Reliance on spreadsheets and manual processes in Asia will likely fade as investors and technology providers lay the groundwork for sweeping modernization, according to a recent survey of technology adoption in the region’s real estate industry. Yardi sponsored the survey and subsequent report on current and anticipated technology applications by real estate investment firms, developers and service providers in Asia.  Chinese real estate business intelligence source Mingtiandi completed the survey and report, which describes the region’s real estate’s current technology adoption as “firmly in the PC age,” with “significant reliance on manual methods for collecting and storing data” that makes it “slow to make the jump to database-enabled online solutions that can respond to marketing, analysis and property management challenges.” While companies have some systems in place, “the majority [of respondents] still see the Asian region in general, and the real estate industry specifically, as lagging world trends.” Key findings from the survey, the majority of whose respondents work in China, Hong Kong and Singapore: More than 55% of respondents perceive Asia as trailing the West in the adoption of technology within the real estate industry; less than 12% saw the region as the leader Almost 77% regard real estate as trailing other industries in technology adoption; less than 6% regard property companies as leaders More than 83% consider access to information a competitive necessity More than 42% manage leasing, sales and property management on spreadsheets 43% identify internal resistance to change as the single largest barrier to adopting online tools for improving workflows and streamlining operations Asked to identify their priorities, more than half of respondents want better information on deal-related data.  Forty-two percent listed access to leasing information and more than 35% identified better access to client contact information. ‘The results of...