Dive Brief:
- Real estate technology firm Lessen has launched a digital assistant to help property managers handle work orders and related processes.
- Lessen Copilot, the company’s first tool powered by generative artificial intelligence, is already being used in thousands of commercial and residential facilities, according to a June 20 press release. Customers have reported a 20% reduction in the time it takes to produce a work order, with only 1% of conversations requiring human processing, Lessen said.
- “Traditionally, a substantial number of submitted work orders required upfront or follow-up conversations with a call center,” Jianqing Zhao, chief technology officer at Lessen, said in a statement. “Lessen Copilot reduces that figure meaningfully, streamlining the process for all stakeholders while cutting back on mistakes.”
Dive Insight:
Lessen is among the software companies launching digital assistants in the facilities management industry. In May, occupancy data platform VergeSense unveiled Workplace Assistant, which provides recommendations for space optimization. In March, BrainBox AI introduced the Artificial Responsive Intelligent Assistant to streamline day-to-day building management processes.
In the real estate management space, JLL, CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield are working to leverage AI. JLL unveiled its digital assistant, JLL GPT, last August and now has an entire facilities-management application powered by AI, while Cushman & Wakefield has rolled out generative AI-powered assistants, including an AI+ initiative aimed at helping employees with their daily tasks. Meanwhile, CBRE deployed an AI-enabled smart facilities management capability to over 20,000 sites spanning 1 billion square feet and uses AI to manage millions of dollars worth of supply chain analytics.
Lessen Copilot uses predictive analytics, based on historical data, to boost end-user satisfaction and allow owners and property owners to focus on their core functions, according to the news release. Users begin work orders in Copilot’s chat interface by explaining their need, and the tool diagnoses issues, recommends service combinations and automatically generates work orders. This minimizes load and risk from human error while allowing the facilities team to focus on other tasks, according to the company.
The tool provides a virtual assistant whose entire job is to make it easier to manage services for a distributed real estate portfolio,” Lessen CEO Jay McKee said in the release.
A survey from Lucidworks published last August found that 92% of U.S. company respondents planned to increase AI investment in the next 12 months. And 47% of companies surveyed expressed positive sentiment about the impact of these investments.
