IT Enabled Management

Changes that have occurred in the real estate industry over the past decade and especially the past few years have greatly challenged the operational infrastructure of most companies. Today’s management strategies can and should be able to utilize information not only as an observation of what has occurred to create a baseline for planning purposes but to be able to analyze, forecast and operate the business. This means that a company, especially management must be information technology (IT) enabled.

The concept of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems has gained wide acceptance in other industries, especially manufacturing and only now is beginning to be heavily implemented in service industries. The cost – benefit of this approach is that there are often fairly heavy up-front costs for customized design and implementation but savings that begin quickly and are a positive impact to the bottom line. To fully enable management actions, decisions and strategies, several steps must occur. Many of these are tough but not impossible in the structure of a real estate company.

What is the Value?

First, the company has to understand the value that IT enabled management can bring to the company and make sure that the concepts are strategically integrated at every level of the company. Commitment in which no one is excused from learning and using the tools and processes is required. This may sound easier than it actually will be. Most real estate companies initially thought (and some still do think) of information technology in terms of MLS systems and more recently the Internet.

Agents, quite often, are farther ahead in the process of automating their business than the owners and brokers. The greatest reluctance to adapt and use technology often comes from management. The impact for agents that are IT enabled is well documented and shows a tremendous gap between the ones who are and the ones who are not. Just imagine what would happen in terms of the gap if we had the same type of analysis for companies.

The comparatives would even show a larger gap for the companies that think of the business as a whole rather than in terms of treating company automation separately from agent automation. The differences would not only be measurable in terms of the company’s bottom line but also the agent’s earnings. This means thinking of the business as an enterprise to be automated rather than thinking in terms of functions and tasks that will only produce patchwork results, high costs and a great amount of frustration.

Standards will be Required

Second, the company must be willing to set and adopt standards. To be able to cost effectively bring the results possible through ERP systems, integration of data is required. This is easiest to accomplish if the data is being integrated through applications commonly in use throughout the company rather than trying to bring data from a number of unrelated sources with unrelated and sometimes proprietary data structures. Success will be dependent on making sure that each person related to the company hears the reason for the changes as valuable to them and their business.

Audit Your Operations

Third, the company must evaluate all operations. This means analyzing not only "what we do" but how, when and why we do it to make sure that functions are needed and relevant to the structure the company wants to achieve. The need for change is often brought to light during this process. In many cases this is the opportunity to seek "best practices" and implement change. The objective here must also include identifying when information first becomes available to the business and then each function and decision that will either use the information, connect to it or modify the data. Looking for connective information processes and the analysis options, creates the business map of the company. This is an important communication tool that will help an IT provider understand and meet your objectives. Without a comprehensive look, you may be building systems and methods that will not adapt well to inevitable changes.

Change Management

Fourth, the company must understand the dynamics of change management. Failure to understand the impact of change on people and processes as well as the best ways to make sure that the implementation is the least disruptive to business is often the difference between success and failure. Utilizing change management strategies can allow a necessary cushion when things do not go exactly as planned.

Commitment

Pursuing an enterprise wide approach requires commitment at all levels. This commitment must be in terms of integrating use of the technology throughout all business practices and decisions by all people in the company and often the vendors with a relationship to the company. Additionally it means a commitment of time and resources.

There are a number of "off the shelf" solutions for real estate brokerages and agents that will include a specific set of helpful tools as a stand-alone solution. In some cases, these can even be integrated with other solutions toward an enterprise wide approach but rarely do these work in the way you do and either requires customization or relearning methods of doing your business processes. The cost of a systems integrator is often worth the cost as the expertise necessary is rarely available in-house. Additionally, if the company is large enough or has a number of related companies, some of the options available through the large ERP packages may be worthy of consideration.

The commitment should not only be from the company, staff and agents but additionally from any company you hire to bring you through the process. Some companies have "risk sharing" practices which is a great motivator for bringing the project to completion successfully and under budget for both you and the integrator.

Results