With a little help from our friends: the rise of partnerships in PropTech

There’s no doubt that we’re currently in the age of the customer. Not only are they savvy and empowered – they know it too. And because of that, any company claiming to ‘do it all’, so to speak, will almost certainly compromise on the quality of product or service provided.

To counter this we’re witnessing an increase in strategic business partnerships across the board, regardless of sector. According to a report conducted by KPMG, 49 percent of Proptechs expect to collaborate with an existing or new supplier to develop their technological innovation capability. Doing so ensures that your service has a unique edge on competitors, and guarantees that every touchpoint of the customer journey has been catered for.

As such the need for open and connected technology is paramount. Technology stacks are one example of an answer to this – made of multiple layers, they act as a gateway for external information sources and enterprise systems. These are particularly important in PropTech, where selectively linking with best-of-breed partners is crucial to help build professional networks, enhance your offering, and thus offer clients an end-to-end solution. To date, Qube, An MRI Software Company has established in excess of 140 partnerships with a combined global client total of 6600. Recently, Qube has partnered with a sustainability consultancy and software provider, as well as an AI-powered data extraction platform. The latter will speed up and streamline our processes and is timely, too – with the impending IFRS 16 standards promising to radically alter the way in which we measure, present and disclose leases.

Software that facilitates effective partnerships

Of course, when you partner with another business it’s not as simple as a signature on the dotted line. In tech, it’s crucial that software has the capability to integrate with third-party providers. Any technology worth its mettle will be created with this in mind, and all interfacing applications can be changed or upgraded independently of one another. This makes integration relatively easy, and any customers or partners therefore have the flexibility to keep their technology up-to-date whilst minimising the cost of uptake for software upgrades.

The primary method of achieving integration is by using open or public Application Program Interfaces or ‘APIs’. The cornerstone of interconnectivity online, APIs facilitate an accessible network by allowing external parties easy access to a proprietary software or service. As such, PropTechs can expand their partner bases without having to develop any niche software. APIs can be beneficial in multiple ways – namely, in the exchange of transactional data. However, an API is equally useful for communicating any data to or from a system, such as credit ratings, property valuation indexes, and customer information.