Two REIT Management Companies:
Diverse work styles | A Case Study of Hybrid Work
Hybrid Work x REMETIS: Practical Case Studies
Remote work became popular in the wake of the novel coronavirus.
Even as face-to-face business is returning, an increasing number of real estate firms are pursuing a highly productive work style that is not restricted by time or location through "hybrid work," in which employees work both in the office and remotely.
On the other hand, for companies in the real estate/finance industry, where a vast amount of property information must be shared promptly within and outside the team and business feasibility must be examined with a high degree of accuracy, establishing a new work style that replaces face-to-face interaction is an urgent issue.
In this context, real estate investment management companies A and B have realized flexible and diverse work styles by utilizing REMETIS as their information platform.
Information is shared efficiently and analyzed with a high degree of accuracy.
As companies continue to improve their work environments, how is REMETIS being used and how is it supporting the operations of the companies that have adopted it?
The following interview revealed a new side of REMETIS, which is demonstrating its true value in a hybrid work environment.
Problem
・We want to share the same quality and quantity of information and have as high a level of exchange of opinions when working remotely as we do when coming to the office.
Solution
・Smooth information sharing among members who are physically separated from each other
・Conduct advanced discussions using data visualized on a map
-In the case of Company A, a real estate investment management company affiliated with a major financial institution
Company A shifted to a remote working style in April 2020 as a measure to prevent the spread of infectious diseases under a declared state of emergency.
The property acquisition team, which is the department that implemented REMETIS, has also been promoting a work-from-home system for 19 of its 20 employees.
However, the industry still has a strong paper-based culture. While the team was moving forward with digitization, they were still anxious to see if remote work would actually work.
How did REMETIS contribute to the promotion of remote work at Company A's property acquisition team, where a hybrid work style is now firmly established? We asked the system administrator.
Q1 How did you use REMETIS before remote working?
We want to efficiently organize and analyze the property information brought to us every day and increase the productivity of our operations. That is the reason why we introduced REMEIS. We appreciated its ability to centrally manage a variety of information as a platform, as well as its exceptional usability, such as it's ability to automatically capture property locations, plot them on a map, and compare and review information. In terms of operation, one person in charge uploads the property summary to REMETIS. Other members of the team access it to conduct various tasks, including property reviews. Once we started using REMETIS, the workload related to gathering information and creating documents was greatly reduced compared to when we were using Excel.
Q2 How will you use REMETIS after transitioning to remote work?
Our response to coronavirus came just as we were beginning to realize the benefits of implementing REMETIS. However, the shift to remote work did not mean that we changed the way we used REMETIS. Unlike Excel, we can perform various tasks at the same time from our homes, which makes it easier to divide roles, and I feel that it has been very useful for collaboration among remote members. The system is also very easy to use, as we can seamlessly communicate with each other through the browser-based system.
Q3 What is the appeal of REMETIS from a system administrator's point of view?
REMETIS is a system that allows you to easily transition to a remote work environment without having to do anything special. The system allows us to smoothly create an environment that can be accessed from home and since there is no need for local management, our person in charge is not overwhelmed by the need to deal with things in person. This has been extremely helpful in the midst of the need for a speedy response to infection prevention.
I feel that competition in the real estate market will become even more intense in the future. While the advantages and disadvantages of remote work have yet to be properly sorted out, we will also be required to move more efficiently and with a greater sense of speed than ever before. Under such circumstances, I believe that REMETIS will continue to be a reliable tool and I look forward to the release of more diverse information than ever before.
-In the case of Company B, a real estate investment management company affiliated with a major general trading company
Communication is difficult without face-to-face meetings. In response to such old ways of thinking in the real estate industry, Company B has been actively promoting the use of videoconferencing and chat in an effort to improve work efficiency. In response to the novel coronavirus, remote work began in late February 2020. Since the declaration of the state of emergency, an environment has been established in which all work can be done remotely, except for tasks such as sealing contracts and conducting inspections. As a result, hybrid work has been implemented as a part of the work style reform at this point, and the results have been as successful as ever.
Q1 How do you use REMETIS in a remote work environment?
REMETIS was originally introduced as a tool to replace an existing Excel-based system and to streamline the review of new property acquisitions. Its ability to link property information to Google Maps made it easier than ever before to grasp the details of each property. Since its introduction, REMETIS has been used for weekly meetings and property sharing meetings with related departments. Even before coronavirus, the system had already become an indispensable part of the company and that has not changed since the implementation of remote work. When linked to remote meetings, the system is extremely helpful because it allows members at home to conduct high-level property discussions with each other, just as they would normally do.
Q2 What specific benefits do you see in remote meetings?
By sharing the REMETIS screen and checking the information on each property with each other, we are able to have lively discussions, just as we would in a face-to-face meeting. Also, when we were managing properties with Excel, there were many cases where we could not move forward with discussions because we did not know whether a property was under consideration or already under consideration due to input omissions or other reasons. With REMETIS, on the other hand, we can visually recognize at a glance whether a property is "under consideration" or not with red or green marks. In other words, it creates a state in which we can focus on the discussions that need to be held, so we can examine each property more deeply even in a remote work environment.
Q3 Are there any features you particularly appreciate?
The ability to easily register property information and output it in Excel. We have a rule that each property is kept in a kind of management ledger, which is very useful for sharing with superiors and responding to audits. Even if the new coronavirus is contained in the future, I believe that the trend toward remote work will not stop. I think our subcommittees will also start to have a mix of in-house and online participation. We will continue to actively utilize REMETIS to achieve business success while adapting to new ways of working, including remote work.
Postscript
From this interview, we learned that REMETIS is an extremely useful tool not only for improving the efficiency of information collection, but also for remote work and tasks where communication within and between departments is important, such as discussions for highly accurate property reviews. The real estate industry is under pressure to break away from conventional operations based on face-to-face meetings and paper due to the expanding impact of coronavirus. REMETIS will continue to evolve to meet the various challenges of the real estate industry. Please keep your eyes on REMETIS.