Prominent leaders in real estate

DECEMBER 2019 EDITION
Business APAC 2019PROMINENT LEADERS IN REAL ESTATE,
Pg.10
HOW REAL ESTATE CRM
SOFTWARE IS HELPING
REAL ESTATE BUSINESS?
DAVID
MURPHYA PROFICIENT LEADER WITH EXTENSIVE
KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROPERTY MARKET
Pg.30
GREEN BUILDINGS:
ECO-FRIENDLY WAY TO
PRESERVE SCARCE
RESOURCES
Pg.22
CRM SOFTWARE
ASSISTANCE
PRESERVING SCARCE
RESOURCES

Tokyu Land Corporation is a comprehensive real estate company that operates an urban development business, a residential
business, a wellness business, overseas businesses, etc. as a core company of Tokyu Fudosan Holdings Group.
We continue to pursue various forms of action in our quest to create beautiful living environments.

Transforming ourselves into a group
that goes beyond the bounds of physical
frames and develops lifestyles.

Our latest magazine issue, “Business APAC Prominent Leaders in Real Estate, 2019” explores how these
leading leaders are working in different areas and leveraging technologies to satisfy the clients'
requirements. Because of their solutions, the real estate market in the APAC region is growing steadily.
Along with this, we have written interesting articles for our readers in the respective sections: CRM
Software Assistance and Preserving Scarce Resources.
I hope you enjoy reading this issue!
he real estate landscape is considered a legacy sector that has been progressed significantly over the
Tlast decade. Especially in the APAC region, the influx of technology and access to global data has
brought forth new opportunities and trends. Co-living & co-working space along with Paying
Guest (PG) accommodations have taken off in Asia, lending a tech edge to the staid serviced office sector
and promising better returns for property owners. There is consistent demand for these co-working and co-
living markets across this region and they will operate within a stabilized pace of expansion. Furthermore,
flexible lease and buying plans using REITs (Real Estate Investment Trust) have gained traction. In 2019,
Asia Pacific REITs raised a record amount of capital of over US$14 billion, surpassing the previous record
of US$13.8 billion in 2013. Considering these scenarios, it is possible to predict that the future of real estate
is going to be focused on customer experience and engagement.
However, the aforesaid demands are not fully recognized & filled and are run unprofessionally with lower
profitability, which again feeds poor service. This was a huge gap in the real estate market witnessed by the
industry players. To tackle this, the prominent leaders in real estate came up with their innovative solutions.
With their prior experiences and unique approaches, they are reshaping the real estate sector.
IMPLEMENTING MODERN-DAY
CONCEPTS FOR LIVING AND WORKING
EDITOR’S
LETTER
Prominent Leaders in
RE L
ESTATE2019
Deepali Sarwade
Editorial Coordinator

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Archana Ghule
Vikram Suryawanshi
Publisher :
Editor-in-Chief :
Deepali Sarwade
Vidya Joshi
Rakesh Mahto
Shubham Biradar
Balkishan Dalai
Editorial Coordinator :
Vinod Alhat
Sumit Bonage
Art Director :
Graphic Designer :
Anagha Acharya
Vaishali Khandade
Project Managers :
Maria Smith
Jacob Eddy
Business Analysts :
Advertising :
Aakash Mahajan
Vishal More
Head of Distribution& Production :
Web Development & Maintenance :

C O N T E N T S
Deepinder Singh
Rahul Chawla Ratnesh Upadhyay
Manish Gupta
Shrinivas Rao
Balaji Varadharajan
Pg.18 Pg.20 Pg.26
Pg.28 Pg.36 Pg.38

David Murphy
Cover Story
CRM Software Assistance
How Real Estate CRM Software Is
Helping Real Estate Business?
Preserving Scarce Resources
Green Buildings: Eco-Friendly Way
To Preserve Scarce Resources
A R T I C L E S
Pg.10
Pg.22
Pg.30

A comprehensive real estate developer, Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. boasts the leading position in the Japanese market, operating a spectrum of businesses in diverse fields
related to real estate, including an office building business centered on the Marunouchi district in central Tokyo, a retail property business, a residential business and a
hotel business. The Company's area of operations is not confined to Japan; it includes the United States and the United Kingdom and extends to such Asian countries as
China and Singapore.

A Love for People
A Love for the City

‘‘
DAVID
MURPHYA Proficient Leader with
Extensive Knowledge of
the Property Market
Cambodia has been experiencing a booming construction of infrastructures
for the past five years. David's foresight and experience have led IPS,
despite its small company team, to become one of the most credible in the
real estate and property management industry in the country.
alling in love with Cambodia, the first time I visited in 2006, I
came back in 2009 with a vague idea of doing business. After a
few weeks of my arrival, I was using agents to find a house or
apartment and found the whole process unsatisfying.” After this
whole experience, David Murphy created Independent Property
Services (IPS) in Cambodia. As the Founder and Managing
Director, David saw the need to have a more professional,
straightforward approach in helping people to find the right
property in this growing market.
f
PROMINENT LEADERS IN REAL ESTATESTORYCOVER
December 2019 businessapac.com10

IPS
Cambodia
engaging
the
future
today.
Founder & Managing Director
Independent Property Services
December 2019businessapac.com 11

IPS and Cambodia. Diamond in the rough
“As a business leader in a fast-moving sector…we are
constantly working on educating our clients and sellers to
help increase their level of sophistication.” David believes,
at the onset, that it is not just about the results but the way
we get the results that have separated and made IPS distinct
amongst its competitors. “I need to manage and lead with
integrity, fairness, and engagement...” These attitudes have
permeated throughout the entire IPS and have produced
steady growth in their business.
Cambodia, with its rich history, is an economy just
progressing since the arrival of UNTAC (United Nations
Transitional Authority in Cambodia) in 1992. Cambodia has
had foreign direct investments or FDIs driving its economy.
Although it's not as big as that of other countries in the
ASEAN region, Cambodia's growth has mostly relied on
investments attributed to different multinational sectors
coming in the country, especially in real estate, both in
commercial and residential properties.
When David went back in 2009, he wanted to prospect for
about 6 months to about a year and maybe build a business.
He created IPS out of his own necessity to experience a
better real estate service. Little did he know, Cambodia was
just starting to recover. Foreign investments then started
pouring the next few years. This environment has led the
growth of the real estate industry and the influx of
multinationals, mostly in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap—the
top tourist and business destinations in the country. David,
with his newly built IPS, has developed his brand of
professionalism and integrity in a realty industry that is
growing rapidly. The credibility of David and the growing
team of IPS grew simultaneously with the nation's
blossoming economy.
When David started IPS Cambodia, the economy was still
on the process of recovering from the global financial crisis.
It wasn't the most favorable of all circumstances. As a
result, David was crushed by the crisis in the country itself.
But that didn't stop him from pursuing IPS since he already
fell in love with Cambodia even before the economy
declined. It seemed a bad idea to form a business under
these circumstances.
“Success happens when opportunity
meets preparation.” -Zig Ziglar
IPS has a unique brand positioning in the market. Its
approach is to develop its marketing capabilities to better
serve all of its clients. With high competition in the real
estate industry, IPS ensures that it has unique strategies and
strong teams, composed of qualified and skilled individuals,
to better market the properties and businesses. “The better a
property is marketed, the more likely that the agents
responsible will receive the inquiry.” It has invested
comparatively heavier on its marketing capability than its
closest competitor. This approach has given IPS the success
it needs and continues to do so.
IPS has offices in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, plus a
division solely dedicated to commercial properties and
businesses. The company also gives valuation and property
management services to the owners of properties. It is
positioning itself to create invaluable services not just to its
clients but to the real estate industry as a whole.
Unique Brand Positioning
PROMINENT LEADERS IN REAL ESTATE

