{"id":51471,"date":"2021-12-17T11:28:10","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T11:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yardi.co.uk\/?p=10858"},"modified":"2026-03-11T11:32:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:32:40","slug":"what-impact-can-smart-tech-have-on-operational-efficiency-costs-in-pbsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/en-gb\/what-impact-can-smart-tech-have-on-operational-efficiency-costs-in-pbsa\/","title":{"rendered":"What Impact Can Smart Tech Have on Operational Efficiency & Costs in PBSA?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yardi\u2019s Justin Harley joined a panel discussion at Property Week\u2019s Student Accommodation Conference alongside Richard Skeels from CRM Students, Scott Berry from Fresh and Tim Pankhurst from CBRE who moderated the conversation about what impact can smart technology have on operational efficiency and reducing costs.<\/p>\n

As the industry grapples with tech solutions and the data this yields, there is an opportunity for the sector to turn the data into actionable insights that drive innovation and smart decision making. Pankhurst opened the discussion by asking the panel, what smart tech are we talking about at the moment in real estate?<\/p>\n

\n
\"What<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Skeels replied, \u201cSmart tech for me is something that either drives efficiency or cost within your business. This isn\u2019t \u2018tech for the sake of tech,\u2019 it\u2019s making sure you invest in something that will make a difference. That could either be onsite or it could be efficiencies in terms of head office and Yardi is currently helping us connect some of those different types of tech up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversations at the panel all agreed that smart technology is great for providing additional data about your buildings, your tenants and much more. Berry stated, \u201cSmart tech allows us to improve efficiencies, save on costs, but then on top of that is also customer experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of technology that brings about data, but there\u2019s also \u2018data for data\u2019s sake\u2019. So, it\u2019s almost like a balancing act and making sure what\u2019s been invested actually creates an efficiency in some way, and it\u2019s not just data being there for the sake of it,\u201d Berry added.<\/p>\n

Technology Helps Remove Friction<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Technology allows us to gather data that then helps provide the tools we need to gain analytical insights, real-time information and can assist with business decisions to help reduce costs. Harley explained, \u201cAs the technologist in the room, my take is quite simple. It\u2019s not so much about the technology as it is about the people. It\u2019s the people that give the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the technology needs to do is free up your time \u2013 give your people the time so that they can make the student experience better. \u2018Removing friction is everything about the student experience\u2019 and technology is the tool to remove that friction,\u201d Harley continued.<\/p>\n

Smart Improvements and Measuring Success<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pankhurst asked the panel, who actually leads the smart improvements? Is it the investors, the clients or is it the operational business? Berry stated that students are naturally technologically advanced, so they\u2019re the ones who question us about why they can\u2019t do things or interact in various forms.<\/p>\n

The students are the ones who are using the latest smart tech, so Berry believes it\u2019s the students who are leading the innovations as you need to keep up with the demands of the tenant and stay ahead of the competition.<\/p>\n

By listening to the tenants, you can provide the service they want and expect, which instantly helps to improve your success and hit your KPI targets. It\u2019s the human interaction that solidifies your success rather than just the technology because you\u2019re no longer providing what you believe is right, you\u2019re providing your tenants with exactly what they need. With the use of smart tech, you can then enhance that journey and remove friction to make a greater experience to your students.<\/p>\n

Harley expressed that having real-time data is important as it allows you to instantly see if you need to be doing more or less of something. But he agreed that having those in-person discussions as a team is also crucial as it gives you that opportunity to bounce ideas around together. Don\u2019t just use data for data\u2019s sake, it\u2019s a tool to be used as a base so you can easily measure and assess your strategies, access one source of truth for your reporting and utilise it for making better business decisions.<\/p>\n

Smart technology is a great tool for enhancing your PBSA as it provides you with better insights into your business and can show you where you could start reducing operational costs with advanced data reports. However, it won\u2019t replace the social side of student accommodation as you need to keep that humanised interaction with your students, but it should be utilised to enhance your service to your students, such as with a resident app,<\/a> virtual tours<\/a> or even interactive maps for an immersive experience.<\/p>\n

Book a demo<\/a> and see how Yardi\u2019s integrated technology<\/a> can power your student accommodation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yardi\u2019s Justin Harley joined a panel discussion at Property Week\u2019s Student Accommodation Conference alongside Richard Skeels from CRM Students, Scott Berry from Fresh and Tim Pankhurst from CBRE who moderated the conversation about what impact can smart technology have on operational efficiency and reducing costs. As the industry grapples with tech solutions and the data […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":897,"featured_media":51152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3501,3456,3475,3457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-residential","category-student-accommodation","category-student-housing-en-gb"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYardi Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yardi joined a panel of experts at Property Week\u2019s Student Accommodation Conference to discuss the impact of smart technology on PBSA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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