No Data Exchange? No More Brokerage.

By Tiana Baur

Data is the currency you will need in order to exist in the very, very near future. The real estate industry won’t be able to stick their heads in the sand on this one, especially since the majority of industries are already embracing data with open arms. Brokerage data is quickly becoming the soul of the brokerage business that keeps its heart beating and its legs moving.

Why this is happening

The thing many don’t realize, is that data isn’t just a list of numbers. Data is what integration is literally made of. Data = integration. Ever wonder how you could log in to your brokerage’s intranet and have everything you need right there? The answer: Data.

Everything is moving to the cloud. Data gets stored and managed in the cloud. Much of it gets stored and managed by Amazon Web Services. Their data saw revenues soar to over $12.2B in 2016. Salesforce, another data management platform, generated $6.67B in fiscal 2016 revenue. Last quarter, Microsoft’s commercial cloud business exceeded a $10B annual run rate. The company is still projecting this number to hit $20B by 2018.

Data is taking over the world and brokerages have no choice but to hop on the bandwagon. The future of the brokerage depends on how they manage their data.

The ecosystem

Data is useless if it doesn’t work flawlessly together and isn’t stored in a shared environment. Picture your brokerage data like an ecosystem. Remember those miniature ecosystems built in a plastic bottle that every generation has to make in their elementary science class?

An ecosystem is a collection of complimentary applications all working together, sharing data, that make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Any computer you’ve ever used in the modern age has its own ecosystem. Whether it’s that Epson printer you’re using or the many applications you go through in a day like Skype, QuickBooks, or Adobe, everything works together as soon as you install it. If you don’t like an application, you delete it and get another one. It’s as simple as that.

Our open platform is where your brokerage apps get their data. The three core data sources of a brokerage data exchange are:

1. Property data
2. Brokerage and agent data
3. Consumer data

How to cope

Whether you’re climbing 29,035 feet up Mt. Everest, the tallest point on earth, or looking to grow your brokerage – preparation is key. A solid data exchange plan isn’t something that can happen for a brokerage overnight, unless they choose to get advice and help from the experts.

For instance, many might say that a brokerage platform only needs to have those three data points working seamlessly together. But that’s just not true. When it comes to a truly open platform, they should also have integration with the cloud environment with Microsoft and Google and an open API allowing other technologies to integrate. API is what allows the integration to happen.

Moral of the story: educate yourself, so you can future-proof your brokerage today for what’s to come.

Looking to the future

This isn’t meant to scare brokerages, it’s meant to warn them. While many things in the future are uncertain and we can’t know for sure exactly what will happen and when, we do know that data will be the star of that show. Whether it’s Amazon, Netflix, or the brokerage down the street, businesses will survive and thrive with the data they have and the way they each choose to use it. The conqueror of data will be the conqueror of business and vice versa.

Our entire existence at Moxi Works is built on the goal to make brokerages more profitable by making their agents more productive. Agent recruiting and retention will always exist and while it does, we’ll exist to make it easier for the brokerage to do just that. If this all sounds super overwhelming and you have a slight headache, it’s probably time to pick up the phone and call someone that can advise you and simplify this major step to provide your brokerage with a solid future. Hint: Moxi Works is chalk full of advisors.