With a young dynamic team consisting of Cambodian
nationals and a few ex-pats from Australia and the
Philippines, the possibilities are endless. IPS boasts a high
retention rate amongst its manpower. “Our internal culture
embraces change and hires from within whenever the
opportunity presents itself.” From that, it has resulted in a
stable and very capable workforce with a continuous
passion to grow.
“We want to optimize opportunities at hand [and be]
focused on the future direction of the business. This will
entail our continued investment in our ability to further our
knowledge, grow our staﬀ, and be innovators in the
industry.” David, who has worked in Project Management
roles before establishing IPS, believes that he should lead
his team by creating a culture of reliability and expertise.
TEAM OF IPS
IPS is a marketing
company that sells
real estate.

Moving Forward
Operating for over a decade in the industry, that
coincided with its 10th anniversary, IPS is not
slowing down. IPS is looking to capture a wider
chunk of the market and look towards strengthening
its capability to adapt to the challenges ahead.
“The year 2020 is about building on our successes
and expanding our market even more”. David
realizes there is still untapped potential for
businesses and diﬀerent properties. “The
commercial property sector has been under-served
from an agent perspective…and so is the Borey
resale market.”

Employer of Choice in Cambodia
“As our business grows, talent acquisition is very
important…due to our standing in the market, we are able to
attract high caliber staﬀ both from within the industry and the
market at large.”
In all of these, David hopes to develop IPS as the “Employer of
Choice” in the Cambodian property industry.
As any company would attest, the success of the company relies
mainly on the strength of its people. IPS, in the last ﬁve years,
continues to grow the number of teams it has and the skills it
develops. It sees no limit to what IPS can do as it initiates a lot
of innovations in the Cambodian real estate industry.
Starting its new decade, David and IPS-Cambodia are keen on
performing better, moving forward and blazing new trails. “In
my own experience, the combination of working harder and
smarter has paid the ultimate dividend; a healthy, sustainable
and exciting business to be a key driver of.”
Historically Borey's have been
purchased directly from the developer,
however, the resale market has been
underserviced. IPS is focused on the
delivery of a Borey re-sale division
throughout 2020. Borey is a resale
market and a very popular home
choice for middle and emerging
Cambodians. The last decade has
witnessed a huge spike in the number
of Borey’s being built throughout
Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
IPS BoreysHaving these underserved sectors in mind IPS launched
two new business components:
IPS Commercial
Good marketing is essential for the expansion of
the market. So, IPS came up with a newly created
market division to present new and existing
commercial properties to the market. The team has
observed that the commercial real estate sector
has been under-serviced from an agent
perspective. The sector comprises an unexplored
potential as more and more businesses look to
expand the operation in the kingdom.
IPS Cambodia,
engaging
the future,
today.
The year 2020
is about
building on our
successes and
expanding our
market even
more.

WELCOME TO
AYALA LAND
ENHANCING LAND, ENRICHING LIVES FOR MORE PEOPLE.
www.ayalaland.com

In an exclusive interview with Business
APAC, Balaji Varadharajan shared
some of the most interesting details with
us. Here are the excerpts.
As a legacy sector, the global real
estate industry has seen little
progress over the last century.
But, with the emergence of new
technology and access to global data,
there has been a rapid growth in product
offerings to accommodate affordable
housing, increase transparency, offer
flexible payment plans and increase yield,
in this decade alone. Moreover, co-living
and co-working have become household
names and flexible lease and buying plans
using REITs (Real Estate Investment
Trust) have gained traction all over the
world.
Balaji Varadharajan (Founder and
MD) of believes that theTheHouseMonk
immediate future of real estate is going to
be focused on customer experience and
engagement. Through technology,
transparency and enablement will impact
all sub verticals from purchasing to
furnishing to rental management. They
foresee that worldwide developers and
community managers will continue to
adopt new marketing strategies and adjust
prices to market rates. In addition, there
will be shift focus from “handover” to
“handholding” using a wide range of SaaS
technology and IoT platforms to increase
yield and promote referrals.
We are also responsible for a large pool of
data that is compiled and computed on by
our AI algorithms.
The team of TheHouseMonk is ingrained
with a principle of “QUID”—Quality of
customer experience, Utility of products
What are your views on the key
challenges in the global estate
technology space?
Team of Experts
Standardized Experience across
Locations
Understanding customer needs and
developing solutions to ensure that a
standardized experience is available to all
customers in different geographies are
some of the key challenges in the global
real estate technology space. Another
redeeming exercise that I strive to conduct
is the horizontal deployment of best
practices in real estate and property
management across the globe and
distribution of transparent information
through reports and guides. Hundreds of
customers and clients in developing
economies have been able to improve
efficiency, cut costs and monetize better
from their real estate assets through the
same.
Tell us something about your team and
the culture of your company?
Providing a Nurturing Ecosystem
Today, we are serving a wide range of
customers such as real estate developers,
co-living and student housing companies,
co-working companies, office and
building management teams, owners
associations, management companies,
property managers, security teams and
many more. Through our technology, we
enable real estate businesses to serve to
their customers better. Our products not
deployed, Innovation at every turn and
continuous Development and
standardization. The lean team is made of
experts in technology and product
management with key focus on customer
success. I intend to keep the team as lean
as possible through the years to come. We
are also trending towards a favorable
female sex ratio and strongly follow a
culture of flat hierarchies and equality.
What are your key roles and
responsibilities as the Founder of
TheHouseMonk?
We believe founders of all successful
organizations try to build a team of
experts who not only execute tasks to
perfection but also contribute on the fronts
of innovation and strategy. That said and
done, we apportion significant lengths of
my time to understand evolving markets,
maintain relationships with our vast
customer base and tie up with industry
leaders to promote a synchronous
ecosystem that helps not just ourselves
but our partners to grow as well.
Tell us something about TheHouseMonk
and what makes it unique in the
industry?
As the founder, my main role is to provide
a nurturing ecosystem that enables the
team to outperform existing versions of
them and align themselves to the
company’s goals.
Advanced Machine Learning
Capabilities
Balaji
Varadharajan:
New Age Solution Leader with a
True Passion to Solve Problems
businessapac.com18December 2019

