| Abstract: |
The United Kingdom's small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) real estate sector faces intensifying competitive pressure, demanding strategic adoption of digital technologies to sustain operational efficiency and optimise investment returns. This study investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based platforms can drive meaningful digital transformation within UK SME real estate firms, presenting a validated strategic framework for operational and investment optimisation. Employing a mixed-methods design combining a structured survey of 112 UK SME real estate practitioners with secondary statistical analysis from verified institutional sources the research examines AI adoption patterns, cloud platform integration, and their measurable effects on business performance. The central hypothesis proposes that the strategic integration of AI and cloud-based tools significantly improves operational efficiency and investment decision accuracy in UK SME real estate firms. Findings reveal that firms implementing the proposed framework achieved up to 34% improvement in investment decision accuracy and 41% faster deal closure times, alongside a 41.6% reduction in IT infrastructure costs. The study concludes that a phased, strategically aligned digital transformation framework effectively bridges the gap between technological potential and real-world SME capability, offering a replicable model for sector-wide transformation. |
