Real Estate Technology: PCs Are Going Away

This article, authored by Harper Thorpe, comes to us from the Core Logic Broker Café blog, "Broker Buzz."

I was interested to see a recent article in USA Today that indicated that PCs are going the way of the typewriter. After a 30 year run, the end may well be in sight. Since I work with a company that delivers all of its services through a web browser, this clearly is an inflection point in history.

Interestingly enough, the USA Today article was quoting Mark Dean—one of the guys that has spent his career at IBM and was on the team that helped to design the PC. He holds three of the 9 patents for the original IBM PC. August 12th 2011 marks the 30th Anniversary of the personal computer. Given that I have been in the high-tech industry for those 30 years, it seems like yesterday.

Oddly, technology that existed before the PC is the technology that will empower the future of computing. In the early days, this technology was referred to as mainframe computing. Today, the current technology is essentially a bunch of modern mainframe computers (now called servers) connected together via high-speed networks serving-up the Internet, and the result is the modern cloud computing model.

When I speak to real estate brokers about cloud computing, I’m not surprised the term and the concept is still pretty obscure, and frankly, there’s really only one thing you need to know. The best layman’s definition of the cloud is the simplest one. It’s your files and software stored securely on a hard drive in cyberspace rather than on your laptop or desktop. This takes the concept of a virtual real estate office to a whole new level.

There are lots and lots of advantages to this construct.

Anywhere, Anytime

If you can access the internet, you can gain access to all of your information anytime, anywhere. This is pretty handy. You can do your work from your phone, a tablet, an internet café, a friend’s computer, wherever, whenever. The biggest barrier is connection to the internet and speed. The good news is that wireless networks and wired networks are getting faster and faster, and more and more available every day. In terms of industrialization, internet connections are in their infancy. The good stuff is coming.

Safe Data

Despite the fears of spies and big brother, your data is much safer in the cloud than it is on your computer. I remember walking into a broker’s office a few years ago and seeing servers in the corner of a room.

“What’s that?” I asked.
“Our email and file servers.” she replied.
“Where are they backed up?” I asked.
“That guy backs them up every day,” she replied. “The copies are over there,” pointing to a file cabinet across the room.
“An earthquake or a fire would be pretty bad news for you.” I said as she winced.

The cloud gives you safety and redundancy of your data assets. Unlike a laptop or desktop that can be lost or stolen, data stored in the cloud is safe. I could go on, but hopefully, it won’t take a catastrophe for you to give consideration to changing the way you and your agents address this issue.

On a related point, private consumer information stored on a computer or sitting in a file on your desk is a huge legal liability. Did you know if you lose 1 piece of private information the law requires that you tell everyone you lost it and for what reasons you stored had the information in the first place? Yikes. Imagine how that would impact your company reputation.

Back to the point, the information on which you run your business is a company asset, and your ability to access this information is a business imperative. Can you pull up the name and contact information of every customer who has ever done business with your company? If not, you need a real estate CMS. Can you push one button and let them know about the launch of your new website that gives them access to the best real estate information on the planet; or the opening of your new office that makes it convenient to meet with your agents; or the recent mortgage rate reduction that allows you to reduce their home loan payment by hundreds of dollars? If not, you need better real estate marketing tools.

If you cannot do this stuff today, call us at 855-762-7830 or fill out our contact form. This is what we do and we can help.