Driving Transformation: Building a Data-Driven Culture in Multifamily Real Estate

On the surface, implementing new technologies represents a bold and forward-thinking approach. For on-site teams, it can be more of a stress.

Adopting new innovations, after all, means ongoing system updates, beta-testing, training, measured rollouts, and, essentially, a chaotic environment for the teams. While the purpose is for the greater good, the process of launching these powerful tools shouldn’t outweigh their potential impact, according to a panel at the 2024 OPTECH session “Driving Transformation: Building a Data-Driven Culture in Multifamily Real Estate.”

“We’re really at a crossroads of adding technology and finding better ways to drive efficiencies—and not causing problems for the site teams,” said Virginia Love, industry principal for Entrata. “We have to strike the balance of finding better ways to build value while not causing any additional friction or expenses.”

According to Savas Karas, chief technology officer for CAPREIT, good change and bad change exist. Typically, any change is initially perceived as bad because people simply don’t like it.

“The key is changing people’s mindsets so they understand they will be in a constant process of change,” he said. “Once they adapt to it and realize change becomes a natural part of their job, they can embrace it. If your job isn’t changing, you should be worried because it means you are in a stagnant part of the organization.”

Karas utilizes a 1-to-7 scale for any change initiatives at CAPREIT, with a “1” representing the most seamless. He and his team will aim to further intervene if the initiative is at a “5” or “6” level. Karas also strongly recommended devising ways to measure the effectiveness of any technology implementation, which helps to determine whether the desired result is being achieved.

“If you can measure change organizationally and systemically—and the impact that the change has at the organization—you will be in a lot better place to actually manage it,” Karas said. “Until you get that skill set, managing it can be hard because everyone uses it differently.”

In addition to promoting robust training measures to assist with employee buy-in, the panel also espoused the virtues of heavily consulting with the site teams. These associates are on the front lines, so their suggestions should be taken seriously.

“If you ask your site teams the same thing you ask your corporate teams, you’re going to get two different answers,” said Lisa Newton, senior vice president of multifamily operations for Hines. “The site teams sometimes feel that what we focus on isn’t critical to them, so it’s important to get their buy-in and work around their suggestions.”

Change often isn’t naturally embraced because it can be emotional and sometimes based upon previous experiences of the associate. According to the panel, that further puts the onus on operators to make change more of a positive thing and ensure teams understand the “why” of any such adaptations.

“We tend to focus on the ‘how,’ but the ‘why’ is so important,” said Anissa Faus, founder and CEO of Love Wins Collective. “People have to be bought in before we can move forward with the ‘how.’ It is vital.”

Faus also said that enthusiastic early adopters will exist within an organization, as will those more resistant to change. She recommended to first focus on micro-solutions offered by the tech “because people can’t drink from the firehose constantly and be an expert at every product that you’re using. So, we need to make the complicated simple.”

Newton noted that smaller organizations can be a bit nimbler with any change initiatives, but it can be more complex as they continue to grow. At Hines, for instance, any on-site changes must have the buy-in of the company’s regional property managers, which takes time. Hasty rollouts would likely cause problems, because the regional property managers then must train the site teams, so allowing ample time will ensure a smoother transition.

While training and implementation might seem to be the final steps of any tech rollout, organizations should constantly monitor the effectiveness of these tools, according to the panel.

“The biggest objective is understanding what you’re solving for and measuring the return on investment,” Karas said. “You should know what you want from a piece of software and be able to demonstrate it. … You should be able to find return on investment in the software and, if you don’t, rip it out.”