only cater to the management teams of the
same, but also to every employee and
every customer of this interlinked web,
thereby creating highly connected
communities and spaces. What makes us
unique is that we don’t believe in
constraining ourselves to English
speaking economies. We are proud to be
the only organization which provides truly
customized and comprehensive products
to the Co-living industry including
capabilities like white-labeling which
helps them improve their customer
experience while advancing in the fronts
of branding and marketing as well. We
have also inculcated advanced Machine
Learning capabilities into our offering,
which can help our clients streamline their
operations and bring efficiency.
Pioneers of the Idea of a Unified
Technology
Tell us something about yourself? What
inspired you to start your journey in this
industry?
I was always fascinated by the evolution
of technology and business ecosystems in
the past three decades. A true passion for
implementing new age solutions to solve
problems and improve efficiencies in
legacy industries started to creep in my
early 20s, when I realized that these
companies were looking for light and easy
to implement products to improve their
management and reporting structures and
I was put in charge of the same.
market are key before jumping into any aspect of
business—whether sales or development.”
Give B2B customers what they “Need” and give “B2C”customers
“I always stress on an important aspect of product development-
what they “Want”! Research and understanding of the
Between 2012 and 2014, professional
engagements called for constant
relocation across the region. At this
juncture, I took a step back to observe the
process of finding a property, inspecting
the same, getting documentation in place,
negotiating, moving in, availing services,
tracking movement of employees and
visitors, making monthly payments,
requesting for assistance and interacting
with the community, only to find that
almost 97% of these activities were
completely offline with no centralized
system in place to collate all information
pertaining to the same. Not only was there
a loss of information at every stage, but I
incurred mounting expenses to
successfully accomplish these tasks. This
sparked the idea of a unified technology
powered platform that not only manages
contracts and data but also the nitty
gritties of property, asset, security,
accounts and community management.
Conquering the Challenges
What are the challenges you and your
company are facing right now?
For us, the most challenging part is in
aiding clients to recognize the vast
capability of the platform and utilize all
relevant systems. To conquer this issue,
we have modularized the product with an
array of micro-products in place and have
also implemented integration capabilities
so that clients may pick and choose
solutions truly relevant to them at that
particular time and space.
Leading towards Diversification
Please elaborate how are you planning
to overcome these challenges?
Addressing the Customer Distresses
What are the key milestones you have set
for your company for the year 2020?
Challenges arise in making sure that “all”
the solutions provided by us are translated
to end users through the demographic
range. Continuous training and
development of our client counterparts are
key in ensuring maximum utility. Zonal
Customer Success teams have been
deployed to ensure that customer
distresses are addressed in the shortest
possible time frames.
For the next year, we have planned to
launch our products in 9 more countries
with marketplace and subscription
capabilities which will cater to end
customers globally. Also, internally, we
have targeted a million daily users with
‘0’ customer complaints—a feat that
hasn’t been achieved in the real estate
space so far.
Words of Wisdom
Balaji Varadharajan, Founder & MD | The House Monk
businessapac.com 19 December 2019

India is a very promising market
with a booming economy, new
building deployments, and
customers who are aware of and
open to new technology.
Traditional building control systems
are reactive and respond to errors
after they occur, making frantic
attempts to correct temperatures and
In a marketplace like India,
misconceptions about cost is
preventing the adoption of new
technologies. This demands an
increase in awareness about the
benefits of new age technologies,
such as IoT that improve efficiency
and reduce costs in buildings.
Between 2019-2027, the global
Building Automation & Control
System (BACS) market is estimated
to grow at CAGR of over 12%.
Factors such as improving quality of
life, booming industrialization, and
fast growing awareness about the
benefits of BACS are driving this
growth.
To further enhance our
understanding, our team at Business
APAC interviewed Deepinder. Here
are the extracts.
lux levels to the desired levels.
Today, Building Controls is a
healthy growing market with huge
potential for deep innovation in its
automation and management layer
involving transformational
technologies such as Internet of
Things (IoT), data analytics, cloud,
and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
While there are many players in the
Building Controls sector, there
really are none that provide the
entire stack – from the hardware, to
the software to the building
intelligence systems, to the data
analytics to the user interface.
However, , a company founded75F
by Deepinder Singh offers an IoT
powered solution that not only
improves occupant experience but
also saves up to 50% on energy, and
enhances productivity and cuts
down installation time.
Proactive System Rebalancing the
Airflow
Quest of a Problem Solver
My journey was inspired from a
personal experience. Few years
back, when my then one year old
daughter was moved to her room in
the house in Minnesota, US, she
would get disturbed because of the
sudden temperature changes in the
room. In Minnesota, where the
outside temperature would be -30
Celsius the discomfort was quite
prominent.
What inspired you to start your
journey in this industry?
The thermostat which was in the
master bedroom didn't take account
of the temperature differences in
different parts of the house. In a
quest to fix this problem, I
developed the algorithms that
considered temperature variances
and heat loads in different parts of
the buildings. I realised that the
problem applies to many other
buildings and I wanted to make sure
that everyone has access to
equitable, comfortable temperatures,
thus, the company 75F was born.
Please tell us about your company
and the unique services you offer?
75F, based in Minneapolis makes
buildings energy efficient and its
Deepinder
Singh:
Innovative Solutions For Building
Controls

productive. In an industry that is
traditionally been slow to innovate,
75F is all set to disrupt building
controls forever. Under my
leadership, the company has
understood that every building is
dynamic and hence its control
system should be dynamic too. It
has harnessed the power of Machine
Leaning and cloud computing to
create smart HVAC and advanced
lighting solutions that predict,
monitor and manage the needs of a
building. The company has a
predictive system. Its smart
algorithms model allows the thermal
envelope of the building in
occupants comfortable and predicting the heat loads based on
the weather, angle of the sun,
occupant preferences, etc. With over
1.6 million lines of code, 75F's
model can send precise instructions
to the system to proactively
rebalance airflow and keep ahead of
temperature drifts.
Create, Invent, and Play
Can you tell us about your
company culture and your team.
How are they contributing to the
company growth?
Our team grew incredibly last year,
doubling to a headcount of 125 in 3
countries. We are a group of diverse
individuals working together
determined to solve the global
energy crisis. We are united by a
belief in sustainability and a desire
to break free of tradition.
At 75F, we like to create, invent and
play. We are dedicated to
discovering new solutions to old
I think in the next 5 years, people
will be managing their devices,
transportation, medication & even
their environments in a highly
customized, sustainable manner
with gestures or by their mere
presence, as per stored preferences
& getting customized data analytics,
anytime, anywhere. 75F sees itself
at the forefront of delivering this
capability. Recently, we have set up
our office in Singapore and are
looking forward to making more
buildings in the South East Asian
region more energy efficient and
comfortable. We are also targeting
to open an office in New Delhi in
2020, expanding the operations and
reach in the Indian market. Over the
next few years, we will also focus
on established key verticals such as
IT/ITeS, healthcare and hospitality,
in all the metros.
As planning is a must for any
organisation, what do you plan for
the future?
problems and are a fast-rising tech
startup with a fun, flexible, team-
based environment. Our employees
are empowered to make a difference
within the company and for our
customers, shaping our future with
innovative ideas for smart building
solutions.
Mission 2020
MM2019businessapac.com 21
Deepinder Singh
Founder | 75F
December 2019

