Artificial Intelligence Enriching Real Estate Customer Experience

In his 19-years long career, Vineet has held key roles across diverse companies such as GAIL, MARICO Ltd, Reliance, and Aegis, prior to joining Godrej in 2012.

In the era of smart automation and vast information which is-readily available, Artificial Intelligence is scripting the possibilities for a better future. Over the last two years, AI has become a buzzword, and there has been significant development around it. IDC predicts that 75 percent of developer teams will use AI technology in one or more business applications or services. The potential of this technology is enormous, and it can change the way humans interact with machines. Artificial intelligence has the potential to collect and analyze a large amount of information to create insights and come up with results which are beyond the human capabilities of manual processing. It also reduces the likelihood of a mistake and detects irregular patterns, like spam and fraud, to warn businesses in real time about suspicious activity among many other things increasing organizational efficiencies.

Currently, varied sectors use artificial intelligence, and it would be difficult to imagine our future without it especially when it comes to business. As per analysis by the research agency Itihaasa, India ranks third in research on artificial intelligence. Further, a discussion paper released by NITI Ayog stated that the country could add $1 trillion to its economy by incorporating AI. Due to the excellent benefits of Artificial Intelligence, this technology is changing the landscape of several industries.

Nowadays, every business is looking to create enriching customer experiences and the real estate sector is not far behind. The impact of AI is set to increase in the real estate industry, bringing with it, several beneficial opportunities. Apart from Artificial Intelligence technologies like Augmented Reality, Internet of Things, Robotic Process Automation, 3D Printing, and Blockchain have already begun reshaping the real estate sector. These technologies not only prove useful in providing great customer experience, but also result in increasing the productivity of the business processes like never before. AI enabled humanoid coupled with NLP (Natural Language Processing) capabilities can understand the home buyers' requirements and interact with them in the language of their choice. The adoption and implementation of AI in real estate is steadily going from an added benefit to becoming absolutely essential. It is

considered as one of the top factors mainly because of the high value of real estate investment and the period between initial customer acquisition to the actual delivery of the product ranging anywhere between 2-5 years. The journey of the home buyer from `Booking to Handover and Beyond' becomes most crucial for developers as active customer referrals and recommendations. AI in the form of chatbots or when coupled with IoT devices for creating Alexa enabled Smart Homes make a solid case for providing excellent customer experience.

Location is not the only selling point in real estate, but is accompanied by the availability of accurate data about the buyer, their finances, and preferences

Real estate today is no longer confined to a brick and mortar structure, and developers are continually looking for alternative ways to offer value to their customers. This industry in India today is at an inflection point as far as tech adoption is concerned. Nowadays, location is not the only selling point in real estate, but is accompanied by the availability of accurate data about the buyer, their finances, and preferences. There is a need to leverage artificial intelligence to analyze and make work easier. Also, developers can understand the importance of personalizing every customer interaction with the help of these technologies.

Realtors are trying to overcome these challenges with the help of Artificial Intelligence. Many real estate developers handle enormous amounts of data, and it is almost impossible to work on this data manually because of how much time it takes. This data management, data collection, and filtration can be simplified manifold with the use of machine learning which can also provide insights from the data in hand. Since artificial intelligence processes a large amount of data, it also helps the marketers and salesperson to use that data in their marketing activities and get in touch with the property customers who are likely to buy.

Additionally, most home buyers today prefer text or even an email over a call (cold) from an agent. This can be addressed using the beacons/IoT devices that transmit information about a home to anyone passing by. New age mobile apps can help share information with prospective buyers about the projects in the vicinity while they are on the move. IoT can immensely help in improving operational efficiency by reducing machine breakdowns through sensor based preventive alerts and via realtime monitoring of remote sites from the safety perspective.

Real Estate is certainly headed for a digitized and automated future. Additionally, the industry players are fast realizing the potential offered by these technologies and how their implementation is bringing about a sector seachange.