APC, a dynamic organisation managing both residential and commercial properties with a strong focus on residential developments, sought to overcome long-standing inefficiencies in its tenant onboarding and lease processing. By partnering with iProp.solutions and leveraging their strategic collaboration with MRI Software, APC successfully digitised its lead-to-lease process. This transformation has not only streamlined operations, reduced administrative burdens, and minimised errors, but it has also reduced processing time by approximately 40%, setting a new benchmark for efficiency in the industry.

Client Background 

APC is a growing organisation with an emphasis on in-house management of residential properties, serving a diverse clientele while being guided by cultural values. With a burgeoning portfolio in residential developments and a commitment to operational excellence, APC recognised that traditional, paper-based processes were no longer sustainable in a competitive market.

Challenges and Motivation 

Prior to the digital overhaul, APC faced several critical challenges:

• Manual Processes: Reliance on paper-based documentation led to lost or misplaced records and time-consuming data entry.
• Inefficient Data Capture: Capturing information manually was labor-intensive and prone to errors.
• Lack of Information Tracking: There was no effective mechanism to track uploaded documents or monitor the progress of tenant applications.

Driven by the need to enhance operational efficiency and reduce administrative costs, APC embarked on a mission to digitize its lead-to-lease process. The goal was to not only streamline tenant onboarding but also to create a more robust system that could integrate effectively with existing platforms such as MRI Property Central (formerly MDA Property Manager).

Implementation Journey 

Project Timeline and Approach

• Tender and Planning: iProp.solutions secured the tender through its established MRI partnership, positioning the digital solution as the future for APC’s leasing operations.
• Pilot Phase: The project was executed over a three-month period, culminating in the successful live launch for a new building in October 2024.
• Full Integration: The solution was integrated with MRI Property Central without significant technical hurdles, thanks to iProp.solutions’ expertise and close collaboration with the MRI team.

Scope and Digital Transformation 

The implementation covered the entire lead-to-lease lifecycle, including:

• Vacancy and Lead Management: Integration with MRI Property Central to pull vacancy data, coupled with a custom website search engine that allows prospective tenants to view available properties.
• CRM Solution: A dedicated CRM tool for agents to track leads and progress them through the leasing process.
• Digitised Documentation: Transformation of offer-to-lease processes, FICA requirement capture, and lease generation, all integrated into MRI Property Central.
• Document Repository: All documents are centrally stored on iProp.solutions and in OneDrive, eliminating the need for manual scanning and physical filing.
• Future-Ready: With hard copy lease applications being phased out starting March 2025, the solution lays the groundwork for further enhancements in digital onboarding.

Business Impact and Results 

Efficiency Gains

• Time Savings: Tenant onboarding has seen an approximate 40% reduction in processing time. Tasks that previously took up to 15 minutes per transaction are now accomplished in under two minutes.
• Operational Efficiency: Staff are freed up from manual, error-prone tasks, allowing them to focus on generating new leads and improving customer interactions.
• Cost Reductions: Significant savings have been realised through decreased paper usage, reduced administrative overhead, and diminished stationery costs.
• Error Reduction: Automated data capture and streamlined document management have minimised errors and enhanced data integrity.

Stakeholder Feedback

During a detailed feedback session, Mohamed Rangila, representing APC, highlighted the tangible benefits:

“Historically, our paper-based system led to lost documentation and a cumbersome process. With the new digital solution, not only have we streamlined our operations, but our finance team now captures records with a click of a button—saving both time and resources.”

— Mohamed Rangila, APC

This testimonial underscores the operational improvements and the enthusiasm for a future where digital processes are the norm.

Strategic Advantages and Future Outlook 

Unique Value Proposition

iProp.solutions differentiates itself by delivering an end-to-end digitised solution that efficiently integrates with industry-leading platforms like MRI Property Central. The partnership with MRI Software enables rapid iterations and ensures that the system remains robust, secure, and scalable.

Market Position and Competitive Edge

• Innovation and Efficiency: The solution stands out by combining comprehensive digitisation—from vacancy search to lease finalisation—with the ability to deliver actionable insights and operational feedback.
• Scalability: As APC continues to grow its portfolio, the digitised platform is poised to handle increased volumes and additional process enhancements, positioning APC for sustainable long-term growth.

