Using Technology to Survive in a Slowing Economy

There’s little good news in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ first quarter 2008 Korpacz Real Estate Investor Survey. The report, which notes that “bleak news reports about the dismal state of the US economy” are everywhere, warns some office markets could weaken significantly in 2009 and 2010 and predicts the retail sector could be negatively impacted by a decline in consumer spending.

So what should commercial real estate companies do now? The report suggests turning to technology. “Companies can capitalize on the slower business climate by engaging their key application users to review the effectiveness of their current application suite,” it notes.

Scott Metro, a partner in the Real Estate Systems and Process Assurance unit at professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, identifies spreadsheet replacement software as a specific area of interest. Metro says many real estate companies are installing sophisticated software to shore up data security and flexibility–and resolve what he calls “spreadsheet overload.” Metro predicts spreadsheet replacement software will become increasingly important to commercial real estate professionals in 2008 and 2009 as they seek competitive advantages in a softening market.