Defining a Project’s Criteria for Success

The company will launch a Project which will be sponsored by the CFO, ensuring the project is backed by Senior Leadership and encouraging adoption.

The project will be led by a Project Manager that has extensive real estate experience, Information Systems knowledge and an understanding of Artificial Intelligence, probably from completing this course. We will engage with AI specialists to work alongside the Subject Matter experts as the AI technology is developed and deployed, changing the culture and structure of the organization to have artificial intelligence and data scientists embedded throughout the organization.

The Project team will consist of the Project Manager, Business Analysts with expertise on Artificial Intelligence and Subject Matter experts from the business to work with, guide, and advise the business analysts. This Project team will report to a Steering Committee, headed by the CFO but with also the head of Acquisitions and Asset Management also sitting on the committee, with the Project Manager reporting to the committee on a periodic basis.

The Project plan will be to spend 18-24 months on the project, after the planning stage, embarking on the phases outlined above. Each Phase will contain significant milestones, such as rolling out RPA for Data Entry for the Properties and Funds.

In order to encourage employee adoption, and ensure staff do not simply see this project as a threat to their jobs, the project will begin with a mini-conference of all staff – bringing everyone together to review the project and also to learn about Artificial Intelligence and its potential impact on the business – highlighting the opportunities and addressing the concerns of staff and stressing the to upskill existing employees and providing employees with higher job satisfaction levels as they will spend less time processing data and more time analyzing and reporting on performance. The Project objectives and plan will be presented to all staff, and concerns addressed in a Q&A session. Those that are interested will be offered the opportunity to train on AI and its impact on Business.

It is anticipated that current employees can be upskilled and there will be no reduction in staff numbers, particularly as the growth plan for the organization means there will be more roles to fill, but future growth in employment numbers may be limited.

On a day to day basis, the Project Manager will oversee the project and report directly to the CFO, whilst on a weekly basis the Project Manager will distribute a Project Status document to the Steering committee, outlining (a) what is due to be delivered and their status, (b) what has been delivered (c) any problems/roadblocks/issues which need to be considered. The Steering committee will meet Monthly to go through the project in detail with the Project Manager.

The outcome of this project will be a real estate investment company that has Artificial Intelligence embedded throughout the organization, leading to more efficient processes, more engaged staff and higher returns for investors.

The project will be deemed a success depending on the level of adoption of Artificial Intelligence throughout the organization – by streamlining processes and improving the reporting and decision-making capabilities of the organization, with decisions being made based on automated reporting and in depth analysis provided by staff that are happier and more engaged as their new roles are less administrative and require a higher degree of critical thought. In time this will lead to better investment performance of the underlying assets, greater tenant retention and satisfaction and the company able to manager the growth trajectory in a structured and stable manner.