OrangeTee believes the best way to beat disruption in the real estate industry is to transform.
SINGAPORE, SG, February 20, 2019 – OrangeTee has announced its intention of transforming their business into a TechProp company at their annual OrangeTee Business Conference 2019.
Technologies like AI, robotics, IoT, blockchain, and immersive experiences are changing the basis of competition in every industry, including the real estate industry.
As such, OrangeTee believes that the only way to “future-proof” the business, will be to transform into a “TechProp” company – a term that is probably not heard by many, or even for the first time, not a “PropTech” company.
Steven Tan, Managing Director, OrangeTee & Tie said, “The difference is based on the origin of the underlying organisation. PropTech companies usually focus on narrow functions or segments with high friction level or those under-served by traditional real estate companies. Their aim is to provide a better experience using digital technologies to reduce costs, increase revenue and remove friction.
Hence, many Proptech companies are also the disruptors of our industry. Alternatively, TechProp companies refer to the traditional real estate companies that are able to transform their business by accelerating innovation, building new skills, participating in the ecosystem and disrupting themselves to come out stronger in this digital age.”
Steven Tan further added, “In an era of startups, digital disruptors and online everything, traditional established companies don’t have to take a backseat and get left behind. Instead, they can face and fight the competition, and do things a notch better with their experience and expertise, which fly-by-night newcomers may not have. We have many advantages over PropTech companies, such as our scale with more than 4,200 agents, stronger brand recognition, a wide spectrum of services, reliable partnerships, solid domain experience and expertise. Most importantly, we have the ability to provide personalised services with a human touch. We are confident that our first-mover advantage in digital transformation will give us the edge to become the first TechProp company in Singapore or even the region. If OrangeTee as a whole, as a TechProp company, can continue to add value along the whole customer journey, we will be able to enjoy greater growth and it will be much more difficult for the potential disruptors and competitors to take away our market share.”
New Technological Initiatives
Agent App: Auto-Website
OrangeTee will be launching “Auto-Website”, a potential game changer in the real estate industry powered by technology. Auto-Website will be a key feature of Agent App to help boost agents productivity and performance digitally by allowing agents to launch website(s) in 3 steps. Agents also not limited to the number of website(s) they can launch.
Steven Tan said, “In today’s digital world, the need for agents to have their own website is no longer a want, but very much a need, basically to have their own virtual shop fronts. We understand that it is very difficult and time-consuming for agents build and maintain their own website(s). This new platform feature on Agent App which will allow agents to launch their own project websites in 3 easy steps! The beautiful thing about this initiative is that agents will now no longer need to update their own websites, instead, when the company updates any information on our end, all agents’ websites will reflect those updates instantaneously.
Steven Tan further added, “Of course, we keep the option of customisation open which means that for those experienced and tech-savvy agents, they can still customise the websites’ URL, colour designs and even its content.”
Agent App: NewsFeed
OrangeTee has also launched “NewsFeed”, a powerful internal communication channel within OrangeTee’s Agent App.
Steven Tan said, “In today’s competitive environment, speed and accuracy of information communicated are of utmost importance – That’s why mobile messenger platforms have become increasingly important in our daily lives. Yet, ironically, as there are increasingly more of such platforms available which allow multiple interactions between every individual, much essential information may not be able to prompt required attention or may even be totally missed out along the way. With NewsFeed, agents can now rely on a single source of truth – company will disseminate all critical and relevant information through this feature.”
Platform to platform (P2P) Partnerships
DBS
As part of efforts to reach out to a new generation of digital-first consumers, the partnership will see all property listings and verified reviews of OrangeTee & Tie agents made available on DBS Property Marketplace. ‘OrangeTee Properties’ is a consumer-facing listing portal that hosts all OrangeTee & Tie agents’ property listings, while ‘Property Agents Review’ is the first review portal of its kind by a property agency in Singapore that allows customers to provide transparent and verified reviews to its property agents after every successful transaction. Both listing and review portals will be integrated with DBS Property Marketplace and this will give property seekers on the marketplace more choices and a greater peace of mind when engaging agents.
This collaboration is designed to empower users and to provide for them a holistic customer journey to make smarter decisions on real estate matters. With a carefully designed user interface and experience by DBS for their property marketplace and the additional database of listings and reviews from OrangeTee & Tie, users will be able to plan, search and own their dream home seamlessly.
Steven Tan said, “As technology advances, consumers are empowered to more alternatives which will lead to variations in search behaviours. Some buyers may prefer to search for properties first then looking for bankers to assess their affordability, while there are many who prefers to check their affordability status before embarking on any property search. The collaboration between OrangeTee Properties, our own listing portal, Property Agents Review portal and DBS Property Marketplace will enable consumers to find the right property, at the right price, with the right agent.”
KPMG
OrangeTee transform agents learning with mobile eLearning platform partnership with KPMG in Singapore. OrangeTee will provide the domain knowledge and content while KPMG Business School (KBS), the flagship executive education institute of KPMG in Singapore, will provide the eLearning platform, which will be integrated within OrangeTee’s Agent App by 2Q19. The partnership will digitise OrangeTee’s classroom Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses into eLearning to support its agents with on demand and continuous learning to stay relevant in Industry 4.0. For everyday users (agents) of OrangeTee’s Agent App, this means significantly more effective training time and increased productivity. Instead of going to their office premise to attend seminars and courses, the collaboration with KBS will allow real estate agents to access digital eLearning material anytime, anywhere.
As this is an industry-first initiative, OrangeTee will identify CPD courses (CPD) to be hosted and taught via the eLearning platform after accreditation from the Council for Estate Agencies is obtained.
Steven Tan, Managing Director, OrangeTee & Tie said, “As we have limited time within the day, agents should as much as possible focus their time and efforts on providing high value, high touch, high personalised service for consumers. Of course, constant learning and personal development is very important for agents to achieve that kind of high service standards. As such, if we can help agents to learn on-the-go, at their own pace and whenever they have any spare time on hand, without the need to come back to office to attend courses or seminars, that will be an ideal situation for them.”
Irving Low, the Head of KPMG Business School said, “The KPMG Business School is delighted to partner OrangeTee to digitise their learning content. This is a collaborative effort to develop a strategic range of highly practical courses that are easily accessible and critical to the professional development of their agents. In line with the Real Estate ITM, we envisage this digital offering will help OrangeTee’s professionals remain competitive and relevant in their industry, equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge to handle rising consumer expectations and the industry transformation.”
TADA
OrangeTee will be working with MVL Foundation Pte. Ltd. (Mass Vehicle Ledger, MVL), the company behind blockchain-based ride-hailing application TADA in Singapore, to empowerOrangeTee & Tie agents to enhance their customer service capabilities.
Through this partnership, OrangeTee & Tie agents will be able to enjoy TADA’s ride-hailing services through Agent App, giving them access to TADA’s 28,000 vehicles, where they can book a ride for themselves or their clients, e.g. concierge service for new projects show flats or open houses.
Steven Tan said, “Customer service is an integral part of how our agents go about their business. With access to the TADA platform through Agent App, agents can provide better customer experiences by conveniently hailing a ride for their customer to a property for sale. They can also call for a ride themselves easily through the app which they are already doing work on, saving much valuable time in the process.”
Kay Woo, CEO of MVL said, “MVL is committed to improving the mobility experiences for all Singaporeans, and this partnership will help benefit the OrangeTee and Tie agents in their daily work, allowing them to do their jobs more efficiently. This will also allow our drivers to have an additional opportunity to receive ride bookings.”
