For IT professionals, managing complex systems and ensuring operational efficiency across departments is a daily challenge. However, one area that often gets overlooked -yet holds strategic value- is real estate IT management and facilities management software. Without a cloud-based real estate management solution, supporting real estate and facilities management (RE/FM) operations becomes a major hurdle, impacting everything from operational costs to compliance and sustainability.
The True Cost of IT Complexity in Real Estate
IT in real estate often results in fragmented systems operating in silos. This lack of smart integration hinders data sharing, process automation, and rapid decision-making, leading to significant inefficiencies:
- Data Silos & Integration Challenges: Real estate software needs to provide centralised data management for lease administration, energy optimisation, and compliance tracking. Without integration, businesses struggle to unify data sources, leading to inefficiencies and duplicate efforts.
- High Maintenance Costs & Technical Debt: Managing multiple legacy systems requires ongoing troubleshooting, security patches, and manual workarounds-draining IT budgets and resources.
- Security Vulnerabilities & Compliance Risks: Many facilities management software applications used by RE/FM teams lack enterprise-grade security and governance controls. IT professionals must ensure compliance with GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and other UK-specific regulations.
- Lack of Scalability & Flexibility: Fragmented property technology solutions hinder the deployment of AI in real estate operations and hybrid workplace management tools. As businesses adopt flexible work models, outdated systems limit agility.
For IT leaders, this presents both a risk and an opportunity. Addressing IT complexity in real estate can improve efficiency, security, and drive digital transformation in real estate.
Instead of treating enterprise real estate management as a secondary function, IT leaders can drive digital transformation by optimising RE/FM systems. Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS), such as Planon for SAP S/4HANA®, enable IT teams to streamline operations, enhance security, and improve cross-department collaboration.
- Unify Real Estate Data: A cloud-based real estate management platform ensures real-time data access, seamless collaboration, and intelligent reporting across IT, finance, and real estate teams.
- Automate IT-Intensive Workflows: AI-powered automation streamlines lease management, space planning, and maintenance scheduling, reducing the burden of maintaining disconnected legacy systems.
- Strengthen Security & Compliance: Enterprise-grade security protocols ensure compliance with UK real estate IT regulations. Role-based access controls and audit trails strengthen IT governance.
- Scale with Cloud-Native Architecture: A modern IWMS supports IT-driven digital transformation initiatives, enabling scalability, agility, and cost-efficient resource management.
How can IT leaders take control of complexity and drive innovation in real estate IT management? Here’s a roadmap:
Audit Your Current Systems
- Evaluate the integration capabilities of your existing real estate and facilities management software.
- Identify inefficiencies, redundancies, and manual processes slowing operations.
Collaborate with RE/FM Stakeholders
- Understand the challenges real estate managers face, from lease tracking to sustainability in facilities management.
- Align IT strategies with business objectives to implement the most effective solutions.
Invest in an Integrated Real Estate Platform
- Adopt solutions like Planon for SAP S/4HANA®, which offer clean core compliance, advanced analytics, and seamless SAP integration.
Leverage Automation & AI for IT Efficiency
- Deploy predictive analytics and AI in real estate operations to reduce IT intervention in routine tasks.
- Improve system performance and data accuracy.
By proactively tackling IT complexity in real estate, IT professionals can shift from troubleshooting disconnected systems to leading strategic digital transformation. Reducing operational costs, improving data security, and enabling scalable property technology solutions creates measurable value for IT teams and the wider organisation.
Are you ready to optimise your real estate IT strategy?
Explore how Planon can help your IT team integrate and optimise real estate management with SAP S/4HANA®.
