Learn how to go head-on with the disruptors

Like it or not, almost every business sector is being impacted by the digital disruption wave and traditional businesses have to undergo digital transformation in order to keep their businesses running, including the real estate industry.

“As we know, information technology (IT) has changed the way we do business as well as how we lead our lives. In the real estate industry, some even dare say that in the next 10 to 15 years, there may not be any real estate agents and negotiators anymore,” says Lim Boon Ping, this year’s Malaysian Annual Real Estate Convention (MAREC‘17) organising chairman.

“No one can stop the advancement of technology. I think the best we can do in this industry is to learn how to harness it in order to facilitate transactions and increase the turnover rate.

“I don’t think real estate agents will be replaced, because at the end of the day, [property] buyers and sellers still require the human touch,” Lim, who is also the training and development director at Kim Realty and the national vice-president of the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA), adds.

Themed “Transforming your real estate business in a changing era”, the sessions at MAREC‘17 can help real estate agents and negotiators cope with the digital disruption wave, Lim tells TheEdgeProperty.com.

The annual convention is organised by MIEA and will be held on March 3 and 4 at Setia City Convention Centre, Shah Alam, Selangor.

Speakers at the convention will share on how to overcome and manoeuvre through the disruptive era — where businesses are being digitalised — in order to keep the real estate businesses up and running. Some of the discussion topics include “IT start-ups: friends or foes?”, “New trends in property development”, “Implications of augmented and virtual reality in real estate” and “Crowdfunding in Malaysia and how property agents can benefit from it”.

Lim notes that the speakers for the two-day convention are made up of players from various industries, including people who are running digital start-ups such as Celcom Planet Sdn Bhd senior manager for seller and strategic business division Bernard Lee, CoAssets Ltd CEO and cofounder Getty Goh, Smart Financing CEO Gary Chua and ExaStrata Solutions Sdn Bhd CEO Adzman Ariffin.

Other speakers include Impetus Alliance Advisors managing director Datuk Seri Michael Yam, Eco World Development Group Bhd divisional general manager Datuk Hoe Mei Ling, Leveragelab Sdn Bhd founder and CEO Jeevan Sahadevan, William Yap Training Coaching and Services founder and trainer William Yap, Zerin Properties founder and group CEO Previndran Singhe, JLL Malaysia managing director YY Lau, Savills Malaysia executive chairman Datuk Christopher Boyd, Khong & Jaafar Sdn Bhd managing director Elvin Fernandez, Harvest-Time Properties Sdn Bhd principal Sue Ding, Arborland & Co principal Datuk Seri Gavin Tee, National Association of Realtors president’s liaison to Malaysia Yin Bihr, Hartamas Real Estate Sdn Bhd group managing director Eric Lim, Asean Real Estate Network Alliance head K Soma Sundram, Homefield Real Estate Sdn Bhd director Munirah Mohammad, Mapleland Properties Sdn Bhd real estate negotiator Julianna Teh, Insitute of Estate Agents Singapore principal lecturer and educator for real estate courses Harry Yeo and MIEA president Erick Kho.

The guest of honour will be deputy finance minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong.

According to Lim, this year’s convention targets to attract not only real estate agents but also real estate negotiators.

“For the past few years, our main target has been the real estate agents, but this year, we will pay more attention to real estate negotiators as well. So you will see that some of the topics have been skewed towards increasing the knowledge of negotiators,” he offers.

As of now, over 200 registrations have been received. Tickets for the convention are priced at RM799 for MIEA members and RM899 for non-members.

For more details on the convention, go to http://miea.com.my/marec17.

This story first appeared in TheEdgeProperty.com pullout on Feb 10, 2017, which comes with The Edge Financial Daily every Friday. Download TheEdgeProperty.com pullout here for free.