| Since the mid-1990s, information technology and Internet solutions have risen to address the inefficiencies in the real estate process—the process of the planning, design, construction, and operations—and consequently have also had an impact on one of real estate's subindustries, real estate investment management. Real estate investment management is the physical and financial management of real estate properties for investment purposes. This dissertation answers the question: how does information and communications technology impact the processes of real estate investment management, what is the value added to the real estate industry, and how should its participants prepare for the future industry ahead?; A comprehensive survey of real estate investment management firms and case studies of industry leaders was conducted to study the impact of technology on their process inefficiencies. The research found that the “value added” of information and communications technology included increases in productivity-largely that of the information intensive stages of portfolio management as one of the investment management subareas. This “added value” is channeled toward the development of additional products and services. Technology has changed information exchange between property managers, investment managers, and clients to an automated effort, freeing time for additional research, more interaction with the investment client, and more assets under management.; With the ongoing evolution of information and communications technologies, resulting in the ongoing integration of the different subareas of investment management (research, acquisitions and dispositions, and portfolio management), clients, and the many surrounding service providers (property managers and brokers), the real estate investment manager will continue to expand its offerings in order to increase competitive advantage. Shifts in time allocation and budgetary spending will allow for this reorganization of real estate investment management to occur. |
