Future Cities

By Chasing the Shiny Object, You May Miss the Transformation

By: Sandeep Davé, Chief Digital & Technology Officer

October 4, 2023 3 Minute Read

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Unlocking AI’s Transformative Potential

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Every few years there’s a technology on top of the hype curve that promises to radically change the world.

Earlier in my career, the dot-com boom of the late 1990s created a frenzy. The internet changed everything. Speculation drove shiny-object syndrome, and countless ventures were launched to seize on the seemingly endless opportunities. The companies built upon a strategic idea and business model are still around today. Others didn’t survive the bubble, including my own start-up.

More than two decades later, few technologies have promised the level of transformative potential or generated as much excitement as artificial intelligence.

While technology can be a powerful tool for transforming businesses and creating value, it won’t automatically solve your challenges or guarantee success. To be truly impactful, tech must be married to business strategy and goals. This is equally true with AI.

It’s useful to remember that AI isn’t new. Success has previously been seen in areas such as personalized recommendations for consumers and fraud detection. What we’re seeing today with generative AI is the next level of evolution.

From my perspective, this evolution of AI will influence a broad spectrum of change in the real estate industry.

Across all industries, AI will boost productivity and drive efficiencies by supporting our daily, behind-the-scenes tasks, helping us to do things differently. At the same time, AI will have the transformative effect of enabling entirely new ways of working.

Every industry is grappling with how to capitalize on the benefits of AI, yet there are few examples of AI deployed at scale. Clients want to understand how to unlock value with AI. The questions may vary, but the sentiment is the same:

With all the hype, how do you focus and prioritize AI investments that move the needle?

Based on our learnings, the three imperatives for success are strategy, data and partnerships.

  1. Strategy – The first and most important thing is to identify and understand the problem you’re trying to solve, the opportunity you’re trying to seize, or the value you’re trying to create. It’s all about a focused strategy and a clear ROI.
  2. Data – Data is the key ingredient for artificial (and augmented) intelligence. Those who have experimented with AI and machine learning know that collecting, annotating and preparing training data—to help machines understand what is important—is necessary to avoid bottlenecks in the process before you start training the AI model.
  3. Partnerships – You can’t expect to make meaningful advances all on your own when dealing with nascent technology and a quickly shifting landscape. Operating with a “build-buy-partner” philosophy—building for differentiation when a unique solution is not available, buying when you see strategic opportunities to meet the moment and scale for growth, and partnering to realize value at speed for your clients—enables you to accelerate time-to-value and protect your intellectual property and competitive advantage.

Enthusiasm surrounding AI’s potential is infectious—no surprise, considering its potential to radically transform our lives. And, hype or not, AI has the power to unlock incredible efficiencies in your business today if you remain focused, disciplined and collaborative.

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