Pay Less 'Productivity Tax': Automate to Innovate in Real Estate

Taxes. They're as inevitable as death, and often just as depressing. As essential as they are, there's an incessant quest to reduce them as much as legally possible. Companies invest considerable effort and resources into minimising their tax bills. In fact, tax advisory services in the UK rake in about £5 billion annually, with the lion's share going to the big four companies, as per IBIS World. Now, what if we looked at certain tasks in the same light?

Think of boring, mundane tasks as a 'productivity tax'. Tasks like cleaning up unstructured data, sifting through heaps of information for that one golden nugget, and compiling exhaustive reports of new build pricing. They're not the glamorous jobs that real estate professionals dream of. They'd rather be earning fees. However, these are the tasks that keep the business humming. So, like taxes, you grit your teeth and get on with them.

But hang on a minute, why aren't real estate professionals putting the same effort into reducing this productivity tax? Isn't it high time to stop leafing through the metaphorical phone book and embrace the speed dial of automation?

An ABBYY survey carried out by Opinium Research in 2020 found that UK office workers waste approximately 40 working days a year on routine tasks that could be automated. The situation is even grimmer for senior decision-makers, who squander almost two hours a day, adding up to 54 working days a year.

Imagine the potential. What could your top talents achieve if they had an extra 54 working days each year? The numbers are tantalising.

Here's a crucial point to consider. The benefits of tax planning are limited by legislation and raw figures. However, productivity gains from automation aren't just additive, they're multiplicative. They compound, they grow, they amplify over time. It's like a snowball effect, but with less cold and more gold.

There's an intriguing imbalance in the real estate industry's affinity for innovative tax planning, spanning SPVs, SDLT and Capital Gains, compared to the investment in innovation and automation. It's time to ask a pressing question: Can you afford to continue postponing the inevitable shift towards automation? Because, just like taxes, automation is becoming a necessary part of the business landscape. Don't wait till it's too late, start reducing your 'productivity tax' today!