GAGAN SINGH, CHIEF EVANGELIST – CULTURE, ANAROCK PROPERTY CONSULTANTS PVT LTD AND SANGEETA PRASAD, GROUP CEO, RUNWAL GROUP IN A FREEWHEELING CONVERSATION DISCUSS THE CHANGING SCENARIOS IN THE REALTY SECTOR FROM PEOPLE TO TECHNOLOGY.
Opening the conversation Gagan Singh pointed out how digital has revolutionized the realty sector in the past two years especially. “Infact India stood out as a country that embraced digital whole-heartedly. We were way ahead of other countries,” she said.
Sangeeta Prasad concurred, “Human beings are the most adaptable species. During the uncertain and unpredictable times of Covid, digital became the pivot for real estate. However, the world around us has been going digital for a while. Let me just step back and say digital is not just about sales and marketing, digital is also about construction and how you manage your people. It’s a catalyst enabling us to become more prepared, more ready and serve the customers. Most importantly for the young leaders, when you think digital, think organization, processes, people management.”
YOUNG GENERATION LEADING REAL ESTATE SECTOR
Talking about the mindsets and behaviors of the younger entrepreneurs and professionals in the sector Gagan Singh expressed that with the younger generation coming in the sector, the whole approach is changing. “The youngsters are bringing in so many ideas and technology. The bar has moved up significantly since I joined real-estate. It’s becoming an aspirational industry to come into.”
According to Sangeeta Prasad “The young professionals are smarter and more aware of the world around them than the older lot in many ways. It is for the organizations to leverage that by being agile and flexible. As a leader how do I bring in more potential, how do I encourage youngsters both at the partnership level and people level? And that means how do I create an ecosystem? If we don’t do this as leaders, we will become obsolete.”
THE AGE OF DIGITAL
The experts agreed that digital technologies are redefining customer behavior. As Gagan Singh mentioned, “Realty firms are using Artificial Intelligence to understand the consumption patterns and target individual customers from a broad spectrum segment for their product offerings.”
Sangeeta Prasad considers digital and physical interactions to be Ying and Yang. “Today’s customer is not just looking at the product, they are looking at the experiences. While we are using digital to be more accessible & responsive to the customer, the people too need to be trained for being accessible and responsive and listen to the customer.”
HANDLING CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Gagan Singh expressed, “We have got so much to learn from the younger generation. But, for some in the organizations, keeping pace with the fast changing world is difficult, creating resentment. Special efforts have to be made to bring them along and help them grasp the changes. And this handling of change in a sensitive manner has to come from the top management.”
Sangeeta Prasad added, “One needs to start from oneself. Keeping track of changes in the industry, the systems, processes, of what’s happening around and have the humility and consciousness to understand that. There are innovators, there are early adopters and then there are followers and there are laggards. The seniors have to be generous enough to learn from the next generation and the younger generation mature enough to take the learning from their seniors.
“LETTING THINGS TAKE THEIR COURSE IS SOMETHING WE NEED TO INSTILL IN YOUNGER GENERATION. ALSO, IT IS NO LONGER THE HIERARCHY RULE IN AN ORGANIZATION. WHILE, AGE AND EXPERIENCE IS RELEVANT, IT IS THE KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS THAT TAKES PRECEDENCE.” GAGAN SINGH
“THE YOUNGER GENERATION IS SELF-ASSURED, AND CONFIDENT. WHAT THEY NEED IS PATIENCE AND RESILIENCE BECAUSE ONE SWALLOW DOES NOT MAKE A SUMMER. WHEN YOU LAUNCH A PRODUCT YOU HAVE TO SUSTAIN IT AND DELIVER IT WELL AT THE END OF THE LIFETIME.” SANGEETA PRASAD
THERE ARE NOW MULTI GENERATIONS WORKING TOGETHER IN REAL ESTATE. GIVEN THE FAST PACE OF CHANGE, THE MINDSETS EVERY 5 YEARS NOW ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. THERE HAS TO BE A GENEROSITY OF LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER. THE REAL ESTATE CUSTOMER’S DEMOGRAPHY TOO IS GETTING YOUNGER AND THEY ARE INCLINED TOWARDS NEW REALTY PRODUCTS AND INVESTMENT AVENUES.
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