Next Steps and Future Enhancements

APC plans to further enhance the digital onboarding experience by:

• Extending system capabilities to accommodate external agents and additional property types.
• Refining the user interface based on ongoing feedback to ensure an even smoother experience.
• Leveraging data analytics for continuous process improvements and more informed decision-making.

Conclusion 

The successful implementation of iProp.solutions’ digital lead-to-lease platform marks a significant milestone for APC. By addressing longstanding inefficiencies and ushering in a new era of digital transformation, APC has not only improved its operational efficiency but also set a benchmark for innovation in tenant onboarding. The partnership between iProp.solutions and MRI Software positions APC for 

future success, supporting its market-leading plans for future enhancements and continued residential portfolio expansion.

Want to find out more about the iProp Lead to Lease Solution, watch the video below or contact us at wayneb@ishack.co.za or +2782 850 8289  or go to iprop.solutions and smartbuildingapp.com

Download our “Lead to Lease” brochure below and watch our introductory videos:

iProp.solution Lead to Lease Intro 2 pager 2025.pptx

FOR RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE

FOR COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

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.” 

END

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. 

Smart Technology is already shaping real estate and will continue to do so into the future, as major innovations like 3D printing, Blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence and even drones find useful applications in everything from building management to customer engagement. There are two main reasons for this, namely the human need to innovate and an increasingly enabling environment (catalysed by COVID-19).

Innovation – or the drive to do things better, if you will – is part of the human psyche. Socrates said that “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but building on the new.“ From the invention of the wheel to today’s advances in AI and Machine Learning, the human desire to strive for improvement is alive and well. 

From an economic perspective, innovation and economic growth go hand-in-hand. William Brody, ex-president of Johns Hopkins University and renowned scientist, radiologist and academic administrator discusses the calculus of innovation, describing it as follows: “… Knowledge drives innovation, innovation drives productivity, productivity drives economic growth.“ And Steve Jobs – widely acknowledged as one of the great innovators of our time – said that to be a leader, you also need to be an innovator.

The realm of smart technology is ideal for thinkers, innovators, leaders and businessmen to develop, fine tune and implement ways to improve their businesses and the lives of people affected by those businesses. In the real estate space, it’s about better experiences for tenants and employees, which lead to customer and employee loyalty, improved efficiencies, cost savings and, ultimately, profits. Whether you use AI to improve your customer service journey, or 3D printing technology to build more sustainably or save on costs in fit-out, smart technology is rapidly entering into the industry with their promise of improvements across the board.

Of course, the second factor – an enabling environment – is critical to successful innovation. In the case of smart technology and its application in various industries, internet connectivity is critical. IoT, AR, VR and AI are dependent on cost effective, reliable and far-reaching internet connectivity to function. In fact, all the smart technologies that are finding application in real estate are enabled by quality cloud services and high-speed, high-volume internet access.

Today, we’re seeing smart technology and digital transformation being discussed at C-Suite and Boardroom level. It’s no longer the purview of a few technically-minded specialists in the IT department. In fact, executive committees and Boards that are not actively looking at ways to transform digitally and leverage smart technology are positioning themselves to go the way of Kodak during the rise of digital photography and the birth of the camera phone. Though Kodak has managed to rebuild itself since it filed for bankruptcy in 2012, real estate players would do well to learn a lesson from this tale of caution and embrace innovation in their businesses.

New, more cost effective technologies have added to engineering efficiencies. Cloud computing and blockchain technology have made massive storage infrastructure and computing power available to any user at a fraction of the historic costs. Open APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) allow for different systems to connect and integrate, leading to greater collaboration, automation, and innovation across all industries and especially for real estate professionals. We’re seeing the Software as a Service (SaaS) model gaining traction, too, allowing real estate developers to reduce Capex requirements and time to market, and mitigate against a lot of the risk involved in digital transformation.

Value creation, cost savings and risk management are not the only drivers behind smart technology adoption in real estate. Tenants are becoming much more demanding, too, as customer service and engagement standards continue to rise and consumers’ tolerance for mediocre service continues to diminish.  Digital has become an expected part of the tenant experience.

With so much innovation available to transform businesses, we’re seeing real estate companies begin to appoint innovation managers to help them choose the right technologies and implementation strategies. And we believe the industry is only getting started.

In next month’s article, we will kick off with a look at the impact that 3D printing is having in the construction industry.

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.

