JLL gives sales teams a holistic view of client relationships with Microsoft Graph Data Connect

Empowering brokers with data to surface existing customer relationships.

There exists a pervasive belief that the real estate sector is slow to adopt new technologies. For JLL, this couldn’t be further from the truth. A Fortune 500 company and global leader in commercial real estate, JLL operates in more than 80 countries, employing around 100,000 professionals as part of its global workforce. The company’s leadership has long believed that knowledge is power and that knowledge stems from reliable, accurate data. “When brokers are given timely access to actionable data, they can have more intelligent, targeted conversations at every point of contact,” says Brendan Jayagopal, Principal Product Manager at JLL Technologies. “And once we do that, we’re ahead of the game.”

In the United Kingdom, JLL is pioneering a new solution it calls One Client View. It brings together data from the company’s multiple customer relationship management (CRM) applications to create a unified, at-a-glance dashboard that scores broker relationships for each of their clients and prospects. With One Client View, JLL brokers can easily determine which of their colleagues is currently in conversation with a given client. “Without a solution like One Client View, it would be very easy to reach out to a client, not knowing that you’d just stepped on a colleague’s coattails,” says Brendan. “You’d then run the risk of them thinking you were trying to poach an opportunity they’d already put weeks of work into. It’s also not a good experience for the customer and gives the impression of being disorganized.”

To drive this new solution, JLL needed the ability to access multiple sources of rich data at scale. Because the company was already using Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365, a tool that works natively with Microsoft products and services was deemed preferable. JLL found what it needed in Microsoft Graph Data Connect, a highly secure, scalable data service that pulls Microsoft 365 datasets into Azure in order to generate advanced insights.

By adopting Microsoft Graph Data Connect, JLL gained the ability to add email activity and calendar events to its relationship scores, creating a more holistic view of broker and customer or prospect relationships. “With the addition of Microsoft Graph Data Connect, JLL's One Client View now provides a more powerful, unified view of client and prospect relationships across multiple CRMs and lines of business,” says Brendan.

Collaboration through improved visibility

In addition to providing visibility, brokers now have the opportunity to make introductions for each other, ensuring that all communications go through proper client contacts and strengthening the company’s relationships with other organizations. Clients and prospects also benefit from these collaborative actions because they’re saved the hassle of multiple JLL agents contacting them about the same properties or opportunities. 

“We use factors like frequency and recency of client contacts and whether a broker is getting timely replies from the client,” says Brendan. “Brokers who want to contact clients know precisely which peers to reach out to, and knowing who to talk to can be make-or-break in our business.”

Productivity through efficiency

In implementing One Client View, JLL used Azure Data Factory in tandem with Microsoft Graph Data Connect to help accelerate its journey to delivering meaningful client relationship insights. “Azure Data Factory helped our team accelerate data ingestion and integration,” says Brendan. “With its built-in functionalities, we didn’t have to write nearly as much code as we would have otherwise. It saved us a lot of time and expense.” Microsoft Graph Data Connect comes by default with built in security, privacy, and compliance controls to ensure responsible usage of Microsoft 365 data, further easing its adoption.

Brendan is also quick to mention the monetary and financial benefits of Microsoft Graph Data Connect. “Without Microsoft Graph Data Connect, we would have had to resort to direct pulls of all our Microsoft 365 data, which would have been costly and time consuming,” he says. “We can specify which data we want to pull and when. I honestly don’t know how we would have gained this functionality without it.”

Greater insights generate greater wins

Already seeking out new ways to use One Client View in the United Kingdom, JLL is interested in building prescriptive insights with Microsoft Graph Data Connect. For example, as regulations, zoning, and other factors influence client properties, the company can proactively reach out to key stakeholders through established relationships. “A new UK regulation now requires commercial landlords to attain an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of at least E, without which they will face steep fines,” says Brendan. “If our brokers know in real time which of our clients’ properties are going to be affected, we can add substantial value to that relationship and beat competitors to the punch.”

Real estate, Brendan explains, really is a relationship business. “Our highest-earning deals very often come from our best client relationships,” he says. While Brendan admits that a relationship score isn’t the definitive measure of client sentiment, he considers it a good proxy and a powerful starting point. “When you’re in a foot race with the competition, giving your team better running shoes can make the difference between winning and losing,” he adds. “Our brokers are some of the best in the business, and Microsoft Graph Data Connect gives them a new tactical advantage.”

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