What appraisers told us during PROVADA: it’s not about technology, but about time
During PROVADA, we spoke with dozens of appraisers, financiers, and other real estate professionals. Naturally, topics such as digitalization, AI, and software came up regularly. Yet, one thing stood out.
Ultimately, most conversations were not about technology. They were about time.
Where is the most time lost?
Almost everyone recognized the same challenges in the daily appraisal process:
- Gathering information from various sources.
- Checking and double-checking data.
- Correcting errors that occurred earlier in the process.
- Manually transferring data between systems.
These are tasks that are necessary but contribute little to the substantive quality of an appraisal. They primarily consume a lot of time.
Digitalization is not an end in itself
When digitalization is discussed, the emphasis is often on new functionalities or innovative techniques. But in practice, it turns out that professionals find something else important.
Not more possibilities. But fewer actions.
The greatest gains are achieved when recurring administrative tasks disappear. This ensures that information is automatically available, data only needs to be entered once, and checks run more smoothly.
More room for expertise
An appraiser adds the most value through professional knowledge, analysis, and judgment. Not by retyping data or gathering documents from various systems.
That is precisely why, at KATE, we continuously look for ways to automate repetitive tasks. Not because technology is interesting in itself, but because it helps professionals focus on the work where their expertise truly makes a difference.
Digitization should support the process, not make it more complicated.
Where is your greatest time saving?
Every organization has processes that have developed over the years and now seem self-evident. Yet, it is often precisely those recurring actions where the most time can be saved.
The question, therefore, is not which new technology you can deploy, but which step in your appraisal process is currently still taking up unnecessarily much time.
We received that question remarkably often during PROVADA. And perhaps that is the most important lesson from all our conversations.