Panelists discuss the infusion of technology at RealShare Apartments.

LOS ANGELES—“Technology has increased production for everyone,” Nate Hanks, principal at RealSource said to kick off the 24/7 Tools & Strategies: Tech & Innovations for Day-to-Day Operations panel on day one of RealShare Apartments. The panelists—Matthew Blake, president, CEO and private investigator at Franklin Data; Christian Davis, regional VP at Pinnacle; Kevin George, president and COO of InfoTycoon—deliberated the advantages of and strategies for integrating technology into the real estate industry.

With so many technology options available, Hanks wondered how the panelists were choosing apps for multifamily property management. George said that asking the right questions is crucial in choosing the right apps and technology platforms. “It must start there,” he said. The questions he gave as examples included understanding the user experience, integration and how you plan to leverage the data.

According to George and Blake, adopting new technology is about making better decisions as much as it is about efficiency. However, rolling that out across a company can be challenging and requires a that management learns how to govern it or “you'll be jumping through landmines,” said George.