Due to the coronavirus pandemic and remote working conditions, any business looking to adapt to new challenges has had to embrace new technologies. This led to the need to train employees and establish remote work policies that had never been used before.

Of course, this type of transition is never easy for a company to bear. In real estate, for example, companies are expected to quickly adopt new tools and maintain an online presence. But these same businesses face a number of hurdles in becoming fully remote-ready businesses.

Related: Real estate lags far behind in tech. Here’s why and how to fix it.

1. Slow adaptation period

This is a common challenge for different companies trying to innovate quickly. Real estate companies have always been slow to adapt to new technologies. However, technology has won out as solutions have become much easier to adopt. Thus, commercial real estate companies are able to introduce new technologies into their processes and continue to innovate. Although technology is changing rapidly, real estate companies must learn to adapt quickly and not be afraid to spend additional capital to do so.

2. Implement technology and understand how to use it

You can invest in the most innovative and powerful software, but it will only have an impact if your team adopts it for daily use. As a leader, you will need to dedicate time and resources to ensure that your business understands the software and uses it for all necessary purposes.

Another issue with technology adoption is identifying software and systems that are compatible with individual devices and work styles. Some employees may get used to their previous technology pack, and switching to a completely different pack can be distracting or even affect productivity. Video tutorials are a common need in such cases.

Additionally, there are technological solutions, such as those that allow home buyers to conduct their own viewings without a real estate agent. These technologies save buyers from having to pay someone to drive them. For small businesses and small businesses, this type of app can be detrimental to business. Their employees should focus on creating a personal touch.

For larger transactions, the outcome is often positive as it reduces the number of hours required for both parties to reach an agreement. Keeping the balance of technology use with the customer for the right duration helps close the deals.

Related: The Shift from Physical to Digital: Technology is Transforming the Real Estate Ecosystem

3. Work with clients accustomed to paper-based workflows

Real estate companies process a variety of different documents and in high volumes. “Old school” clients may ask you to print out all the necessary paperwork and drive them around town to get a signature and close the deal.

Despite the fact that some of your customers find it much easier, these old-fashioned methods of closing deals can end up costing your company too much money and time. Informing clients about new opportunities should be standard practice for real estate companies. You can simply call the clients or send them letters and video tutorials that explain all the steps they need to follow to perform the necessary actions on their end successfully.

4. Lack of face-to-face communication

One of the biggest disadvantages is the loss of personal contact with a person when going online. But the introduction of technology does not necessarily mean the abandonment of human relationships.

Building the ideal process not only means that established interactions with a team are comfortable, but also that new team members quickly understand different interaction scenarios. Any serious business success is due to the interaction and collaboration of many people. Live communication allows you to achieve mutual understanding much faster and understand the desires of employees. When working from home, each participant in the process knows enough about their tasks, but they may not know anything about the context in which that task was created. And it’s this lack of task context, business life context, that is the main problem of a distributed team.

Daily meetings, where literally anything can be discussed, are a great solution. When everyone understands who is working on what, there is a sense of commitment that is necessary for team building and success. Brief reports on each team member’s personal accomplishments help build this cohesion.

5. Coordination with technical teams

When it comes to implementing new solutions, real estate professionals are dependent on their technical teams. IT should be involved early in the process to ensure that the business chooses the right tools that meet its requirements and integrate with the existing technology stack.

Collaboration with the IT department will ensure a fast and quality implementation as well as the adoption of the necessary software and tools.

Related: 5 Tech Myths the Real Estate Industry Needs to Bust

6. Motivate and stimulate the growth of remote employees.

For new team members who are just beginning to get to grips with the new processes and have been on the job for less than six months, expectations don’t always coincide with reality. Low motivation and lack of growth can even show up in small things, like working remotely with more experienced team members or using new communication tools. The list of issues looks like this:

• Lack of new experience: A person is tired and wants to grow by taking on new and more complex tasks.

• Small note: In a remote team, an employee has a bright mind and great ideas, but isn’t active enough or may not be as noticeable, which ultimately saps motivation.

• Lack of communication or communication problems: There are people for whom good communication within a team is important, even from a distance. If a team is too small or made up in a way that a person doesn’t like, for example, very specific internal etiquette is expected, this causes a person to “check”.

• The status does not correspond to the skills: As a developer develops their skills, their current salary and area of ​​responsibility may no longer be satisfactory. The question is complicated by the fact that this type of assessment does not always correspond to the immediate reality.

The only way out is proactivity on the part of the manager, team leader or other supervisor. You need to chat with team members to understand their wishes and come up with new career challenges, improve internal processes, and assess each employee’s contribution in a timely manner to drive their growth.

Going remote takes a lot of patience, openness to new experiences, and a willingness to face challenges. After all, you get so much more than just a remote team. You get a fully established remote system that saves you time, money and hassle while helping to grow your business and introduce new opportunities for employees and customers.