Based in the UK - Harness Property Intelligence - provides technology tools that allow for better insights into the commercial property sector. Using data science and machine learning the platform converts unstructured, often historical data into actionable insights. The Harness proprietary technology tools transform data, allowing for better decision-making in commercial real estate management and therefore a higher investment return.
Harness Property Intelligence offers 4 proprietary data solutions for this industry. All solutions are aimed at the real estate industry and bring additional value at all stages of the management process.
In 2019, Computer Rock started providing software development and design specialist consulting services to Harness Property Intelligence, thus creating a dynamic and effective partnership. Harness looked for a partner to provide dedicated, experienced, and insightful assistance. This had to be complemented with an approach of one team, one project, and not the traditional contractual supplier-client method. Computer Rock worked very closely with Harness in assisting them in developing various products targeted to enhance the search, discovery, and valuation of the commercial property market in the UK.
Typically, companies in this space are looking to use digital tools and technology to disrupt and improve the commercial property and rental market, which has historically been slow to adopt digital technologies. It's a progressive, impressive market in which the UK has been a leader with over $5bn invested in over 805 companies.
Computer Rock's support specialists accompanied a skilled Harness' team of data scientists and software engineers to accelerate delivery to the market of core Harness products and services.
The team developed two core products – PDFX, which is a highly-sophisticated data extraction tool, and Addressable, which is a state-of-the-art geo-locational tool recognizing commercial properties in a precise location down to unit level. This works as a data management platform dedicated to stitching together complex and very different property data. The combination of both allows Harness to use this proprietary technology and add additional value for its end-users.
From the concept phase to market launches and ongoing iterative product devolvement, Computer Rock provided support at every level. These products are currently used by brokers in the UK and have a significant impact on the market. Commercial realtors now understand the value of their current portfolio better and have tools at their disposal that can help with future valuations estimates.
Computer Rock was entirely responsible for the front-end development. We met the challenges in interpreting and implementing the UI and UX to ensure an intuitive and easy-to-use search engine by region, town, and geo-location. The UX and UI were essential parts as they were key to an optimal user experience. After many iterations, the final implementation successfully showcased properties aligned with local rates and rental prices. The tools provided by Harness helped investment and pension funds to arrive at a realistic rental and commercial valuations based on accurate market data. Founded on data and machine learning, Harness built the tools to deliver valuations on a geo-location basis. They provided indicators for lenders on future valuations, which was a crucial step in property lending and pension portfolio valuations.
Further stages of the PDFX included the cross-sector adaptation. The vision and product roadmap for PDFX is for it to become a de facto data extraction tool helping unlock value in areas with a high density of historical information - insurance, health care, and many others. From PropTech to data extraction based on machine learning and AI, PDFX is an important project, which has been featured in Germany at the Global property tech show and in various other European events.
Using a distinctive property identifier, the HPID (Harness Property ID), it now becomes possible to assign data to identical units at the address level and precisely pinpoint the geo-locational status of assets from raw address strings. Harness unlocked the full feature set of the commercial property market like never before. Computer Rock helped increase Harness' address matching coverage and revealed 15% more addressable objects, providing a far more profound view.
With these upgrades, Harness Property Intelligence is now one of the top competing prop-tech companies, building extensive capabilities around commercial property market analysis.
Computer Rock delivered evolving work in a sector that continues to grow and is increasingly dependent on digital tools to extract value from various data points.
In a market challenged with recruitment, preservation, and knowledge acquisition, Computer Rock establishes its business approach of people first. It is integrating team members who are specialists in the field, culturally attuned, to the needs and requirements of clients across multiple verticals. It's the approach that continues to win new partners as it helps them face the ever-changing needs of a digitally driven world.