OrangeTee & Tie sets sights on 30% revenue growth in digital, data push

Singapore

NEWLY restructured OrangeTee & Tie (OTT) is dialling up its digitalisation and data-driven efforts as it sets its sights on an increase of at least 30 per cent in its 2021 top line from 2019's level.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Steven Tan told The Business Times (BT) in an interview that the real estate firm has rejigged its organisational structure, notably by merging its agency arm and projects division into a single unit, in hopes of fast-tracking its digital transformation.

OTT is also developing its agents into trusted investment advisers from typical property brokers, and grooming talent for succession planning. In that vein, a string of data-driven products are in the pipeline to enhance its agency activities.

The firm recently launched a market analytics suite with in-house, real-time data. The interactive proprietary tool offers clients detailed insight into the housing market - beyond OTT's transactions - with the ability to filter the data according to various parameters such as district, remaining land lease, or project.

"Customers typically are only able to gather information on general trends, such as overall Housing Development Board (HDB) flat prices over the past year, but factors like the different balance leases play an important part in affecting prices too," Mr Tan said.

At the end of this month, the firm will roll out a tool to generate instant viewing reports. Agents will be able to send photos and relevant information, including historical asking prices and site and floor plans, in a single report to potential buyers.

Clients can then keep track of the properties they have viewed, and agents will be able to provide a more prompt and professional service, said Mr Tan, adding that this will be a first-in-market tool. At present, such information is usually sent piecemeal by agents.

"Customers are information-technology (IT) savvy and resourceful enough to do their own research, so we need to value-add to that. They want quick and good information," he noted.

As for developing property agents from mere middlemen into investment advisers, OTT's aim is for them to go beyond simply placing advertisements for listings. Its agents are expected to sit down with customers to understand their needs, do thorough planning with tools such as the market analytics suite, and crunch numbers with its financial calculators.

"Agents should understand why a client is buying and the person's short-term and long-term property investment goals before selecting a property that suits their needs," the CEO said. "After the viewing, the agent can update the client with the latest information."

He noted that 2019 was a peak year for OTT, before the market was hit by pandemic-related disruptions in 2020. "We're aiming to do better than 2019 by at least 30 per cent, in terms of revenue," he said.

Despite the Covid-19 crisis, OTT's full-year revenue in 2020 was slightly stronger than the prior year's levels, and exceeded its expectations by some 20 per cent. The December 2020 figures were also the strongest OTT had ever recorded for any given month.

OTT's quick recovery from Covid-19 and nimble pandemic response could be attributed to the company's efforts in shoring up digital readiness over the past half-decade, said Mr Tan.

Its restructuring, which took effect at the start of this year, brought about a flatter organisational hierarchy. The company also consolidated all parallel supporting functions in the former agency and projects divisions, to reduce the duplication of work and encourage talent development.

OTT increased its overall headcount by 5 per cent as at end-2020 from end-2019, Mr Tan told BT. It is looking at another 5 per cent increase this year, by hiring more staff such as software engineers and social media specialists to beef up its tech, digital and content generation capabilities.

OTT's top four executives have taken on an enlarged scope of responsibilities and new designations: CEO Mr Tan was previously managing director, while executive directors Simon Yio, Bill Leung and Emily Eng were named chief operating officer, chief technology officer and chief business officer respectively.

Mr Leung noted that the fresh structure will boost talent retention and recruitment by offering a specialised career progression path for staff to excel on the technical track, and not just the management track.

On growing OTT's market share, Mr Tan said: "If we are digital-ready, add value to consumers and serve them professionally, the sales and results would come along naturally...The restructuring will help us get ahead of the competition."

The CEO foresees Singapore's home prices creeping up on a "steady, gradual uptrend", amid a K-shaped or uneven economic recovery. Thus, barring a sudden price jump, he does not expect cooling measures in the residential space in the short run.

He also pointed to an impending surge in upgraders, as more HDB flat owners complete their minimum occupation period within 2020 to 2023 and are likely move to mature public housing estates or private homes.