Digital Innovation for Corporate Real Estate Teams

Welcome to my portfolio site to demonstrate the strategic value of low code solutions for improving and automating processes within corporate real estate teams, along with information and links to help others learn.

About

I am a Chartered Surveyor in the UK with significant corporate real estate experience working in both client side roles and for outsourced real estate consultants.

I have become increasingly interested in the strategic benefits of utilising low-code and automation technology to build business tools that increase team capacity, reduce ‘busy work’ and standardise process execution.

This website explores and demonstrates the benefits of digital optimisation through the use of low-code tools in a CRE context. By combining my real estate experience with data and low code skills, I aim to highlight the potential value of developing customised business tools to create efficient and effective digital solutions.

Please do contact me if you would like to know more.

Nick Wombill, MRICS

What is
Low-Code?

Business app development using visual tools rather than programming/coding

Enables app development using intuitive visual platforms rather than full coding from scratch.

An example is Microsoft Power Platform which is included with Office 365.

Suitable for "citizen developers"

Low/no code is a way for ‘citizen developers’ ie. business users with little coding experience, to create applications, without the need for full programming knowledge.

Faster delivery of applications

Traditionally, businesses would buy ‘off the shelf’ software or employ developers to create an entire application based on bespoke requirements.

Low code enables business users to create fast and efficient business tools.

The Benefits of Digital Efficiency

Data

Process

Efficiency

Team Engagement

Data

Process

Efficiency

Team Engagement

My process ...

01 Standardise.

Start with analysing what data you have and what output you need. Identify common standards across teams, departments and stakeholders for maximum usability.

02 Simplify.

Interrogate the data and understand what is critical and what is tertiery. Focus on the important and introduce categorical fields to assist in operations and analysis.

03 Automate.

Capitalise on the simplified and standardised data to automate repetitive, rule driven administrative tasks using non-proprietary software wherever possible. Engage colleagues and encourage continuous feedback for improvement.

The tech I am using...

Microsoft Excel

The OG of business tools. Still widely used and amazingly flexible but sometimes, it is too flexible. Other tools are available that can help package solutions up into an application interface for better usability

Microsoft Power Platform

Power Apps, Power Automate and Power BI are low code development options that non-IT colleagues can develop. If you can use VLookup in Excel, you can use these.

UiPath

Robotic Process Automation promises to remove the repetitive, labout intensive, manual processes that take time but no imagination. Free your teams to do what they do best and create value.

The result.... featured work

Please contact me if you think I could be of value to your team

Automation is achievable using mainstream and accessible software. However, to maximise benefits, it requires thorough analysis, planning and colleague engagement to make digital initiatives a success.