How data and technology are reshaping real estate decision-making
George Walker is Planon’s Business Developer at Planon Real Estate UK, working closely with investors, asset managers, developers, fund managers and real estate operators across the commercial real estate sector. His work focuses on helping organisations connect portfolio, financial and operational data to support better-informed decision-making.
CRE Herald spoke with George about how data, scenario planning and digitalisation are reshaping investment and asset management decision-making.
“The challenge lies in interpreting and integrating the data into a single source of truth.”
— George Walker, Planon Real Estate
From Historical Reporting to Forward-Looking Decision-Making
CRE Herald: Real estate investment and asset management have traditionally relied heavily on historical reporting. How is the growing availability of data changing the way investors and asset managers approach forward-looking portfolio analysis and planning?
George Walker: We’re seeing a real shift from simply understanding what has happened to being able to understand what could happen next.
Historically, reporting has been focused heavily on performance, valuations, income and other historical metrics. All of that is still important, but investors and asset managers increasingly want to use that information to make better decisions about the future.
What’s particularly interesting is that it’s not necessarily about having more data. Most organisations already have a huge amount of information. The challenge lies in interpreting and integrating the data into a single source of truth. When you can connect portfolio, financial and operational data, you get a much clearer picture of what’s happening and, importantly, what different decisions could mean for the portfolio.
Scenario Planning and Portfolio Resilience
CRE Herald: With interest rates, valuations, financing conditions and development costs creating continued uncertainty, how important has scenario planning become for real estate investors and asset managers when assessing portfolio resilience and preparing for different market conditions?
George Walker: Scenario planning has become increasingly important because we’re operating in a market where there isn’t necessarily one obvious outcome. There are so many variables that can influence a portfolio; for example, a fund manager may want to assess the impact of a 50-basis point increase in financing costs on portfolio returns, compare rental growth scenarios, or evaluate the long-term returns from sustainability investment.
For investment and asset management teams, it’s less about trying to predict exactly what the market will do and more about asking, “what happens if?”
Scenario planning allows teams to test those assumptions and understand the potential impact before making a strategic decision.
Ultimately, that helps organisations build more resilient portfolios and understand long-term goals more effectively.
Turning Data into Actionable Insight
CRE Herald: Real estate organisations now have access to increasingly sophisticated portfolio, financial and operational data. Where do you see the biggest gap today between having the right information and being able to turn it into actionable insights that support better investment and asset management decisions?
George Walker: The biggest challenge is not the amount of data that’s available. It’s what happens to that data once an organisation has it.
A lot of organisations have information sitting across different systems, spreadsheets and teams. Each source might be useful, but when you’re trying to get a portfolio-wide view, bringing everything together can become quite difficult. We often observe that teams spend a considerable amount of time collating and validating information before they can commence their analysis. This presents a significant opportunity; for instance, a team’s objective should not merely be to generate yet another report or dashboard. Rather, teams ought to interpret and connect data to make better-informed decisions.
For me, that’s the difference between data and insight. Data tells you what’s there; insight helps you understand what it means and what you might want to do about it.
The Changing Role of Investment and Asset Management Teams
CRE Herald: How is the role of investment and asset management professionals evolving as they are increasingly expected to combine market expertise, financial analysis, data and technology to make faster, more informed strategic decisions?
George Walker: The role is becoming increasingly strategic.
Investment and asset managers will always need strong market knowledge and property expertise, but they’re now also expected to understand much more information and make decisions at greater speed.
Technology can play an important role in enabling better access to information and giving teams more time to focus on effective decision-making.
If you’re spending less time manually pulling information together or reconciling different versions of a spreadsheet, you can spend more time asking the important questions — where should we invest, where is the opportunity within the portfolio and what risks do we need to address?
Teams that can bring together technology, expertise and market experience will ultimately be able to make better-informed decisions through that combined effect.
Digitalisation Beyond Reporting and Operational Efficiency
CRE Herald: Real estate technology has traditionally been associated with reporting, operational efficiency and process improvement. What do you see as the next stage of digitalisation, particularly in supporting investment strategy, portfolio optimisation and long-term planning?
George Walker: The next stage is about moving from technology that tells you what has happened to technology that enables teams to understand what to do next.
Reporting and operational efficiency are obviously still important, but the bigger opportunity is around making technology part of the decision-making process itself.
That could mean helping investment teams understand different scenarios, assess portfolio performance, model potential strategies or identify opportunities and risks much earlier.
For me, that’s where digitalisation becomes much more interesting. It’s no longer just about automating a process or making something quicker. It’s about how technology can help an organisation make better strategic decisions.
Ultimately, technology should support the expertise that’s already within an organisation and give people the information and tools they need to make those decisions with greater confidence.
Looking Ahead
CRE Herald: Looking ahead over the next three to five years, what do you think will most significantly change the way real estate organisations approach portfolio planning and investment decision-making?
George Walker: We’ll continue to see a move towards more integrated, data-driven and forward-looking decision-making.
The organisations that really benefit won’t necessarily be the ones that have the most data or the most technology. It’ll be the organisations that can connect their information effectively and turn it into something that genuinely supports investment decision-making.
I also think we’ll see AI and automation play a much bigger role, particularly in analysing large amounts of information, identifying trends and helping teams explore different scenarios. However, I don’t think that removes the need for human judgement. Real estate is still a relationship- and expertise-driven industry.
For me, the biggest change will be seeing technology become much more closely integrated with how investment decisions are made, rather than being something that sits alongside the investment process.
“The organisations that really benefit won’t necessarily be the ones that have the most data or the most technology.”
— George Walker, Planon Real Estate
About Planon Real Estate
Planon Real Estate is Planon’s dedicated business line for commercial and residential real estate organisations seeking greater control across the real estate lifecycle. With more than 25 years of industry expertise, Planon Real Estate connects development management, portfolio & asset management, property management and project control to help organisations improve decision-making, manage risk and optimise portfolio performance. By bridging long-term strategy with day-to-day operations, Planon Real Estate enables organisations to stay in control of today while planning confidently for tomorrow.
