The Data Myth That Confuses Property Managers

‍Property managers…

As I came into this space, I asked many of you about your thoughts on creating the best AI maintenance solution, and I heard one thing over and over-

“Whoever has the most data will probably do it.”

And that rings true, but it’s really only applicable for generative AI.  That’s the type of AI that is designed to help you do your job better.

When it comes to building agentic AI- the AI that is designed to do the job for you- the data pales in importance with how the AI gets trained.

That’s why it’s dangerous for you to assume that the company with the most data will be the one that finally breaks you free from the mundane tasks of property management that are holding you back.

We call this-

The Big Data Myth (That Confuses Property Managers)

First let’s clear up a little bit about why this data myth rings so true.

Generative AI vs Agentic AI

Thanks to Open AI, Microsoft & Google - the current narrative is that the most valuable AI solution is the one with the most data.

e.g. - ChatGPT has the most amount of data on almost every topic on the planet, therefore it’s the most popular & best AI tool for most people.

Sounds reasonable.

But you’re not most people. You’re a property manager.

If an AI is going to do the job for you, it needs to be built differently.

Why’s That?

It’s what we mentioned in the beginning: Generative AI solutions are inherently limited.

They can only suggest how to do a better job… but the jobs property managers need to do are relatively simple.  They don’t necessarily need to be done better.

The core issue in property management is that there are too many jobs to do.  So if it’s going to really help, it should take work off your plate.

So let’s look at how someone could build an AI that does this.

(Like, let’s say, completing a work order) 

The AI that you picture in your mind when you think of artificial intelligence - the type of software that does a job as well as you - is called, agentic AI.

Huge data sets are the equivalent of textbooks - they are valuable, but in itself they don’t take action.

They are vaults of knowledge. 

They are great manuals. 

But they don’t have context.

Here is the moment it landed on me that data isn’t the magic bullet.

Think about a brand new employee who just graduated college, and has gone through your training program.  

They may have the knowledge, 

But…

They’re not ready to apply it on their own until they’ve been exposed to different situations. 

In other words-

You train your team to acquire the knowledge & understand the context before you expect them to own the outcome.

This is what an AI agent needs to be able to do.

The Outcome IS The Difference

There is a simple way to tell the difference between generative and agentic AI.

Ask yourself:

“What outcome is it promising?”

Generative AI promises a better way to do the job.

Agentic AI promises to do it for you.

One is an incremental result.  

The other is exponential.

And in that lies the problem with existing SaaS companies pivoting into agentic solutions.

Why SaaS Companies Are Failing At A.I.

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As Vendoroo’s CEO Reza Kesh says:

The Future is not Software As a Service. It’s Software That Does The Service.

SaaS grew in popularity when technology came around to build better tools, and entrepreneurs realized it was easier to scale a tool than to scale a service.

They were right.  

They were right in a BIG WAY.

This last era of economic prosperity has largely been driven by how these tools have allowed smaller businesses to work better, and in return, these “better tools” have become some of the most valuable companies in the world.

But as we discussed this NEXT era isn’t about building tools. 

It’s about building solutions.

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Vendoroo’s CEO illustrates the struggle happening inside SaaS boardrooms right now.

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The Better Tool Mindset is founded on the search of scale through efficiency:

• “If our customers are more efficient, they can do more.”‍
• “The more efficient we are, the more we help.”‍
• “If we try to do too much, we can’t help as many.”

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The Solution Mindset is founded on eliminating work for humans:

• “If our customers don’t have to do it, they can do something else.”‍
• “The more accurate we are, the more we help.”‍
• “If we are not doing it as well as they can, we’re not really helping.”

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The ability to deliver a truly agentic solution isn’t limited to technological capability alone.  

It requires a specific culture to do it.  

Now think about how much harder it is to get your team to adopt a new technology, versus changing the culture.

That’s the challenge that existing SaaS companies have when trying to bring agentic solutions to market. 

That’s why so much generative AI is being mislabeled as an agentic solution.

How to Spot an Agentic AI Property Management Solution

Here’s the hard truth: 

All the smartest people in technology are working on creating the first AI agent proven to do someone’s job as well as they feel they can do it.  

But they haven’t succeeded yet.

Anyone saying they have the data to do it, can’t be sure of that statement.

But if you believe what we believe- that all the changes in property management are going to create giant new winners in the space- you can’t just sit around and wait for someone to make the perfect agent.

You need a way to make better bets on who will build that agent.

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Asking yourself this one question will filter out a lot of A.I. noise. 

Framework To Make Better Bet On Agentic A.I. 

There’s a famous quote by Albert Einstein on solving new problems that goes like this:

"If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

So if you’re looking for someone that will solve this problem- the problem of taking work off your plate with an A.I. agent- you first want to ask yourself if they’ve thought about it correctly.

Here are 2 tests to check if they’ve thought about the problem correctly.

The Mindset Test

The mindset for this problem is to first, own the outcome. 

This means the first question to ask is not about the technology- it’s asking yourself if the company is owning an outcome.  This can be seen in 3 different responses:

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1. “We are helping you create a better outcome.”  

This is a classic Better Tool Mindset.

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2. “We own a piece of the outcome.”  

This is an example of a company dipping their toe into the Solution Mindset but still holding onto the efficiency first thinking of SaaS.

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3. “We expect to do it the way you’d do it.”  

This is the Solution Mindset.

The RoadmapTest

Once you determine the company has the right mindset and culture, the next thing you want to know is the path they have laid out to get to the solution.

As we’ve discussed, the focus can’t just be on the data.  

The focus must be on the context.

Ask them how they expect the agent to improve over time, and ask yourself who is giving it context. 

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 Here are the 3 types of answers you’ll hear:

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1. “We are using machine learning to teach the agent context.”  

This comes from someone who thinks the data is all that matters.

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2. “Our team oversees the AI and grades it.”

This comes from someone who thinks you want the job done their way.

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3. “Our experts and your experts will provide the AI feedback to get it right for you.”

This comes from someone who knows it doesn’t work unless it can do it your way.

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Here is where I realized that it won’t work for you, if it doesn’t do it like you.

The Data Myth, Debunked

Here’s the TLDR-

Anyone telling you that the best AI will come from whomever has the most data, isn’t referring to the latest version of Artificial Intelligence.

While generative AI blew us all away with how quickly it made our existing tools better, the newest form of AI, agentic AI, aims to actually do jobs for us.

The ability to actually do something the way you’d want it done, doesn’t just require data-

It requires context and a different mindset.

The big opportunity isn’t for property managers to get more efficient.  

It’s to take work off their plate so they can focus on more important tasks.  

This is the promise of agentic AI.

And it won’t be solved with more data.

If you want to learn more about how Vendoroo is taking a completely different mindset into building an AI that can coordinate maintenance for you the way you’d do it yourself, schedule a demo here

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Written by: Pablo Gonzalez, Chief Evangelist at Vendoroo

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P.S. This newsletter was inspired by episode 1 of our upcoming podcast Property Management Frame Breakers check out the teaser now and subscribe to listen weekly!

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