So much time — perhaps too much time — is spent looking at spreadsheets and comparing reports and poring over emails. Artificial intelligence — specifically, algorithmic predictive analytics — was the most talked-about technology of 2018 because it can collect, aggregate and organize data efficiently and much more quickly.

“Automation can lessen the administrative burden on real estate investment management,” points out Riggs Kubiak, CEO of Honest Buildings, “allowing investment professionals to focus primarily on creating value rather than reviewing spreadsheets. The most dramatic change will be moving the asset class toward real-time information, providing instantaneous access to asset-performance data versus waiting for operators to report data that will then require aggregation and review.”

As anyone who has been in the commercial real estate industry for a while can tell you, the volume and pace of data available to industry professionals now are o