Written by Kate Kupriienko
The Proxet team had an inspiring and productive week at Realcomm 2025, engaging with innovators, partners, and clients in conversations that will surely shape the future of real estate technology. Beyond the good conversations, a key point kept coming up: the challenge of getting real value from data.
As Dmitry Orlovsky, Proxet’s technology architecture guru, highlighted a central topic in our discussions was how hard it is to organize data so it's both easy to see and usable on a large scale. Many firms want useful dashboards and reports, but they often skip the important first steps of properly organizing and structuring their data. This can lead to a lot of time wasted redoing things and fixing problems.
The data challenge: why insights stay out of reach
We heard directly from attendees about the real-world impact of data challenges. Organizations, whether they're new to data work or have been doing it for a while, often run into big difficulties in getting useful and relevant insights:
- Disconnected data systems: Many find it hard to create connected data sets. Pulling information straight from different sources into reports, without any steps in between, makes it very tough to build reports that work well and can be scaled.
- Fragmented visibility: Even with many specialized software solutions, a lot of companies said they didn't have a full view of their operations. This points to data being separated and missed chances for combined insights.
- Limited staff: With small teams or individuals carrying heavy work loads, a common problem was simply not having enough people to do the necessary data work. This often made them interested in finding outside help with specific skill sets to build up their data and analytics capabilities.
- The "garbage in, garbage out" reality of AI: There's a lot of excitement about trying out AI, but often without clear business goals. Putting messy or unreliable data into AI models or Large Language Models (LLMs) will always lead to bad results. Without properly structured, categorized, and trustworthy data, AI remains just an experiment – hard to use across the whole company.
- Performance bottlenecks: Some organizations find that even after upgrading their data platforms, they still face challenges with how quickly their reports or analyses can run. This shows an ongoing need for experts in data management and specialized teams.
The truth is, creating a systematic and organized way to handle data platforms and products seems to be a challenge for pretty much everyone.
Solving the "backwards equation": value first, tech second
Proxet shared with many booth visitors what we call the "backwards equation" of advanced tech.
As Dmitry explained, the question of value from advanced tech is both simple and complicated. It's simple because you shouldn't put effort or money into advanced tech if there's no clear benefit. But it's complicated to figure out that value right away. Business leaders are often too busy and can't focus enough on the detailed requirements. This can lead to disappointment when IT implements solutions that don't fully match what was expected.
A best practice approach flips this around: start by looking at your business problem. Instead of talking about cutting-edge technology first, thoroughly understand your specific business challenge. What real impact do you want to make? How much money do you need to save, or how much more revenue will you need to generate? Once you put a number on that value, then you find the right technology solution. It might be a simple low-code software product, or it might need advanced engineering. The main point is that technology helps achieve a clear, valuable business goal. Read more about how we’ve done this for our clients.
Community and connection: celebrating progress in proptech
Beyond the detailed talks about data challenges, Realcomm was also about making connections. A big thank you to everyone who joined us for the Proxet-hosted dinner on Monday – it was a great chance for in-depth conversations and networking (and a lot of laughter). And of course, the VIP party we co-hosted with our friends Cherre, Dealpath, and Cove was a ton of fun and a perfect way to celebrate progress in proptech!
Proxet is motivated by the shared effort to improve data management for the real estate industry with smarter, more effective solutions. We look forward to continuing these important conversations and helping organizations build the data capabilities they need to succeed in the changing world of real estate technology.
See you at upcoming built world events! (For more information visit us at proxet.com/real-estate)
