Earnest Sweat, a tech innovation expert, was a guest on the latest edition of the REIT Report podcast. In the first of a three-part miniseries, Sweat began the process of examining the intersection of AI with the REIT sector.
Sweat is a venture capitalist and general partner at Stresswood, an early-stage fund focused on backing exceptional founders building the next wave of enterprise technology.
Sweat said technology can be beneficial because “companies are all expected to produce more with fewer resources.” He stressed the importance for REIT leaders to speak with middle management to ascertain where AI can handle repeatable tasks, and to stress to management that technology is not a “precursor to them losing their jobs.”
Sweat also emphasized how every company in the REIT space should be thinking about how to ensure its innovation strategy is contributing not only to the long-term vision, but to the core strategy today.
“Companies and leaders are drastically thinking about how fast technology is moving, how that's going to help upstarts in their industry who are looking to utilize technology to leapfrog leaders in industry,” he said. “How do you build up that internal resilience and knowledge that you already have and incorporate it and empower it with AI to make you continue to have that lead?”