Lawyer Monthly - August 2021 Edition

However, the industry is clearly changing: 87% of our respondents say they are very likely in the next two years to raise their technology budget. In terms of key hurdles, though, nearly all (97%) of our respondents recognise some degree of challenge posed to the workflows of real estate firms by searching, locating, and managing asset- related documentation. Only 3% see it as no challenge at all. VDRs optimise workflows Virtual data rooms (VDRs) go a long way towards meeting the technological needs of the real estate sector. They were launched around 20 years ago as online versions of the physical spaces in which confidential or sensitive information could be reviewed by authorised parties in a transaction. Today, they offer many new functionalities and provide secure online platforms for accessing confidential documents and managing business processes. They bring efficiency to real estate transactions and even enable management of assets throughout their life cycles. According to our respondents, VDRs significantly optimise workflows: 16% see an extremely positive impact, 48% a positive impact and 32% a moderately positive one. Real estate professionals 69 AUG 2021 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM THOUGHT LEADER ROSANNA WOODS www.drooms.com Drooms GmbH 11-12 Tokenhouse Yard, London, EC2R 7AS Tel: (+44) 207 118 1100 | Email: office-uk@drooms.com Written By Rosanna Woods, Managing Director UK can combine all stages of the entire lifecycle asset management process onto a single platform and transparently using Drooms PORTFOLIO. It requires no additional technologies, which makes it a sustainable and highly efficient solution. Technology is crucial to capitalise on opportunities There is a pressing need for the real estate industry to digitise its processes further. This will certainly enhance the integration and management of ESG principles, but there are other areas highlighted by our research in which it will be crucial, such as AI, dealing with ‘big data’ and connecting systems and information, such as via application programming interfaces (APIs). These issues cannot be addressed overnight, but real estate professionals – including lawyers – should take comfort in knowing that important first steps can be made by applying technologies that already exist, such as VDRs, which facilitate the immediate exchange of data and thus efficient workflows - no matter how large a portfolio is and how many thousands of users are involved. Such tools will be invaluable going forwards to capitalise on all the real estate opportunities that become available, including both asset ownership and debt vehicles. 1 Source: Survey conducted in March 2021 by Drooms. The panel of 225 real estate professionals covers both fund managers and investors across Europe.