AFFORDABLE &
CLEAN ENERGY
GOOD HEALTH &
WELLBEING
DECENT WORK &
ECONOMIC GROWTH
INDUSTRY, INNOVATION
& INFRASTRUCTURE
SUSTAINABLE CITIES
& COMMUNITIES
RESPONSIBLE CONSUMP-
TION & PRODUCTION
Eco-friendly Way To Preserve
Scarce Resources
22
CRM SOFTWARE ASSISTANCE
December 2019 businessapac.com

CLIMATE ACTION LIFE ON LAND PARTNERSHIPS FOR
THE GOALS
Green construction is heavily growing in developed
economies such as the U.S. and some parts of Europe by
rapidly outpacing conventional construction. The green
contrsuction is also needed to be regulate and to do that
green building certi ication was introduced. Green
Building Certi icate is a letter of certi ication which is
needed to prove that the building actually build in
accordance with green codes. Green building rules and
regulations continue to be developed and adopted that
seek to push the standard of building design and
construction to new levels of sustainability and
performance.
Environmental As Well As Socio-Economic Bene its
with Green Buildings
Let’s understand, what is green building? A 'green'
building is a broader concept of modern construction
which in its design, construction or operation, lessens
negative impacts, and can create positive impacts, on
our climate and natural environment. These buildings
not only preserve precious natural resources but also
improve our quality of life. Across the globe, several
countries and regions have a variety of characteristics
such as separate climatic conditions, unique cultures,
and traditions, diverse building types, and ages, or wide-
ranging environmental, social and economic priorities –
all of which shape their approach to green building.
Irrespective of the approach green buildings are meant
to reduce the bad in luence on human wellness and the
natural environment by ef iciently using energy, water,
and other resources, protecting people's well-being and
enhancing performance by reducing waste, pollution,
and environmental degradation.
Real Estate Going Green
As per the prediction made by Green Building Impact
Study, the green construction would account for more
than 3.3 million U.S. jobs in 2018. This number makes
up more than one-third of the entire U.S. construction
sector. Although much-associated energy ef iciency with
higher costs, green building construction now attributes
increased economic bene its over those that lack green
qualities. These bene its include lower operating
expenses, higher occupancy rates, and increased resale
value. All of these factors contribute to builders and real
estate buyers “going green.” For developers interested in
commercial and multi-family properties, implementing
Buildings are a major energy-consuming sector in
the economy as it requires about of35 to 40%
total energy during construction. The signi icant
consumption of energy in buildings is during
construction and later in lighting or air-conditioning
systems. This consumption must be minimized. Possibly,
this should be limited to about 80-100 watts per square
meter. Along with that, the industry is producing the
second-largest amount of demolition waste and
greenhouse gases which counts almost 40% of the total
emission. The environmental impact of these buildings
over their entire life cycle is very damaging. Ground
cover, forests, water, and energy are eroded while
constructing buildings.
All the activities involved in the construction of
buildings are polluting the environment and increasing
greenhouse gases. And nature might not tolerate any
more degradation in the hands of man. To bring a
positive change that will bene it both the environment
and the sector we might need to switch to green
buildings.
23 December 2019businessapac.com

Real Estate Sector Needs To Provide Sustainability
sustainable business practices can achieve longevity in
the future market.
Green Building Council is an independent, non-pro it
organisation made up of businesses and organisations
working in the building and construction sector.
Members of GBC work to advance green building at local
capacity, as well as uniting with other Green Building
Councils of the world to achieve environmental,
economic and social goals on a larger, global scale.
Obstacles Hindering the Greener Path
The lack of public awareness is still among the main
obstacles in developing the green building market,
especially in emerging countries. In terms of awareness,
one of the most commonly lacking aspects is a grasp of
the short term cost versus long-term bene its of
mainstreaming green initiatives. Due to vested interests
in renewable energies, political support for the green
initiative in real estate is not able to gather momentum.
The idea is still to reach the masses as it is con ined to
luxury homes and buildings in the major cities.
Despite all these roadblocks the green constructions aim
to achieve sustainability by integrating techniques and
materials that conserve natural resources and improve
environmental quality throughout a building's entire
life-cycle. Green building concepts represented
measurable and often marketable bene its. It not only
reduces life-cycle costs, but also decreases the risk of
liability during construction operations, occupancy,
renovations, and disposal or disassembly at the end of a
building's useful life. Another factor that makes the
concept of green building more suitable for modern
needs is enhanced marketability due to improved
energy ef iciency, lighting, comfort, and indoor air
quality.
Sustainable Living has gained signi icant importance
owing to the mindset change among environment-
Changing Landscape and Universal Demand for
Green
Green building design is not just a faddish practice. It is
a completely diﬀerent process of development that
considers not just one entity's end goal, but rather the
environment as a whole. Considering the needs of
various ecosystems in our design processes is the irst
step in moving away from burdening our environment
and toward integrating new designs within an already-
existing ecosystem. In short, green buildings are a
design and consumption practice that promotes the
economic health and well-being of society and the
environment.
conscious individuals. The rapid degradation of the
planet and resulting in ill-eﬀects on the environment has
sounded alarm bells globally. The call for sustainable
living has come about due to rapid urbanization and the
cities turning into concrete jungles. The fast depleting
green cover and open areas have given way to high rises
and concrete blocks. There has been a growing concern
among people to protect the planet from self-
destruction. Real Estate developers need to work
cohesively towards building a sustainable future for the
coming generations as well.
According to the study conducted by the Energy
Information Administration of the US, shows a visible
trend across the globe. The growth rate in the total
consumption of energy is being greater than the
population growth rate. One of the major objectives of
green buildings is to reduce the consumption of energy
and stop the degradation of the environment.
Today's societal landscape has created more demand for
green buildings than ever before. The anticipation of
severe climate change, a developing universal
awakening to the detriments of fossil fuels, and greater
value on lessening our economic and environmental
footprint are increasing interest in sustainable design
techniques. This has given rise to innovation in this
sector, which is rapidly evolving.
24
CRM SOFTWARE ASSISTANCE

APPENTUS
TECH NOLOGIES
Appentus Technologies is a leading mobile app and Web Development Company with
branches in India, UK, USA and UAE. With a team of dedicated technology experts,
creative designers and quality software developers, our company is renowned for
meeting up with the needs of clients who desire top class products and services.

