In our latest Spotlight Interview, we spoke to Alex Kountourides, Co-Founder at Valos. Alex discusses how Valos leverages AI in their solutions, the key drivers behind their growth and success, and their vision for the future of property valuations.”One of the key things for Valos has been that our platform has been built to solve real problems the industry is facing, as opposed to being a solution to a not-so-big problem or something that might be deemed by the market to be a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than a ‘must-have’.We have also not veered far from our core focus in order to excel at what we do and create a product which is best-in-class. It is really easy to get dragged far and wide with client feature requests or growing into lots of new markets, but there is an inherent risk in doing so, that you might lose focus on your core mission.”

Q1- What led to the development of Valos and how does the solution differ from traditional property valuation methods?

The idea for Valos came about when we were living the roles of RICS Registered Valuers and becoming increasingly frustrated by the amount of our time that was being spent on the manual, administrative aspects of the valuation process. This was mostly gathering data for reports, much of which was objective, factual information, that didn’t require a lot of valuer analysis. Then there was the time it took to compile and format our reports, which were always prone to human error, due to the manual nature of it. This meant we had less time to spend on what really mattered, and what our expertise was needed for: determining value!

We looked around for tech solutions that might help but all we could find were AVM tools, which were more geared around replacing the most important parts of the valuers role, something we feel strongly about empowering, rather than replacing.  So we came up with the idea for Valos, a platform that would find the perfect blend of automation and valuer input. Whilst we are not ourselves a valuation method, we are instead a platform which enables valuers to optimize their time and their operations to help them to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their work.

Q2- What role does AI play in your valuation process, and what impact has it had on the business and your clients?

AI plays a big role at Valos, in terms of automating manual processes for the valuers, but stops short of making any big decisions that we believe should be down to the valuer’s knowledge and expertise.  For example, we can collect all the objective data points the valuer needs for their report, like flood risk and location descriptions, and feed it directly into the relevant section of their bespoke report, saving them huge amounts of time doing so manually. However, we collect the more subjective data and present this to the valuer for them to make the final decision as to which data points should go into the report. We then embed this into their customized templates to provide and end-to-end solution which frees up bandwidth for the valuer. This results in the most accurate and efficient outcome for the valuer.

Q3- What do you think are the main reasons behind Valos’ success and what should other PropTech’s prioritise to help their growth?

One of the key things for Valos has been that our platform has been built to solve real problems the industry is facing, as opposed to being a solution to a not-so-big problem or something that might be deemed by the market to be a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than a ‘must-have’.

We have also not veered far from our core focus in order to excel at what we do and create a product which is best-in-class. It is really easy to get dragged far and wide with client feature requests or growing into lots of new markets, but there is an inherent risk in doing so, that you might lose focus on your core mission. We have benefitted from staying true to our core mission and are now in a position to consider growth in other ways alongside this.

Q4- In a recent Tech Tales interview with us, you touched upon the importance of understanding and supporting customers, can you share more insight into your On-boarding process and supporting clients during the implementation phase?

At Valos we place huge importance on client service and the onboarding process is a great example of that. We work very closely with our clients with regular communication throughout to ensure they feel part of the process and that they are getting exactly what they signed up to. We make sure that we trial and test their reports with them before going live so that the user experience is of a high level and engagement is instant.

Q5- Looking ahead, how do you see property valuations evolving over time and how is Valos positioning itself to adapt to the changes?

Looking ahead, the property valuation landscape will be profoundly influenced by technology and AI, and only the valuation firms that adapt will thrive. Technology is set to permeate nearly every aspect of the valuation process, automating repetitive tasks and enabling efficiency. However, the need for the human element, that only a skilled valuer can add, will remain indispensable.

As technology takes on more of the routine aspects, it will elevate the role of valuers to focus on high-value aspects of the process which requires their knowledge and expertise. This shift will not only enhance the quality of valuations but also attract fresh talent to the industry, making it an appealing career path for those who value both technical expertise and critical thinking.