Real estate is a laggard when it comes to adapting to change, says SiteZeus EVP of product development Chuck Cooper. He arrived at this conclusion after more than 30 years of developing software for real estate and other industries. Now, his Tampa, FL-based company, founded by brothers Hannibal and Keenan Baldwin in 2014, wants to help industry players find ideal locations to choose from by crunching large amounts of statistical data.
“Real estate is a data-driven industry that has been leveraging outdated methods of utilizing pertinent information,” he tells Bisnow, citing a case in which a broker needs to advise clients on site selection based on revenue potential as an example. Today, the exercise remains tedious and imprecise. “This creates an opportunity for platforms that are designed to aggregate, consume and distill Big Data down into an actionable insight for an individual,” Chuck says.
At the heart of the company’s pitch is a predictive engine. The technology allows users to generate revenue forecasting models in real time to determine the optimal sites to open new stores. SiteZeus hopes to use multiple inputs of data to allow real estate professionals to make more informed location-based decisions.
Chuck also says the AI’s ability to correlate multiple data points in no way replaces the human factor in choosing an ideal location. “It is only the starting point because we realize no one knows a business better than the owner,” he says. “We don’t replace human intelligence in the site selection process, we simply give people more and better information."
SiteZeus products cost the typical user somewhere between 1/5 and 1/10 the cost of using a traditional site consultant, Chuck says. “We think it will become a differentiator for brokers who utilize our services."
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