The residential tenancy market is
dominated by agents who let
out the property and take no
responsibility thereafter. There is a
shortage of service providers who
engage with property owners over the
long term and provide end-to-end
services like finding tenants,
maintenance of the property, managing
entry/exit of tenants, ad-hoc services
such as Property tax payment, Khata
transfers, etc. Apart from this, on the
co-living side of the business, currently
majority of the Paying Guest (PG)
accommodations are run
unprofessionally and with lower
profitability, which again feeds poor
service. This huge gap in the real estate
market did not go unnoticed by Manish
Gupta (Co-founder and Director) and
his partners.
The three Co-founders, Manish Gupta,
Shital Kumar Bhagat, and Senthil
Sundaram came together to found
Easyleases Technologies Pvt Ltd. to
provide property management solutions.
They believe that by improving basic
hygiene factors, providing additional
amenities and utilizing technology, one
can not only provide a better experience
for the PG guests but also improve the
overall profitability of the PG. Manish
further asserts, “Co-living space is a
1Bn $ market with a few players
operating across India. There is huge
potential to tap this market by providing
differentiated living at affordable price
points.”
Further dwelling into the industry
aspects, Manish Gupta answered our
questions targeted towards the current
real estate market scenario and shared
his insights. Here are the excerpts:
Providing High Quality, Managed
Living Solutions
Can you elaborate on Easyleases
Technologies, and what makes it
unique?
We felt that there is a significant gap in
comprehensiveness, transparency,
property owner focus, and execution
excellence in the way property
management solutions were being
delivered. Hence we came together and
found Easyleases. Easyleases is a DIPP-
recognized, tech-led start-up, in the
Property Management Services (PMS)
and Residential Leasing Solutions
space. We address the gap as an end-to-
end PMS provider with a relentless
focus in fulfilling property owners’
needs and expectations, whilst
providing high quality, managed living
spaces for tenants.
Yes, after a lull in residential real estate
demand during the last few years, the
residential market is poised for rapid
growth driven by the various
government initiatives, rapid
urbanization, and rising household
income. Each year almost 10 million
people are migrating to cities. In
addition, there is a multi-fold increase
in FDI, REIT and PE investments.
We commenced our operations in
Bangalore in 2018 and have since
expanded to Ahmedabad. My partners
and I collectively have over 50 years of
experience across marketing,
technology, sales, finance and
management in companies such as
Microsoft, Accenture, Karvy Wealth
and others.
Has the residential real estate market
experienced any change over the last
few years?
Within the residential sector, there is an
increasing demand for Property
Management Services from individual
property owners. The 30 Million-plus
strong NRI population has a clear need
for a trusted partner to manage their
properties back home. Then there are
senior citizens unable to manage their
properties and senior working
executives having limited time and
bandwidth to manage their properties.
Act As the Custodians of the Property
Entrusted
I have also observed an exponential
demand for quality PG and Co-living
accommodations driven primarily by
students and young working
professionals. This sector is gaining
widespread prominence and has
resulted in new rental models.
Residential Sector Positioned For
Rapid Growth
Manish
Gupta:
A Passionate Professional Providing Unique
And Growing Demand For Property
Management Services In Residential Rental
And Shared Living Spaces

As a leader in the real estate industry,
what are the added responsibilities you
deal with?
I personally believe that we need to act
as custodians of the properties entrusted
with us by the respective owners. We
need to go that extra mile to take
responsibility for the property
maintenance, vetting of tenants prior to
placement, making sure rent is collected
& deposited on-time, anticipating &
minimizing vacancies, etc. At the same
time, as a Property Manager, we need to
ensure the safety and security of the
tenants living in the facilities managed
by us.
Leading technology initiatives
As a co-founder of the company what
are your key roles & responsibilities?
As one of the three Co-Founders, I lead
the technology initiatives for the
company. This includes strategy and
roadmap planning, as well as enabling
innovation and scale to support the
company’s growth aspirations and
market demands. As being part of a
tech-led start-up, my team needs to stay
grounded to make sure we cater to
today’s market needs whilst also
thinking about our roadmap &
innovations – for instance, the
Easyleases Tenant App enables tenants
to view & make rental payments within
the app, raise service requests, extend
Engaging a professional property manager will, in the long run,
Hence, HNI’s should seriously consider diversifying their
Investment in firms in this space would yield high returns.
save you money, time and effort so do consider property
management services for your rental properties. The real boom in
residential PMS services and Co-living space is yet to take off.
portfolio by investing in companies in this space.
lease, etc. – without even having to
make a call.
Can you elaborate on your company
culture and how important is it?
Never compromising on core
principles
Transparency & fair business practices
are at the core of our company’s DNA.
Our intent is to grow rapidly but
responsibly, never compromising on our
core principles of offering transparent,
property owner-focused services and
execution excellence. Whatever we do,
we want to make sure that it ties up to a
customer need or aids in solving a
problem that our customers face. To
conclude, we are a lean start-up with no
layers/hierarchies and we use our
resources efficiently.
My other two colleagues drive the
company’s Sales and Marketing efforts,
while we work closely on the aspects of
business development, business
strategy, people & growth.
Enhancing the technology platform to
the next level
What are the challenges you are facing
and do you plan to overcome them?
Currently, our focus is to fiind the right
partners and the right talent to help fuel
our business growth. We have begun
Words of Wisdom
Manish Gupta, Co-founder & Director
Easyleases Technologies Pvt Ltd.
What are the key milestones you have
set for your company for the year
2020?
our search for the right partners for
equity funding, and expect to close our
initial round in the next few quarters.
We will be leveraging this to acquire
new properties in the co-living space,
hire quality talent and enhance our
technology platform to the next level.
In the current financial year, we
witnessed healthy growth in our PMS
business in terms of the number of
managed properties & rental
collections. In addition to this, we also
launched new co-living properties. For
the next 3-5 years, we have set
aggressive growth targets for our
business. We will use the year 2020 to
strengthen our foundation and as a
springboard for growth. Our target is to
have 600+ individual properties under
PMS and over 3000 co-living beds by
the end of 2020.
Strengthen Foundation, Springboard
Growth

Please tell us something about
yourself and why did you chose this
industry?
A Serial Entrepreneur with
Successful Startups
Rahul Chawla, the
Founder and CEO of
In4Velocity had an
interview with Business APAC
about his journey and how he is
addressing the issues of the dynamic
real estate market. Rahul shares,
“We as leaders have the
responsibility to run clean, value
creating businesses that can provide
service or product at the highest
level of quality. I have seen too
many a time, especially doing
business in India, companies will
use dubious means to get a deal or
expectations will be set incorrectly
in a transaction (knowingly) which
will never be met from the service or
product provider. This eventually
leads to the failure of a deal, loss of
time, money and confidence.”
In4Velocity was my first product
company even though I have
already started several ventures
during my career. After selling my
previous venture, I was investing in
real estate because I was very keen
to get into something that was more
niche. At that time, one of my
friends, who is a real estate
developer, was fed up with trying to
implement standard “branded
products”. Then, we discussed the
possibility of building something for
the real estate industry. The building
process for such a highly specialized
product for this dynamic industry
was probably the most challenging
thing I had ever done.
Ever since I was young, I have
always been an entrepreneur at heart
and gradually discovered a passion
for creating and starting something
new. At an early age, I got interested
in software and tech and wrote my
first commercial software at the age
of 13 for my father’s printing
business.
A Leading Player in the Real
Estate Market
How will you define In4Velocity?
With over 400+ customers in 14
countries, In4Velocity is a leading
player in the real estate property
development and construction
software market. The software we
offer is unique as it covers what we
call “the Buy side”, the “Sell side”
and the “Inside” of any real estate
developer’s business functions. It
works seamlessly for real estate
developers, contractors, and
property managers and is probably
the only software anywhere in the
world that is so extensive that it also
provides software for our client’s
customer. Currently, we are working
across geographies, languages, and
tax systems in different countries,
thereby making us unique.
Building a Strong Professional
Team
Tell us something about your team
and culture.
At In4Velocity, we have an open-
door policy and share every idea
with each other. The core values of
the company are embedded in each
and every employee. These core
values are SPIRIT denoting
Sincerity, Passion, Integrity,
Respect, Impact, and Trust. I have
always had the philosophy that
organizations that need to scale
must have a “divide and conquer”
approach. I practice this approach
Rahul
Chawla:
A Serial Entrepreneur With
Exceptional Business Insights

