KPMG’s London base at 15 Canada Square

The report reveals that 58% of respondents from the 188 real estate companies polled have a digital strategy, which is an increase of 6% on the previous two year’s findings. Yet 19% said they have no digital strategy at all.

Some 95%, however, said their business has a designated employee leading digital transformation.

Data has become the cornerstone of the development of many proptech firms and leading-edge agencies. However, only 25% of respondents said their firm has an established data strategy that captures and analyses the right datasets. A full third of those polled have no data strategy.

When asked the extent to which data drives decisions in their business, only 10% said data-led decision making is embedded across their organisation. Approximately 31% said data is available, but that it’s in silos and ad hoc or reliant on the right people to use it.

The report also found that “cybersecurity is an issue of rapidly growing importance”. And while nearly half have a business continuity management plan ready in case of a breach, only 38.4% have conducted penetration testing in their systems and those of their buildings, which are increasingly equipped with vulnerable IoT devices.

Nevertheless, 7 in 10 respondents said they are confident in their businesses’ cybersecurity preparedness.

“In its myriad of forms, proptech is an area that continues to climb the boardroom agenda, especially as competitors begin to demonstrate a competitive advantage through its use,” said Andy Pyle, UK head of real estate at KPMG and chair of the British Property Federation’s Technology Innovation Working Group.

“Having said that, our findings suggest that many players might need to start looking further afield for expertise to fully execute their digital aspirations.”