Like all UK industries, property is impacted by COVID-19 and the effect of the lockdown on the way it works. But despite this ‘new normal’, we cannot ignore our sector’s other key issues. For property managers the lockdown has shone a light on the way we use technology as never before. This exponential growth is driving the ethical issues around privacy, data harvesting and function creep further up the agenda.
In response, today the Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM) publishes the third part of its 2020 Tech Insight programme. Data ethics: plotting a roadmap for the new frontier is a white paper focusing on the challenges now being faced by residential property managers and the wider property sector, as they seek to harness the benefits of digital technology to add value to service delivery and the customer experience.
The IRPM brought together a group of leading industry experts to discuss the way in which data is now being used in residential buildings and the ethical questions this raises for the property profession. How can we better regulate and manage that technology to ensure it is used in an ethical way while still giving homeowners and renters quick and easy access to the digital revolution that is transforming all our lives?
The white paper captures this conversation, highlighting the ethical challenges now being faced and sets out next steps for the property management profession.
Key points are that:
- Property management firms must be alert to function creep. Conversations with software providers must include questions around data harvesting and re-use.
- Property managers must be alert to the triggers for data misuse and ensure that staff are aware of ethical best practice within their own businesses.
- Development of property-purposed professional ethical standards is a priority for the industry.
To address these challenges, the paper pinpoints the need for:
- A platform for tech and software providers, end users and the property industry to come together to discuss data ethics.
- Cross-industry collaboration will be needed to determine what is needed to develop a meaningful framework for data standards.
- Industry engagement with the Real Estate Data Foundation which is connecting cross-sector initiatives.
Launching the White Paper today, Andrew Bulmer, CEO of IRPM said: “We are sleep walking into a data abuse crisis that could seriously damage trust between property managers and residents. The same data that will underpin great customer service and Dame Judith’s Golden Thread is also a fantastic resource to be mined and monetised by the unscrupulous. Managers and software firms need to collaborate right now, so that people’s data is not used against them, with property managers the unwitting accomplices.”
Read the White Paper