As a strong team, our biggest
challenge is adapting to new
cultures and ways of living &
working. Most of time, teams have
to remotely support our clients and
travel to their destinations to
implement our software and train
them. Therefore, extensive training,
talking and mentoring are the
approaches we use to prepare all
employees before they get involved
with a client/project in the various
countries we operate in.
Moving Towards A Bright Future
What are your responsibilities as
Founder/CEO?
It is the role of the captain of a ship
to lead from the front and navigate
through bad weather. This is the role
I am playing for In4Velocity, where
we sell right, collect right, deliver
right and develop our software right.
Another important part of role is to
keep my team focused, motivated,
and moving in the right direction.
So, I keep on hiring and motivating
by delegating work to my team and
ensuring that they become
responsible for it.
My advise is that we need to help build better work
environments and ethics, and help build businesses for
the long term that have strong values so that all of
country benefits at the end of it all.
us can benefit, our children can benefit and our
the key people in the organization so
much that I feel I can be in several
places at the same time through my
team. This, in turn, gives us the
scale we need to keep growing and
at the pace we are growing today.
Expanding Client Base
Since the inception, we have grown
from a small 5-10 person company
to over 140 people today, spread
across India and international
locations. Our key goals for 2020
are to expand our clientele base
from the 14 countries to 18
countries. Some of these will be
geographies outside of the South
East Asian and MENA region that
we currently operate in.
According to you, what is the
current scenario of the real estate
market?
Enlist the key milestones that you
have set for In4Velocity?
The real estate market in India
is currently in the midst of
fairly challenging times.
The Market Scenario
Developers have been borrowing
hand over fist to buy land and taking
money out of cashflows to pay for
further funding to buy more land.
Furthermore, with the advent of
RERA, cashflows have become
even tighter as a property developer
cannot get paid unless progress is
made in project development, even
if he has sold units and receives
regular payments. Lastly,
demonetization has sucked out huge
amount of cash from the system. In
my opinion, these events and
situations are negatively affecting
the industry and creating a loss of
confidence in the demand to
purchase houses. This has resulted
in lower cashflows for developers as
a whole. But, I believe that
government’s initiative and
collaboration will help in
overcoming the aforesaid issues in
the real estate industry.
Words of Wisdom
businessapac.com
Rahul Chawla, Founder & CEO | In4Velocity
29 December 2019

oday, recognizing and ful illing the
demands of customers has become an
industry lingo. As technology is evolving,
customers are setting higher
expectations than ever before for
organizations to deliver the inest solutions. As a
result, competition is increasing among organizations
at a steady pace. The real estate industry is one of the
most renowned sectors and is now emerging as one
of the competitive industry. In the last couple of years,
high growth has been witnessed by real estate
professionals due to the rise in the demand for of ice
space and urban and semi-urban accommodations. To
stay ahead of their market competitors, they need to
stay updated with the latest trends & technologies
and adapt it to deliver the best possible service to
their clients.
Having to interact with clients on daily basis, real
estate professionals need an ideal solution that can
manage their tasks as well as store all the information
related to clients. The real estate CRM is the solution
that real estate professionals are looking as it stores
all information related to clients under one roof.
Through this, real estate professionals can manage
their business with minimal wasted time while
enhancing the personalization of their
communications. The software combines diﬀerent
categories such as sales, marketing, and customer
support together, to streamline the processes,
policies, and people all under a single platform. It also
helps to track the conversation with the client,
managing their database, follow-up with them
regularly, etc.
The Need of Real Estate CRM
According to , revenues from CRM softwareGartner
surpassed database management systems to become
the largest of all software markets at the end of 2018.
Furthermore, the report shows thatState of Inbound
13 percent of companies have opted to invest in CRM
as a top sales priority for 2019. The statistics from
Super Of ice reveal that CRM is expected to reach
more than $80 billion in revenues by 2025.
Real estate CRM software allows real estate
professionals to have robust and consistent
communicate with tenants, customers, suppliers, and
stakeholders both externally and internally.
ef iciently. They can use the software for various
operations including generating reports, maintaining
RERA Compliance, executing the tasks, improving
business processes and automated marketing,
streamlining the payment process, etc. Also,
information related to property, clients, transactions
and communication processes can be found and
retrieve easily from the system. As a result, real estate
professionals are able to improve quality and revenue
rates and achieve higher customer satisfaction scores
while optimizing their asset productivity with the
implementation of CRM solutions.
Features to be included in the CRM
Today, in the market, there are numerous softwares
available for the real estate professionals to choose
from. But, the run-of-the-mill CRMs will not be
enough. Customized CRM speci ic system ensures that
the professionals can handle their tasks in more
ef icient, professional and eﬀective manner. Following
are some of the features that need to be included in
the CRM:
Lead/contact management system: This
management system feature allows users to
categorize people according to the referring party,
competitors, leads and clients. They can further split
How
Real Estate
CRM Software
is Helping
Real Estate
Business?
30
PRESERVING SCARCE RESOURCES

this into hot/cold leads, level of satisfaction achieved
i.e. high/low and old/current clients to better manage
their sales and marketing campaigns.
Email platform: Email has been regarded as a more
professional way to communicate with each other.
Therefore, having pre-designed email campaigns,
built-in email templates can reduce the burden of real
estate professionals and at the same time, increase
the customer experience.
List management: The CRM software equip with list
management features allows users to customize their
data to build custom lists based on deals, dates,
oﬀers, events, and commissions.
Mobile capability: Having access to CRM through
mobile allow real estate professionals to view, check,
and retrieve data easily. In this way, they are up-to-
date with latest information.
Integration with other products: The CRM software
should have a seamlessly integration with other
products.
Ubiquitous Access to CRM
Mobile and other devices:
According to , companiesNucleus Research report
using a mobile CRM, 65% are achieving their sales
quotas. While only 22% of reps using non-mobile
CRM have reached the same targets. Statistics from
Forester have shown that 50% of teams improved
their productivity by using a mobile CRM. Companies
oﬀering mobile CRM access do not just increase use
of the software, but also the productivity of the
workforce. Although the use of CRM on a mobile
device is still lower than that from a laptop or
desktop, the rising use from mobile devices and
tablets means that 81% of users are now accessing
their CRM software from multiple devices.
Increase in cloud-based CRM Solutions
The increasing need to access their software from
multiple devices and locations has led to the upsurge
of using cloud based CRM solutions. In 2008, only
31 December 2019businessapac.com

