Real I.S. AG has been looking into the opportunities of digital innovations for our customers, our business model and our employees for many years. The target of our digital transformation strategy is to make our processes even more efficient and further improve the data and document management. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a central element – not as an end in itself, but as a tool that creates measurable value added for our company and our customers.
Key is the involvement of our staff. Employees can make suggestions, including via a digital repository for ideas. These are carefully considered. What value added does the idea generate? How much work and what costs are involved? Is there a robust business case for it? Once these questions are answered and areas of application are prioritised, we begin the implementation process. In this way we ensure that we are using AI where it addresses a clear need and enables noticeable progress.
Artificial intelligence in use: taking Immofox as an example
Immofox, our first self-developed AI application, is a good example for the targeted use of artificial intelligence in our investment processes. There was a clear pain point: our investment managers receive many comprehensive real estate presentations. Some years ago, we introduced a tool that automatically captures and collects this real estate data. Today, we have an inhouse AI engineering team. We are aware that with proprietary developments we can improve user-friendliness and quality further. We have succeeded in doing this with our Immofox. The tool reliably analyses comprehensive property profiles, extracts the respective data and transfers the information to the relevant internal systems. The process is simple and smooth: an investment manager receives property details and sends them to a central mailbox. Immofox takes care of the rest. AI captures all relevant data – from the address through the year of construction to the seller’s details and the use class. Even complex information is reliably collected.
Immofox can process property information in all languages needed – definitely a competitive edge in our international market environment. Thanks to the integration in our core system, all details are immediately available to our investment managers. Missing information is automatically marked and can be subsequently added.
Added value for employees, brokers and customers
The advantages are at hand: our staff has more time to focus on value-creating tasks, which enhances the satisfaction of our team members and optimises our work productivity.
Brokers, too, benefit from the tool: feedback can be given promptly. Last but not least, our customers appreciate our professional data management and fast handling times. Immofox not only strengthens our internal processes, but increases our competitiveness and makes us more customer-centric as well.
In addition, the self-developed application brings a high level of flexibility and cost efficiency. The features are tailored to meet our specific needs and can be further developed. With Immofox 2.0 we will go some steps further: the objective is to increase its capability further and broaden its use in the investment process.
Multiple AI projects at Real I.S.
Immofox is just one of many AI projects in process at Real I.S. We, for example, use AI-supported building management in order to optimise the energy efficiency of properties and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We are developing further applications, which will improve our workflows. Among these tools is also a smart document management application. This system automatically creates keywords from documents, assigns them correctly and picks out data, including also documents that are not yet stored in the central repository. We are also working on an AI-based mail distribution system and chatbots that will help us with the handling of key process-related documents, policies, directives, provisions and workflows, in the area of outsourcing, for instance.
These projects are a selection of the projects we are running. Artificial intelligence will play a broader role in our workflows. At Real I.S., however, we know we cannot look at AI as an isolated technology. Instead, artificial intelligence is an integrated part of our overall digital transformation strategy. In this way, we combine automation, smart data processing and human expertise to create true added value. We are unlocking new potential, increase the focus on customers and enhance the efficiency in real estate investment processes and management.