In our Asset Mag Technology column, we looked at a few Smart Technologies that are making an impact in the Real Estate and Property Industries. In our Smart Tech to Watch series, of which this article is the first, we’ll dig into these technologies individually to see how they are finding application, and what benefits they offer. 3D printing is our topic for this month. 

In 2015 – almost a decade ago now –  the Chinese construction company WinSun made headlines when they created the world’s first 3D printed apartment buildings in China. The 3D printing process allowed WinSun to create modular building components that could be quickly and easily assembled on site, which reduced not only construction time but labour costs as well. Because the 3D printed components were also lightweight and used less material than traditional construction methods, the project produced less waste and overall costs were reduced even further. The 3D printed apartment buildings were completed in just a few months, demonstrating the potential for 3D printing to significantly speed up the construction process.

Since then, there have been several 3D printed construction projects worth noting, including 3D printed bridges in Spain and The Netherlands, and houses and more by Branch Technology and ICON in the United States. South Africa has also seen its share of 3D printed construction projects.

The “New Jerusalem” project, initiated by the University of Johannesburg’s Fada Architecture Department uses 3D printing technology which is capable of printing concrete structures. The project aims to provide affordable housing to low-income families in South Africa, and has so far delivered two successful prototype houses, each consisting of 26 layers of 3D printed concrete walls. The houses were built in just three weeks, and the team estimates that they cost 30% less than traditionally constructed homes.

The “Mars House” project in 2021 saw a team of South African architects and engineers create a 3D printed house that is capable of withstanding the harsh conditions on Mars. The house, which was constructed using a 3D printing robot, is made entirely of recycled materials and can be built in just two weeks. The team believes that this technology could be used to build sustainable housing on Earth as well.

And the “Project Gateway” initiative, led by the Belgian-based 3D printing company Kamp C, aims to build the world’s first 3D printed eco-housing development in South Africa. The development will consist of five houses, each constructed using 3D printing technology and sustainable materials. The team hopes that this project will serve as a model for future sustainable housing developments around the world. The printer that will be used for the project is capable of producing walls up to 8 metres wide and 3 metres high.

As property developers and real estate companies continue to look for more cost effective ways to build, 3D printing should be considered. It opens up a new realm of opportunity, potential cost savings and constriction advantages. Some of the applications to consider are:

1. Building Components: One of the most common applications of 3D printing in construction is building components such as walls, roofs, and floors. Using 3D printing, these components can be made quickly and accurately, reducing construction time and waste.

1. Formwork: These temporary structures are used to support concrete during construction. 3D printing can be used to create formwork more quickly and precisely than traditional methods, which reduces labour costs and improves construction quality.

1. Customised Design: 3D printing allows for highly customised designs to be created quickly and easily, allowing for unique architectural elements to be added to a construction project.

1. Construction Equipment: 3D printing can even be used to create construction equipment and tools, reducing the time and cost of acquiring and transporting these items to the job site.

Locally, from the project examples we’ve shared, it seems clear that 3D printing is being explored to address our shortage of affordable housing for lower-income households. Because 3D printed houses can be completed exponentially faster than traditionally built ones, and produce less waste in the process, it seems a viable way to create safe homes for those that need it most. 

But let’s not discount the impact this technology can have on higher income housing markets, commercial rental housing businesses and even infrastructure – such as foot bridges. Developers looking to attract first-time buyers could keep their apartments more affordable with 3D printed building components, without compromising on quality. And those looking to attract buyers and tenants that value environmentally friendly living/ working environments could benefit greatly from the ability to use less construction material, implement recycled materials or simply save on the waste produced during the construction project to achieve higher Green Star ratings.

Since the Built Environment contributes 39% of gross annual carbon emissions globally, according to the World Economic Forum, perhaps it’s time to start taking 3D printing more seriously in the construction sector.

Co-authored by Wayne Berger & Peter Levett

Joint Chief Executives of iShack Ventures, a venture building technology business with specific focus and expertise in property, providing a number of technology digital capabilities to the property sector.  

3 Steps to Tackling Digital Transformation in Real Estate in 2022

As a real estate professional, you may wonder if you even need a digital transformation strategy. After all, real estate companies have operated very effectively for decades without significant digital transformation. Any strategic change fundamentally changes how the people inside and outside the business interact and operate, and digital transformation certainly does this.

Though the real estate sector has, historically, been synonymous with being slow to adopt technology, international PropTech saw a record $32 billion invested in real estate technology in 2021 – up 28% from 2020. Growth in revenues of the PropTech industry (as a measure of increased usage) worldwide has increased by over 10% per annum over the last few years and is expected to grow at a faster rate going forward. The PropTech industry is booming, with almost 10 000 PropTechs in operation globally.