2. Keep a track of the pro iles of their existing
client base.
Bene its of real estate CRM software
5. One can cross-sell the related products based on
the client's data stored in the real estate CRM
system
In inal words
In the upcoming future, real estate CRM software is going
to the most powerful tool that real estate professionals can
use. The overall CRM usage increased from 56% to 74%
has been recorded in the last year. Since the real estate is a
highly-competitive industry, it is going to be very dif icult
for the professionals to survive. Therefore, by adopting the
real estate CRM, they can have competitive edge.
Today, many real estate professionals are attracted to CRM
software because it provides various bene its as well as
helps in managing their business transactions in a far
more ef icient manner. Following are some of the bene its
offered by the software:
Presently, the market is crowded with numerous CRM
softwares which make the task of choosing the best
software quite dif icult for real estate professionals.
Therefore, has compiled a list of top real estateHubSpot
CRM software for the professionals.
12% of businesses used cloud-based CRM which has now
increased to 87%! SuperOf ice has observed that cloud
CRM usage grow from 15% in 2010 to 97% in 2019.
Moreover, in 2019, spending on software as a service
(SaaS) will reach approximately $42 billion and represent
75% of total customer relationship management
(CRM) software spend, continuing the rapid decline of
on-premises deployments.
1. Effective promotion and campaign
management to various sets of prospects and
clients.
4. Offer many strategic advantages such as the
ability to personalize relationships with
customers.
3. Construct a variety of reports and dashboards
that can make the decision-making process
easier for management.
32
PRESERVING SCARCE RESOURCES

To
be a usted leader
in the real estate
sector con ibuting
towards a progressive
India.
To provide customer satisfaction and create value for stakeholders through professionalism,
transparency, quality, cutting-edge technology and social responsibility.

Over the last few years, the real
estate industry has undergone
many changes. These changes
happened due to the various factors such
as RERA, Demonetization, and GST.
Currently, Indian real estate is going
through a flux which is helping it to
transform into a more mature industry.
Also, the fact can’t be ignored that it is
facing a liquidity crisis and many
builders are on the verge of closing
down their businesses. Due to the
downfall in Indian real estate, it is
estimated that only 20-30% of builders
will survive this phase. Further, to
survive and improve the current
situation, builders’ needs to be more
customer-oriented where they need to
focus more on after-sale services. Going
forward, post-sales service will play a
crucial role in the making a builder
successful. Moreover, customer
relationship will be highly valued.
Providing property management services
and renting support to the buyers will
become a must for all the developers.
To further understand the insights about
the real estate industry, our team of
business APAC had recently interviewed
with Ratnesh Upadhyay. He is amongst
one of the exciting new age real estate
industry leader. Here are some of the
extracts.
What inspired you to start your journey
in the Real Estate Industry?
E,g: We see a lot of lead wastage in the
sales process & even in the product
design, we see zero or very little
involvement of the customer class. At
the stage of giving possession, recording
defects and rectifying them is near non-
existent. This leads to dissatisfaction and
poor customer experience.
Being a leader in the real estate
industry, what are the current
challenges you are facing?
I have seen that Indian real estate is full
of wastage and defects. If you look at
any part of the value chain, you will see
a lot of wastage. Today, even the last part
of the value chain, which is about the
sales process and the post-sales services,
is in a very bad situation. But today’s
developers are waking up to the new
changed environment. To overcome
these drawbacks, we work closely with
builders to help them identify these
wastage and defects to enable them to
build better products and sell them at
higher profits.
Identifying the Wastage and Defects
A Journey of Problem Solver
Unmatched Services at Best Price
Real Estate Focused Software Solution
We were the amongst the first real estate
companies who have developed and
launched various real estate focused
software solutions. We strive hard to
What makes your company unique in
the industry?
Lisa Home Solutions is a company that
was started by software professionals for
software professionals. We understood
the problem that one faces while dealing
with local agents and service providers.
Understanding the problem,we have
developed a solution for Hassle-free
renting. The unique feature about us is
that we have built the complete In-house
IT solution.We provide 5 service
packages that are bundled based on the
landlord’s need; From Core Renting
Solutions for entry-level investors to
Total Investor Solutions for Professional
Investors. We provide unmatched
services and at the best price.
Well, I started my career as a software
engineer with TechMahindra and worked
there for 8 years. Working with
TechMahindra helped me gaining a very
good exposure to business processes and
IT capabilities. While I was in the UK, I
worked on the British Telecom project.
My journey in real estate started when I
and my friends who were staying in UK
were trying to fix the property renting
and management problem. A lot of
software working professionals had
brought properties in Pune and we were
facing lot of problems while trying to
rent them and manage them from abroad.
As they say, if we see through the eyes
of problem solver, we can tackle the
problem with ease. This problem led me
to start Lisa Home Solutions to help
people like us who were facing similar
problems.
Please tell us something about Lisa
Home Solutions.
Ratnesh
Upadhyay:
Understanding Through The Eyes
Of Problem Solver

Ÿ We are the first online property
management company established in
2005.
Ÿ First to launch real estate agent
collaboration platform.
Ÿ First to launch property management
app.
Providing More Jobs and Better
Services
deliver on 3 main fronts: Safety of Asset,
Return on Investment & Hassle-free
Management. We have developed some
industry best-practices to serve our
landlords and investors.Here are some of
our unique solutions
Ÿ First to provide online landlord
account.
Ÿ Launched realty360 a builder project
management platform.
Ÿ We launched realtycpapp to connect
agents on an internal network.
Ÿ We launched vendor app for vendors
who work for property management
work.
Ÿ We launched real estate news app.
Can you please enlighten us with your
key roles and responsibilities as the
founder of Lisa Home Solutions?
As the CEO and Founder of the
company, my key responsibility is to go
on increasing the profit of the company
and keep on improving customer service
while improving margins. My other
responsibilities are to increase the
standard of property management
services in Pune by removing the
wastages and defects in the sector. We
work closely with many real estate
agents and even help them to improve
focusing more towards a completely customer
based service.
Going forward, it will change by making small efforts and
Today, the situation of Indian real estate industry is worrisome.
Please tell us about your team culture
of the company and also about your
milestone for the year 2020?
Keeping the Milestone Simple
their business processes. I believe that if
all the stakeholders and players in Indian
real estate work towards removing these
problems from the real estate industry,
we can contribute more towards Indian
GDP and provide more jobs and better
services to homeowners.
To begin with my team, I have a team of
youngsters who believe in our vision of
defect-free and wastage-free Indian Real
Estate. I believe we are a bunch of
energetic and friendly people who are
trying to provide a service that is high
quality, prompt and friendly. Talking
about milestones, we believe in keeping
your milestone simple. We want to
double our profits next year and also add
a few more agents in our network
ensuing both diversity and growth at the
same time.
Quality of Manpower
What are the different challenges you
and your company facing right now?
How are you planning to overcome
them?
I believe challenges are part and parcel
of every organisation and what makes an
organisation different is how you deal
with those challenges. In the service
industry, the most common challenge is
the quality of manpower. Builders and
developers who believe in serving a
quality service to its customers and are
willing to put extra efforts in providing a
better quality services in order to achieve
it will make the difference in the
industry. We are planning to overcome
this via better training and rewards for
the “Customer Champions”
Real Estate: The Biggest Investment
Class
To end this insightful interview on a
good note, we would like to you share
any message or suggestion to our
readers from your side.
I had an amazing time talking about the
real estate industry. To end, I would like
to say that Indian real estate is going to
get better in the coming days. Real estate
is still biggest investment class all over
the world.It has been always a decent
investment class. Right now the
sentiments and confidence are low but
this is just a phase since India still has a
lot of demand for housing. So if you get
a good deal with a reputed developer, go
ahead and buy it. Also, if you need
assistance in managing and renting your
premises, let us know.
Words of Wisdom
Ratnesh Upadhyay, CEO & Founder | Lisa Home Solutions

