MRI Ascend 2024: Centralization and data stories told ‘round the campfire

The real estate industry of today is not what it once was. Formerly regarded as a late adopter of technology, the sheer volume of innovation throughout the industry has skyrocketed in recent years. This increase of tech adoption has given industry veterans plenty of things to discuss.

Many of these discussions took place at MRI Ascend, our annual users conference that recently wrapped up in San Diego. In the long tradition of sharing life experience and insightful stories around campfires, attendees gathered around a “campfire” at the conference and talk openly about some of the challenges they’re facing, opportunities these challenges present, and to gain perspective from fellow visionaries on what tomorrow might hold.

Two hot topics at the conference included centralization in the residential real estate sector and data utilization for both residential and commercial properties.

Why centralization and data?

Data: The real estate industry post-pandemic remains difficult to predict, and with new variables like AI, a new generation of renters, and an unsteady commercial environment, organizations everywhere are taking closer looks at how they can better leverage the assets they have to stay ahead of the curve. Two assets in particular, employees and data, were driving topics of conversation.

Centralization: In the multifamily industry, a practice called centralization (re-allocating available resources of knowledge and manpower) has gained lots of popularity. Proponents believe this method of centralizing their onsite teams can help improve efficiency and deliver better business results for all internal and external stakeholders.

These two subjects together form a clear picture of an industry seeking to best leverage all the resources at their disposal in the most efficient and effective ways possible.

Experiences with centralization

One conversation around the campfire included details on some of the common areas that can be centralized, the key benefits of centralization, difficulties that have come up in

implementation, and challenges that keep different businesses from adopting this practice.

Regardless of their individual experiences, most attendees agreed that centralizing multifamily organizations can make it easier to train new hires through a more structured curriculum and can also blunt the impact of employee churn. By training up teams to be specialists in one or more areas of focus, businesses can make it easier to educate new hires on standards and best practices without having to train them on the specific ways in which your onsite staff handles their unique workflows.

· “It’s definitely one of those things where everyone has their own system, even if it’s not trackable or efficient. But we need something auditable. It’s a culture shift!”

-MRI Ascend Attendee

The main draw of centralization has always been its ability to streamline necessary onsite operations and cut down on “task switching,” which is estimated to lower productive time by nearly 40%. The following are just a few areas where attendees said they’d seen centralization work:

• Resident services team
• Resident experience team
• Maintenance response teams

But for every change to a business process, some challenges will arise. Several attendees brought up their experience with negative reactions from inside their organizations.

· “People can get set in their ways, and onsite teams are not always excited about giving away the control they’ve grown accustomed to having.”

-Attendee

Whether or not to implement centralization depends on many unique factors and needs for every business. Is it right for your business?

Sorting through the data

If there’s one thing organizations on both the residential and commercial side of real estate have in abundance, it’s data. Data can be a powerful tool leveraged to help build value for your business…if you know how to use it. Many of the solutions featured at MRI Ascend revolve around making the most of data, so this topic was on everyone’s mind.

Some of the key focuses were:

• How to best leverage data
• Ensuring data accuracy
• Addressing any outstanding challenges when dealing with data

But how do you prioritize what data needs to be highlighted on a good dashboard? How do you get all the insights you glean from your data into the right hands efficiently? These were just a few questions thrown around the campfire. One thing was clear right off the bat: many real estate industry professions relate to the struggles of making their data more accessible.

Much like the discussions around centralization, people voiced worries that employees are just set in their ways. One even mentioned that getting employees to let go of their own dashboards and adopt the new data sets had to be managed from the top down with a “take away the old toy” approach.

While more insightful data can help organizations accelerate growth and identify new opportunities, many discussions reached the cliche of not all data being helpful data. Sorting through the piles of data to find the gold nuggets of insight is largely where technology like MRI Agora Insights comes in handy.

If there was one major pro tip to take away from this campfire session, it’s that ensuring the data you’re collecting and leveraging is accurate and based on one source of truth. All agreed that static spreadsheets and slide presentations were major hinderances to accurate data.

Whether the conversation revolved around centralization or leveraging accurate data, the simple exchange of ideas, experiences, and connection around the campfire setting at MRI Ascend gave everyone at the conference something to think about and share with their teams when they returned to their workplaces. Learn more about MRI Ascend and contact us today so you’ll be notified when registration for MRI Ascend 2025 opens.