An estimated 90% of commercial real estate firms have plans to integrate artificial intelligence into their operations in the next five years, but are they prepared for the reality of putting AI tools into practice?

According to a JLL survey, while CRE executives at the C-suite level are ready to dive into the AI pool, their managers on the ground may not be prepared. While almost 70% of business leaders surveyed said they have an AI strategy in place, only 33% of senior managers said the same.

One challenge these professionals may face is navigating through unstructured or messy data that inhibits the ability to unlock greater efficiency and insights, said EisnerAmper Head of Real Assets Advisory Naseem Wenzel.

“Without data completeness, correctness and consistency, it's difficult to develop AI, because AI is completely reliant on the data set underneath it,” she said.

Wenzel explained that many CRE organizations have not matured their technology and data strategies to the point where they are ready to give AI the fuel it needs. And without quality data, firms are not going to get quality results.

“Data is the real differentiator when it comes to AI,” EisnerAmper Director of Technical Enablement Jen Clark said. “Generative AI, including ChatGPT and Co-Pilot, will give commoditized, general answers. If you want to get next-level value out of AI, you need to give the tools superior data.”

Optimizing Data 

The first step to optimizing data, Wenzel said, is for a CRE firm to determine what is most relevant to its organization and its goals, and then map out the ownership and overall governance of that data.

Clark added that with AI, firms can easily get lost in a sea of information, and simply adding data for data’s sake into a system is not going to provide a firm with the insights it needs. This is why they need to treat data as a strategic asset and carefully consider what they want to use. The best way for a business to do this is to develop a long-term vision for what it wants AI to help it accomplish, and then treat data as the key asset that will help it get there, one step at a time.

“When it comes to AI technology, we have to be very strategic about what we choose to invest in because it takes a lot of time and cross-collaboration to succeed,” Clark said. “You have to be aware that you’re not going to conquer everything at once.”

Choosing The Right Tools

Once they have their data organized, CRE firms need to carefully consider what they hope to accomplish through AI so they can choose the right tool. Wenzel said that while many organizations are starting to think that they need AI to do something, they are not being specific enough about what that “something” is.

“You want to use AI for something meaningful to the organization, because investment dollars in technology don't come easily, and the minute you blow it, your audience is going to lose confidence in what you're doing,” she said.

She said that along with the basic large-language AI models like ChatGPT, there are tools specific to CRE, including North Spire, Creaitor, CrewAI, Cherre and EllisAI. She also recommended looking at platforms that offer AI within them, such as Yardi, MRI, Realpage and Dealpath. These industry-specific solutions embed AI and help a firm address its data issues before exploring other tools.

Staying Protected

Clark stressed that before CRE firms give their data to outside vendors, they need to fully understand how the data will be handled and shared. Are they anonymizing your data? Are they using your data to train their models?

“You need to know how this strategic asset will be handled by these companies,” she said. “Because if one piece of data or one particular asset is really important to your firm from a competitive advantage standpoint, that is not something that you want going into a vendor training their model, which is why you need to make sure you have proper protections in place.”

This article was produced in collaboration between EisnerAmper and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

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