The real estate industry has
evolved by leaps and bounds in
the past few years. It needs
leaders who can anticipate change and
rise to the occasion, to deliver stellar
client experiences. One such leader is
Shrinivas Rao, the CEO of . AVestian
veteran of the real estate industry,
Shrini was one of the first professionals
to join the real estate services industry
in India and has been a huge part of
shaping the current workplace solutions
environment, as we know it today.
His expertise lies in not just identifying
requirements, innovations, and
improvements needed in the sector, but
also looking beyond the traditional
business models to explore and shape
the future of the organised workplace.
He believes one is never too old to learn
and is passionate about keeping himself
abreast of the latest- so much so that he
has recently gone back to school at
Yale, to get more insights on business
and strategic thinking.
At Vestian, Shrini and his team are
striving to bridge the gap between
people, industry trends, and technology.
In an interview with Business APAC, he
explains his journey with the company
and how he handles the challenges in
this dynamic real estate market. Here
are some excerpts.
Bridging the gap
Please walk us through your
professional journey and why have you
chosen this industry?
I started my career with one of the
oldest architectural firms in India,
Chitale & Sons, where I worked on
multiple projects. This is where I
realized that my passion lies in the real
estate sector and I decided to pursue a
career in this field. During the course of
my early working years and on an
ongoing basis, I closely observed the
challenges that corporates faced while
seeking workplace solutions. The entire
industry was unstructured and
fragmented and not a single firm could
provide integrated workplace solutions
to corporates. I identified this limitation
and played an active role when
organized real estate teams started to
foray into India, to capitalize on the
immense potential and went on to
become a key contributor in
establishing professional commercial
real estate services in India. I was
involved in launching and establishing
businesses of Colliers International and
Cushman & Wakefield in South India
and further went on to successfully
establishing the Asia Pacific operations
of UGL Equis.
What are your key roles and
responsibilities as the Founder/CEO of
Vestian?
Leading by Example
At UGL Equis, I realised that there was
a shift in focus from occupier solutions
to a more landlord service delivery
model. It was at this juncture I decided
to start my own workplace solutions
firm - Vestian. The core focus of Vestian
was tenant representation. I saw the
tenant representative model as a means
to build, scale, provide conflict free
solutions, and build trust amongst
clients. I collaborated with Michael
Silver, a pioneer in his own right, in the
workplace industry and former owner of
Equis, to create Vestian with the
underlying philosophy of transparency
and accountability. The new entity came
into being in 2010 and was
headquartered in Chicago.
Serving Customers Everywhere
Vestian is a contemporary workplace
solutions firm that specializes in
providing occupier-focused solutions to
Please enlighten us about your
company and its present and future
focus areas?
Like every business leader’s prerogative
is to oversee the progress and
development of his/her business, I am
responsible for overseeing Vestian’s
growth initiatives in the APAC region.
Being a hands-on person, I get involved
in every aspect of the business from
recruitment to business development,
project management and building the
team. It is my utmost priority to ensure
that the company achieves consistent
revenue goals. At Vestian, we are
committed to delivering client
expectations as well as creating an
accountable and transparent business
environment for all our stakeholders.
Shrinivas
Rao:
Bringing Client Advocacy to the
forefront in the Commercial Real
Estate Services industry

corporate end-users across emerging
markets. As the only tenant
representation firm in India, we provide
a transparent business environment for
all stakeholders. The benefit can be
gauged through the revenue saving in
terms of operation cost of the
organization. Vestian is also committed
to creating a sustainable built
environment. This can be seen in the
fact that Vestian is certified by ISO for
quality management, environmental
health and safety, and anti-bribery
management systems. Over the years,
Vestian has brought the concept of
client advocacy to the forefront, while
introducing technology-driven solutions
for better productivity.
At Vestian, we strive for a diverse
workforce. We believe that it is
imperative to have strong team
dynamics and cohesion to achieve
success. Key factors such as strong
employee contribution culture and
loyalty help us attract and retain talent,
challenge global names and increase our
strategic competitiveness. I believe that
the key to Vestian’s scalability and
longevity lies in our people and their
empowerment.
Besides, we believe in women
empowerment. In fact, I have personally
trained and groomed a team of highly
Diversity & Cohesion
Please tell us about your company’s
culture and team?
“Success does not come overnight, so it’s imperative to be
patient and persistent. Additionally, knowledge and
leadership are essential to each other. One should never
stop seeking knowledge. I also strongly believe in
learning from the past, while being optimistic about the
future at the same time.”
Industry Scenario
Tell us something about the current
scenario of the real estate industry?
Enlist the key milestones you have set
for Vestian for the next year?
Focusing on Growth and Expansion
qualified women to lead business
verticals. It is my vision to build a
company that has a good workforce
diversity, embraces technology, and is
able to raise the bar for the industry.
Today, the company has completed
assignments and projects across 90
locations in 5 countries including the
U.S., U.A.E., India, Sri Lanka, and
China. The company’s biggest strategic
thrust now is to work on international
growth and expansion to other parts of
the world. We aim to double our
revenue generation in the coming fiscal
year by expanding our client base
across geographies. We also intend to
aggressively participate in industry
CRE (commercial real estate) events
and meets, to garner greater visibility
and recall.
Over the past few years, the real estate
industry in India has evolved by leaps
and bounds. The government has
introduced several Acts that have
weathered turbulent times and brought
forth numerous landmark reforms. This
includes the compliance-heavy Real
Estate (Regulation and Development)
Act, the Benami Transactions
(Prohibition) Amended Act, and the
unified tax regime–the Goods and
Services Tax (GST) Act. Certain
positive measures such as the
announcement of liquidity support to
NBFCs/HFCs by the Finance Ministry,
cut in repo rate by the RBI, etc. have
helped usher in new enthusiasm in the
real estate industry which will probably
pump in some quality revenue.
Real estate, in particular, is still seeing a
steady growth in demand, right from the
launch of the country’s first real estate
investment trust (Embassy REIT) to a
record high rate in office space leasing.
I believe that this trend is expected to
continue in the next five years. On the
residential front, affordable and mid-
segment housing sectors will continue
to drive market growth. The residential
market will be able to tackle the issue of
unsold inventory owing to steady
housing prices and lower interest rates.
Words of Wisdom
Shrinivas Rao, CEO | Vestian

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For over three decades now, Oberoi Realty has been an insignia of trust, transparency, cutting-edge technology and diﬀerentiated service in the Real Estate sector
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