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NAIOP Panel: How Proptech Has Unlocked New Collaboration & Data-Driven Insights

(NAIOP) NYC Presents: Driving Deals: How Top Investors Are Leveraging Data & Proptech in a Highly Competitive CRE Market

The latest National Association for Industrial & Office Parks (NAIOP) panel features Mike Sroka, Dealpath’s CEO, discussing how proptech software like Dealpath has reimagined day-to-day operations for commercial real estate investment firms by unlocking streamlined collaboration processes and predictive, data-driven insights with other industrial CRE leaders, including:

  • Sara Butz, SVP of Black Creek Group
  • Jeffrey Kaplan, Vice President of GCP
  • Timothy Walsh, Partner & Chief Investment Officer at Dermody Properties

Breaking Down Complex Tasks With Powerful, Industry-Specific Software

The commercial real estate world is only starting to catch up to the faster pace of adjacent financial markets like equity investing, but many firms are still lagging behind. As a result, they’re missing the opportunity to easily make informed investment decisions, instead relying on siloed data and scattered documentation. In this panel, you’ll hear insights from top executives at leading CRE investment firms about how Dealpath has helped them to accelerate revenue without increasing their headcounts.

Throughout the conversation, panelists speak about how Dealpath has simplified functions like data entry and lease abstracting, which were previously laborious strains on time and resources. Utilizing a tech-enabled approach eliminates the need for redundant data entry in numerous locations, providing analysts with the time and resources to instead prioritize revenue-generating tasks. 

Accelerating Acquisitions Processes 

Ambitious national and international real estate investment teams need industry-specific digital infrastructure to discuss, review and approve deals, especially in the midst of the pandemic. During the panel, Sara Butz discusses how Dealpath has enabled her investment team at Black Creek Group to seamlessly collaborate on a high-volume pipeline, despite geographic obstacles.

“The collaboration has been extremely key, and that’s what I’m very grateful for in the advances in technology and platforms like Dealpath. We have teams all over the country that communicate together, and it’s critical for us to move on deals and decisions so that our acquisitions team can get out there and be out in the markets making more transactions, while all of the necessary evils of the transaction process can take place simultaneously.”

With Dealpath, Black Creek Group was able to communicate, review documents, manage tasks, and handle everything else involved in the process.

Reviewing Relevant Materials and Simplifying Buy-Ins From Remote Investors

But managing internal review processes isn’t the only challenge that fast-paced CRE investment teams have faced during this turbulent period. Receiving approvals from investors, who may be unable and unwilling to travel to review properties, has been another obstacle. According to Timothy Walsh of Dermody Properties, Dealpath has introduced the structure required to show investors the materials they need to see to confidently approve a deal, rather than pass on an opportunity due to the circumstances. 

Using Dealpath, Timothy and his team were able to review crucial aspects of the property with investors to receive approvals, including:

  • Due diligence
  • Surveys
  • Environmental reports
  • Pictures of the property
  • Aerial images of the property
  • Underwriting

Leveraging Dealpath’s centralized dashboard, Timothy’s team avoided missing out on high-stakes investment opportunities, which might have fallen through the cracks without an organized solution.

Harvesting Data to Uncover Insights And Make Informed Investment Decisions

Jeff Kaplan, VP of GCP, highlighted how Dealpath has driven his firm’s outlook on data, particularly for future investment decisions. Leveraging Dealpath, GCP was able to incorporate business intelligence across all of their units and create internal data tools, which will guide future investment decisions. GCP was even able to identify the now-obvious eCommerce boom, before market analysts picked up on this trend, based on final mile delivery warehouse building data.

“For GCP, data is a bedrock of how we operate. It’s table stakes at this point. Dealpath, Yardi, Power BI, VTSwe’re incorporating business intelligence into all of our business units. These are concepts that I don’t think a lot of groups were thinking about 5 or 10 years ago, and now are almost basic requirements to be able to capture and surface our data. It’s critical to operations, funnel pipeline and things like Dealpath. It’s critical to our ESG, how we track energy usage over time. And even for us, it’s starting to go a level deeper. Beyond capturing our own information that our platform generates, it’s developing internal data tools to inform our own investing.”

Be sure to watch the full panel to learn how upgrading your CRE technology can improve your ability to seamlessly transact in a fast-paced market and eliminate process bottlenecks.

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