Creating connections

Greater collaboration between the technology and property industries is essential for proptech to add value across the property lifecycle.

In July 2020 Mortar was featured in the RICS Property Journal.

We were in the grips of the pandemic and property managers across the commercial and residential real estate sector were sourcing solutions for relieving the workloads associated with the huge increase in demand for resolving occupier and tenant relationships. In the commercial sector, in particular retail, much of the conversation at that time centered around how to speed up and support the offer for businesses to transition from traditional lease arrangements to turnover linked rents.

The article is already a year old, but it seems like these conversations have only just begun.

This time last year we were all working in new circumstances, in a landscape of uncertainty as to how long lockdown would last and what aspects of the market for property would be fundamentally different moving forwards. It is remarkable how much has changed, but there is still a tremendous need for more collaboration and co-creation across the sector.

Our work has grown and evolved in maturity, as we have learnt how to support commercial and residential real estate providers and operators more effectively.

There is still so much to do.

• Clearer lines of communication are still needed.

• More dynamic and more accurate methods of sharing and accessing information is still required.

• Occupiers and tenants still need more access to digital tools to interpret and engage more meaningfully with their rent accounts, service charge and estate information.

The product we created, called Balance, is capable of transforming the relationship between property stakeholders, between owners and occupiers. However, we have learnt that supporting stakeholders with small, incremental successes in how their teams work, and how technology can be applied to support their relationships, is capable of creating massively significant results for all parties.

Property is right at the start of its entrance into a digital transformational marathon.

It is in the warm-up pen, doing a few stretches, not really sure or convinced yet how best to respond.

But very soon we'll start seeing the massive, societal benefits that being in the race brings. Then soon we'll all be hooked. Happier and healthier. Wondering how on earth things used to work back then...

The article is available online here: RICS Property Journal

Many thanks to Liz Carter and Mike Scott for putting it out there.