‘We’re Bringing Data Out Of The Silo’: How Savills’ AI Initiatives Are Empowering CRE

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a major technology disruptor in the real estate market, and its influence is only expected to grow.

Commercial real estate companies are adopting AI to improve client communications, provide business support, manage assets and more. Last year alone, the real estate sector invested $630M in generative AI, signaling strong confidence in its ability to push the industry forward.  

Real estate advisory firm Savills takes a collaborative, inclusive approach to AI adoption. Savills views AI as a source of empowerment to enhance the industry’s capabilities, not something to be feared, said Sarah Dreyer, chief information officer at Savills North America. 

“AI isn't entirely new to us,” she said. “It's something that we have been using for years. But I'd say that last year is when we dug into generative AI and started introducing some new tools.”

The company pulled together a task force of 12 members from across all areas of the business. This collective effort spurred the creation of several AI initiatives, Dreyer said.

“One of these initiatives involves selecting really great partners and equipping our professionals with some of the best-in-class off-the-shelf products out there,” she said. “Even simple things like meeting recording and summarization technology allows our teams to spend more time participating as opposed to taking constant notes.”

The Savills team also uses a variety of creative and writing-focused AI tools. But Dreyer said one of the most valuable tools to come from the task force has been Savills GPT, a generative AI tool created in collaboration with OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT and its enterprise platform. 

Dreyer said collaborating with a leader in the generative AI space like OpenAI was crucial to reap the benefits associated with this advanced technology as well as protect Savills’ proprietary information. 

“Our goal is to be able to leverage the wealth of data and information we have and be able to pull answers and generate new ideas out of it,” she said. “We’re bringing data out of the silo with this technology.” 

Savills team members can now harness data from its wealth of contracts and other documentation within seconds. The company has also started thinking about how to improve its generative AI’s capabilities while working with clients, she said.

Savills is also combining its own market research with its clients’ portfolio data, including location analytics and key performance indicators, to create a chat tool that allows clients to interact with their data in simple terms. 

“The fact that you will be able to ask questions in very simple terms, search hundreds of different records and get information at lightning speed is really exciting,” Dreyer said. 

Using technological innovations to push the industry forward is something Savills is familiar with, she said. The company’s client-facing technology platform, Knowledge Cubed, has previously won awards for its use of AI technology related to lease abstraction, quickly pulling important information out of documents. Layering in the ability to use generative AI on top of this and let clients “chat” with data is something Dreyer said will be invaluable to clients. 

But throughout all of the different use cases and applications of AI at Savills, there’s one thing that rings true: AI enhances its capabilities to push the industry to new heights.

“Two pillars of our broader strategic plan for North America are differentiation and scale,” she said. “If we're able to harness AI in ways that benefit our clients and ways that our competitors aren't doing, that will certainly differentiate us. It's also going to give us scale because if these tools make our team more efficient, that allows us to cover more ground and grow in different ways.” 

Dreyer said Savills is not limiting the use of AI tools to certain groups within the organization. From advisory to leadership positions, everyone at the firm has the ability to take advantage of these tools. And while generative AI may be something that other businesses have shied away from, Savills’ holistic, experimental approach to generative AI has allowed the business to take steps toward the future of real estate brokerage, she said.

“Even with all of the advancements we’ve made in this space, security is always top-of-mind because ensuring that our sensitive data is safe can be a challenge,” she said. 

Savills vets its AI partners to ensure they meet safety standards, she added. 

Dreyer said keeping up with the fast-paced changes in the AI space can be challenging — even among tools Savills already uses. 

“I get emails daily on a new tool that's out there that I should be taking a look at, or our partners calling us and saying, ‘We've now embedded new AI capabilities into platforms you're already using. Do you want to expand the relationship there or invest more in it?’” she said. “But we can only focus on what makes the most sense for us and our clients.”

Looking forward, Savills will continue to focus on using AI for empowerment rather than replacement, she said. It will also set its sights on training the next generation of brokers, teaching them how to leverage AI to improve their efficiency and creativity.

“We have an amazing program that brings young brokers into the industry and puts them through a rotational training program,” she said. “We started it about four years ago, but this year we were able to provide our first AI rotation where people from the AI task force volunteered to spend time with them.”

Dreyer said the class was taught everything from basic concepts within AI to what kind of tools are on the market. The results of the program were overwhelmingly positive.

“These tools are opening new doors to careers within real estate,” she said. “It’s a fantastic way to bring in a different skill that may not have traditionally been part of brokerage. We’re very excited about what’s to come next.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Savills and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.