Real estate organizations collectively generate tens of millions of tons of waste every year, while paying billions of dollars to have it hauled away. Despite that enormous scale and cost, most treat waste data the same way they treat the waste itself – as an operational afterthought.Waste data is often tracked in spreadsheets, estimated from hauler invoices, and addressed only when costs spike or compliance reporting demands it. It’s fragmented across systems, vendors and functions,...

The real estate industry is entering a machine-first era. AI, automation and advanced analytics are increasingly central to how portfolios are optimized. Yet one of the most fundamental building blocks of financial data—the chart of accounts—remains stubbornly human-centric and fragmented.OSCRE’s Universal Chart of Accounts (UCoA) project is designed to change that. Rather than treating financial data mapping as a perpetual, manual cost of doing business, the UCoA aims to creat...

When it comes to managing financial information within a singlebusiness unit, using a chart of accounts to categorize transactions may be sufficient. But the bespoke nature of these financial classifications makes exchanging data with internal and external partners a manual, time-consuming process. In a world where decision-making and reporting in real estate is increasingly supported by accurate, real-time data, this costly and inefficient approach is no longer sustainable.  There is a bet...

History is full of examples of standardization propelling civilization forward by making processes simpler, cheaper and more efficient. For example, prior to the introduction of the universal serial bus (USB) standard in 1996, the idea of “plug-and-play” was just a dream. Connecting printers, keyboards and other peripherals to a computer required navigating a maze of incompatible ports, drivers and cables. The USB standard made technology easier to use and removed a major barrier to ...

Poor data quality costs U.S. businesses nearly $13 million per year on average, according to a Gartner study. Much of that loss stems from bad decision making based on incomplete or inaccurate information. But there’s also an opportunity cost, as poor data quality prevents organizations from leveraging data-driven technology to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Organizations in the real estate industry, in particular, have access to technology that offers game-changing capabilities...