iShack Ventures announces partnership with MRI Software 

Integration will deliver enhanced capabilities that save time and money for real estate owners, managers and occupiers

26/042024

Johannesburg – iShack Ventures, a South African outfit with a strong track record in proptech, are pleased to announce an integration partnership with MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software solutions. The integration of iShack Venture’s Smart Building and iProp.Solutions digital platforms with MRI Property Central gives real estate owners, managers and occupiers in the South African market access to enhanced property management functionality and real-time processes.

Wayne Berger, Joint Chief Executive of iShack Ventures, says: “The integration of MRI Property Central with our Smart Building and iProp.Solutions platforms presents next-generation enhanced end-to-end property management capability. Our customers enjoy real-time information, market-leading AI capability, increased functionality, and better asset management in a digital twin environment. This collectively delivers enhanced value by saving time and money, while effectively connecting communities such as tenants and suppliers.”

Available through the MRI Partner Connect programme, the easy-to-use integrated solution offers end-to-end capability for all property types, including commercial (retail, office, industrial and logistics), residential and sectional title, and occupiers of space. The combined capabilities are well suited to property owners, managers, occupiers, and other users of any type of property or infrastructure.  

Sean Slack, VP of Partnerships at MRI, says: “We are excited to welcome iShack Ventures to the MRI Partner Connect programme, which will give MRI Property Central clients in the local real estate market access to the complementary functionality in the Smart Buildings platform.” 

iShack Venture’s platform brings complementary functionality to MRI Property Central, including facilities management, energy and ESG management, lease management, visitor management, procurement management and community management together with real-time portfolio and industry information. 

Peter Levett, Joint Chief Executive of iShack Ventures, says: “MRI has a longstanding and successful track record internationally and in South Africa. This is an important milestone for iShack, and we are excited to partner with MRI. Our focus has always been underpinned by delivering world-class solutions to our clients, and our current offering is bolstered by a strong partnership with MRI.” 

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About iShack Ventures

iShack Ventures is a South African company that has a strong track record in incubating and developing technology companies. It is focused on the property technology space developing two extensive platforms, namely Smart Building and iProp.Solutions. 

Smart Building is a next-generation asset and property management capability including digital twin and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities providing real-time information and intelligence for real time communication and proactive management.

iProp.Solutions is a platform supporting all aspects of leasing, sales and auctions including CRM and lease management capabilities together with relevant industry information to support asset management solutions.

 For more information, please visit ishackventures.com, smartbuildingapp.com and iProp.Solutions. 

About MRI Software 

MRI Software is a leading provider of real estate software solutions that transform the way communities live, work and play. MRI’s open and connected, AI-first platform empowers owners, operators, agents and occupiers in commercial and residential property organisations to innovate in rapidly changing markets. MRI has been a trailblazer in the PropTech industry for over five decades, serving more than six million users worldwide, including social, affordable, public and community housing organisations. Through innovative solutions and a rich partner ecosystem, MRI gives real estate companies the freedom to realise their vision of building thriving communities and stronger businesses. For more information, please visit mrisoftware.com. 

Post-COVID, as more and more businesses have adopted technology solutions to enable and improve operations in hybrid working environments, cyber threats have been on the rise too. According to British telecommunications giant, BT, “More than 46 million signals of potential cyber-attacks are spotted by cyber security experts every day around the world.”1 A 2023 study conducted by IBM indicates that the global average cost of a single data breach was USD4.45 million, representing a 15% increase over three years.2

Given that real estate businesses deal with exactly the kind of data that hackers would like to get their hands on – bank account details, ID numbers and other personal information – the industry is an obvious target for cyber-attack. As more and more real estate businesses adopt PropTech solutions to reap operational and cost efficiency rewards like improved utilities and building management, smoother tenant engagement and more efficient leasing, keeping all that data secure is vital. So how do you make sure that your cybersecurity measures are keeping pace as you digitally transform your business?

The human factor

Most cyberattacks happen through human error. Customers falling for phishing schemes, employees failing to follow security best practices and other avoidable human errors are responsible for as much as 82% of data breaches, according to Verizon3. Though it’s seldom intentional, people are your business’ biggest weakness when it comes to securing data. Implementing regular cybersecurity training for your employees, and engaging with your tenants to help them avoid falling prey to scams, will go a long way to protecting your data.

Make cybersecurity part of risk management

Ensure that cybersecurity is on the agenda in your management meetings and included in your risk management efforts. Assessing and understanding your risks is the first step, followed by prioritising the risks that have the biggest potential to cause harm. From here it’s important to understand what your existing solutions include in terms of security, and where the gaps are, as well as to put a robust incident response in place should something go wrong.

Form the right partnership

Cybersecurity skills are rare. The cybersecurity workforce gap is estimated at around 3.4 million people worldwide4, meaning that hiring your own crackerjack team of cybersecurity ninjas is not an easy task. Partnering with a managed services provider is the most effective way to gain access to these rare skills and ensure your security environment is keeping up with the threat environment. The right partner can guide you on how to get the basics in place, and how to close the gaps you’ve identified in your current systems. They should also be able to help to automate day-to-day security hygiene measures, like monitoring and patching, as well as other routinised security tasks.

Real estate businesses must take advantage of PropTech solutions to ensure their profitability and sustainability going forward. Protecting your business against data breaches and maintaining client trust is paramount in a digitally enabled world, and so is proactively securing business data.