On this unique interview, we sit down with Lance French, Chief Data Officer of RealPage, to discover the progressive strides his group is making within the multifamily housing sector. RealPage, a pioneer in using AI for property administration, lately launched the Lumina™ AI Platform, which guarantees to remodel the business with smarter methods of engagement and administration. Lance gives beneficial insights into the challenges and successes of integrating AI, the way forward for condominium administration, and the important thing methods driving RealPage’s steady innovation. Let’s uncover how AI is remodeling actual property and what lies forward for this dynamic area.
Lance, are you able to begin by sharing a bit concerning the inspiration behind Lumina and what it goals to realize inside the condominium business?
The Lumina™ AI Platform is the subsequent evolution of multifamily innovation due to its means to harness end-to-end synthetic intelligence (AI) with skilled AI fashions that allow smarter methods of engagement, intelligence and administration to assist optimize efficiency for property managers.
It’s essential to notice that RealPage pioneered the usage of AI within the multifamily business over 20 years in the past and has introduced greater than 50 AI improvements to market since 2002. We see Lumina as a technique to gas AI leveraging a knowledge platform that permits operational assist for property house owners by creating smarter methods of administration, engagement and intelligence.
Along with your in depth background in main high-performing groups throughout varied industries, how do you leverage your expertise in AI and alter administration to drive innovation at RealPage?
My expertise working throughout I.T. enterprises comes again to a few core rules of I.T. One is belief – that’s critically essential. We have now to be a trusted associate with our buyer’s information. The second is specializing in what we do nicely and that’s supporting the multifamily business. And the third is listening and ensuring we’re constructing the fitting options that drive worth for our clients.
An amazing quantity of innovation comes from listening to clients and colleagues to be able to construct the fitting resolution. For instance, we heard fraud is a big challenge within the business and it’s costing our purchasers some huge cash. So, we requested, ‘how can we help in this space?’ The reply was growing RealPage Id Verification – Premium and RealPage Earnings Verifcation, two merchandise that seamlessly combine into current platforms that assist detect fraud simpler by way of AI.
As CIO, how do you see AI shaping the way forward for condominium administration and operations, and what distinctive benefits does RealPage’s method provide to the market?
At RealPage, we see the longer term as how you can greatest personalize and digitally-optimize the renter expertise. We’re doing that by making robust investments in information and AI platforms.
The multifamily business calls for a contemporary set of instruments and touchpoints that not solely removes friction for residents and enhances their expertise, but in addition matches seamlessly into the property expertise platforms that operators, property employees and leasing groups use at the moment to assist residents and handle the enterprise.
Our clients have extra information out there to them now than ever earlier than.We might help them use that information to supply a greater expertise for renters, whereas on the identical time, being extra worthwhile. One distinct benefit we have now is OneSite. OneSite redefines the resident expertise and delivers strategic benefits for property managers, together with value-add concessions, diminished operational prices and full integration inside one resolution.
One other benefit is the requirements that we preserve at RealPage, whether or not that’s the effectiveness of our mannequin, whether or not it’s defending our information, whether or not it’s our governance physique, it’s on a regular basis and energy put into structure.
And the way in which I’ve talked about this prior to now is, in case you had been to present recommendation to individuals which are consuming AI is to carry your different suppliers to the identical customary that we’re holding RealPage to. And in the event that they’re not, then it is best to ask the query why?
As a result of AI is highly effective, but it surely’s additionally out there to dangerous actors, and your info may be in danger if it’s not responsibly deployed.
And that’s how we differentiate ourselves from others.
May you focus on any particular challenges you confronted throughout the integration of AI applied sciences into RealPage’s services? How had been these challenges addressed?
With all new expertise, you study from testing how the fashions act and react. Whereas most lately we have now been working to deploy generative AI fashions all through our merchandise, one of many challenges is the place the mannequin will forecast one thing that’s going to occur however then treats the knowledge as a truth which can skew outcomes. We’ve discovered that tone is critically essential to enabling AI to higher interpret what the fitting matter is and what’s out of bounds. From there, we work to coach the mannequin to ensure that tone is known and the way the mannequin can precisely detect what’s out of bounds.
One other problem is organising our fashions in such a means that they’re compliant with projected future laws. It’s arduous to foretell what future regulation will appear like, however we’re partnering with firms which have good perception into how to consider governing information, how to consider governing the fashions that we’ve put in place. We additionally lean on our AI Governance Board for oversight, that features issues like AI coverage, structure compliance and authorized evaluation, to make sure not solely are we compliant at the moment, however that we’ll be 6-12 months from now as nicely.
Within the context of digital transformation, what methods have you ever discovered simplest in managing and mitigating danger, particularly when implementing new expertise options?
Successfully implementing new options all the time begins with serious about how we mitigate danger for our clients. We have now an obligation to guard our clients and it’s one thing we take into consideration each day.