In my years as a digital transformation consultant, I have seen many real estate companies burning through small fortunes, not to mention years of time, only to end up with failed technology engineering and adoption projects. It’s understandable, then, that real estate companies are thinking more carefully about their approach as landlords ponder the question: How do I maximise my digital transformation journey and improve my portfolio’s yield through digital?

These are the 3 steps to tackling digital transformation in Real Estate in 2022:

• Understand why a technology (or digital transformation) strategy is important

Any strategy, including a digital one, needs to be central to the business strategy and driven from the Board and executive management. Unfortunately, technology is too often seen as a matter to be driven by the IT department or similar in the business. But we are seeing a seachange in the industry as Boards and executive management are beginning to understand the importance and significance of technology.

While everyone was locked down at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital solutions to everything – from healthcare to shopping to customer service – gained momentum. And consumers are not keen to go back to the days of sitting in waiting rooms, standing in till queues or listening to panpipe hold music while waiting for a customer service agent to answer the phone. From managing car insurance claims paperfree through an app, to getting groceries delivered to your house in 60 minutes, the world has changed and there’s no going back. 

In real estate, the opportunities for more effective facilities and utilities management, tenant communication, and even residential or commercial property sales and rental management are endless.  One fast-growing sub-sector, for example, is smart building which allows real estate owners to digitally manage their buildings, as well as reporting, inspections, communications and more between all those that connect to the building – all using an app on your phone. This has increased relevance with the introduction of ESG reporting requirements. 

• Exploring potential benefits & current pain points

The key to benefitting from your investment in PropTech is taking a strategic approach. Digitally transforming for the sake of it is a fruitless endeavour. Instead, tackle your digital transformation with a clear understanding of the potential benefits and current pain points you want to alleviate and develop a strategy that addresses these. Critically, your strategy should include targets that you can measure against your business goals to ensure you can report on whether or not your PropTech solution is working for you. 

Whether you’re aiming to achieve cost reduction targets through better utilities management, seeking to attract new long-term commercial tenants through improved sustainability and energy efficiency reporting, or wanting to improve facilities management efficiency through quick and easy facility bookings, digital transformation must support your strategic goals if it is to give you a return on your investment.

• How do we choose the right digital solution mix?

Implementing your digital transformation strategy will boil down to choosing between three possible solutions: Build it yourself, outsource it, or buy into Software as a Service (SaaS).

Build it

Landlords are asset managers and, by nature, there is a tendency to want to own any assets they invest in. So building your own solution probably sounds very tempting. However, software engineering is a very different game to real estate investment and the skills required to maintain and innovate your bespoke technology solution are scarce, costly and – frankly – unlikely to respond well to the same management techniques that work for your employees in your core business. 

Outsource it

For most real estate companies, outsourcing is a more realistic option. It gives you access to the scarce and expensive technical skills you need, often at a more affordable rate, and without all the challenges that come with managing a software engineering team in your business. In this scenario maintenance and innovation is outsourced to a specialist company.

An important consideration for outsourcing is the ownership of the ‘Source code’. An unwitting customer may purchase the ‘executable program’ but be unaware that from the onset they must request that the software engineering supplier’s quotation includes the intellectual property of the programming, known as the source code. This gives the purchaser the flexibility to move the development project to a new service provider, should problems arise in the future with their current supplier.

SaaS it

The last possibility and the most cost effective upfront and monthly is SaaS. SaaS solutions save you time-to-market, while ensuring that your PropTech solution is regularly updated with improved functionality and cybersecurity measures, without the hassle and expense of maintaining or outsourcing the teams behind the software.  This makes SaaS solutions accessible and ideal for smart real estate businesses looking to accelerate their digital transformation. 

It’s important to select SaaS solutions that integrate easily with other software packages your business uses to ensure smooth data sharing and shared functionality. Licensing archaic or international PropTech systems that can’t easily be customised for the local market can get very expensive, very quickly.

If these three steps seem daunting, you may want to consider appointing an Innovation Manager or equivalent in your business whose sole responsibility is to navigate your company through the treacherous waters of digital transformation. The right digital transformation strategy, supported by the right skills to deliver against it, is the recipe to a nimble and ultimately effective technology adoption journey.