crucial. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) techniques should be used to eliminate silos and unify processes, integrating all internal and external players.
4. Data – Developing a Unified Data Model that ensures data continuity and provides drill-down and audit trails is vital. Establishing data entry standards and a centralized code system with a unified chart of accounts (CoA) will help maintain consistency. Eliminating departmental Excel files and ensuring semantic consistency across data points will prevent data fragmentation. Managing contractual relationships and data hand-over points with well-defined data contracts is also essential.
5. IT Systems – Implementing modern software that empowers the automated collection and validation of financial digital twins at scale is necessary. Ensuring software capabilities align with data and business process requirements will enhance efficiency. Reducing system complexity and strictly enforcing data contracts on all interfaces will help avoid multiple sources of truth. IT systems are not where the journey starts, as people may commonly suspect, but they are vital for enabling the the integrated approach needed for clean data across a whole business.

Benefits of Attaining Data Maturity

A clean data-driven approach transforms how real estate investors manage portfolios and make investment decisions, offering great ROI. High-quality, integrated data enables better strategic and operational decisions at all levels. Compatibility between data produced and consumed by different departments and service providers minimizes errors. Moreover, clean data facilitates vertical integration and full drill-down capabilities improve data validation and auditing efficiency.

Eliminating manual data aggregation and cleansing reduces operational costs for business and data rooms are always ready for due diligence and reporting, as data is continuously validated and kept clean. A Unified Data Model provides an aggregated, reliable view of all data which also prepares organizations to deploy AI tools the moment they become available, avoiding ad-hoc, isolated data clean up exercises under time pressure, and enhancing financial and investment-related insights.

Conclusion

Clean Data is a way of thinking, of talking to your service providers, tenants and investors, always based on clear and verified facts. If companies can transition to this , it will enable them to deploy ideal state data-driven decision making. iREMS exemplifies how integrated solutions can drive the journey to clean data. iREMS provides a centralized platform that integrates financial data, ensuring real-time access and visibility. By automating data collection, processing, and reporting, iREMS reduces errors and enhances efficiency. The platform supports the Unified Data Model, ensuring data consistency and preparing organizations for AI deployment.

Through these strategies, iREMS helps real estate firms achieve a state of data maturity, guiding them through the steps in the journey to clean data. By embracing clean data, organizations can transform their operations, making data-driven decision-making a reality and driving sustainable growth.

Written with iREMS