At RealPage which means the alignment of your complete I.T. enterprise group. The CIO, CTO and Product groups look throughout every thing from the enterprise course of and the way it’s designed, to the info. We then have a look at all of the infrastructure, whether or not that’s in our information facilities or it’s with a cloud supplier. We have a look at issues like information privateness regulatory necessities and as we develop options, it’s extra finish to finish and it’s significantly essential when you consider innovation.
If you happen to’re not constructing the fitting resolution to assault an issue, then you definately’re constructing one thing that is probably not wanted on the finish of the day, we tie it again to these structure requirements. We develop iteratively with heavy testing after which validate it on the finish to see if we received the enterprise end result that we desired.
It offers numerous consolation internally to our groups that we’re doing the fitting factor and we’re doing it rigorously. High quality is essential, and it additionally offers confidence to our clients as a result of we thought concerning the issues that might have an effect on the answer, may introduce bugs, may introduce any type of vulnerability nicely forward of the method. And so, we’re seeing actually good outcomes from the requirements which have been in place for a while at RealPage, however extra particularly over the past two years, we’ve doubled down and improved these processes.
You will have a wealthy historical past of working in various sectors similar to transportation and expertise. How do these experiences affect your management model and decision-making at RealPage?
My management model could be very a lot servant oriented, each to the staff in addition to to our clients. What actually drew me to RealPage was the worth construction that our CEO and our government management group put in. It’s very a lot one which I’m acquainted with as a result of it has such a give attention to our workers and our clients and actually treating them as a household. I’ve tried to take that method of getting empathy, working as a associate our clients after which internally, you realize, treating individuals the way in which I wish to be handled has all the time been my model. Equality is essential to me and the way we develop our group. And I feel you may see the outcomes now popping out within the innovation and the assist we’re in a position so as to add to our clients, and admittedly, how we’re influencing this business to be higher.
May you share an instance of a latest undertaking the place RealPage has efficiently utilized AI to reinforce buyer worth? What had been the outcomes?
About 9 months in the past, we deployed our first giant language mannequin, subsequent Gen AI product and it was a assist mannequin for residents utilizing our platform, ClickPay. ClickPay is the place a resident can go in and make a fee. Prior to now, in case you had a query, it’s one thing so simple as ‘hey, I need to change my personal information’ or ‘I need to use a different payment method.’ So, we deployed the mannequin, our new chat, GPT, digital assistant and residents began utilizing the answer. We had been anticipating the mannequin to care for as much as 25%-50% of the those who had been utilizing the chat bot, however as a substitute we discovered the mannequin taking good care of 80% of the those who had been coming in. They had been happy with the reply. They didn’t have to achieve out to an agent. They didn’t need to open a assist case. Now we’re rolling them out throughout our product suite, however that’s one instance the place residents had been the first to make the most of these new Gen AI fashions at RealPage.
Wanting forward, what are a few of the tendencies or applied sciences you consider shall be essential for the way forward for the condominium business, and the way is RealPage getting ready to adapt to those adjustments?
We all know that how we interact and work together with residents will change and we’re adapting to that by understanding how you can ship the fitting message to them on the fitting platform.
We’re assembly clients the place they’re.
As social media evolves, as communication omni channels change, we’re additionally adapting for that and we would like to have the ability to personalize messages on platforms that they like, whether or not it’s textual content, e-mail, even WhatsApp. Modes of communication are evolving and we’re making the fitting investments.
The opposite element is round AI, and we’ve talked so much about it right here, but it surely’s shifting so quick. We’re constructing Lumina in such a means that as capabilities turn into out there, we are able to plug them into this platform and take benefit once more.
You realize, we’re utilizing innovation, however there are such a lot of firms which are innovating, and we intend to associate with them and convey that to the multifamily business.
Lastly, on a extra private be aware, how do you keep motivated and hold your group impressed, particularly within the fast-evolving area of AI and expertise?
Nicely, first I do numerous studying, networking and speaking to specialists and luckily, I’ve had the chance in my profession to develop a reasonably broad community of people. We carry alternative to the desk in and world wide of IT.
There are actually 3 classes we consider our work. You must run the enterprise and that’s to ensure the methods are operating and we’re out there and we’re performing.
We must be continuously bettering, so how can we do issues higher? And most significantly, how can we present up higher for our clients?
However there’s an space that motivates me and it’s transformation. We’re obsessive about innovation. We allocate time to transformation throughout RealPage in all departments. As that exhibits up in expertise, issues like AI turn into entrance and heart, and we give even these workers which are engaged on the run facet of the enterprise and alternative to remodel.
So take into consideration AI.
Sure, we’re delivering to our clients, however we’re additionally utilizing it internally at RealPage to ensure our infrastructure is operating proper to have insights of how we are able to do issues higher to indicate up for our clients. And so, whether or not that’s infosec, whether or not that’s constructing enterprise purposes, whether or not that’s simply operating the enterprise, we carry that mindset into our groups and provides them a possibility to roll up their sleeves and expertise fingers on.
And we see that chance actually driving numerous enthusiasm.