Mark is the Vice President and founder of NAR's Center for REALTOR Technology (CRT). Through Mark's vision and leadership, the CRT organization serves REALTORS and the real estate community as a technology advocate and resource. In the short time since Mark came to NAR, he and CRT has become recognized leaders in real estate technology.
Mark starting programming robots while in high school. Previously Mark held management positions with database vendors Sybase and Oracle and was a pioneer in object-oriented programming. He later founded a consultancy firm and then spent three years involved in high tech turnarounds prior to joining NAR. He is a frequent speaker at real estate and technology events. Mark holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University.
Mark can be reached at MLesswing@Realtor.org
I think that more members are understanding that technology can be adopted to fit the needs of their business instead of the other way around. There was a time where the thirst for technology was beginning to cloud the business objectives.
Technology can be more than a way to conduct more business. Practitioners are understanding that consumers expect things like multiple channels of communication and avenues to conduct their own investigations. Technology provides choices which improve the consumer's home buying experience.
One of the biggest driving forces for change in our industry today is coming from industries that are not Real Estate focused. Their main objective is not to conduct business in Real Estate but to use the industry as a means to capture the identity of the consumer. Since their target audience is the same as ours, the danger will be that the consumer will become confused.
The “trendsetters” to me means those who are doing things a bit differently than others. Consumers are becoming used to gathering information from multiple mediums; print, spoken word and the Internet. There are a growing number of REALTORS who understand both the effectiveness and limitation of each medium.
The expectations are no different for this group whether they are shopping for small ticket items or Real Estate. They feel empowered by the ability seek out information and opinion. This comes down to “shopping” processes that extends across mediums.
The response is simple in concept and challenging to implement. The industry needs to keep in touch with changing consumer expectation and adjust business practices accordingly. In the Internet age, these preferences change rapidly. Making an adjust 12 months ago may not be valid today. This is the challenge. Adjusting to changing consumer attitudes should be a core business practice.
One of many factors that play in the profitability picture is the effectiveness of technology investment. Heavy IT spending does not guarantee returns. Rarely does IT alone translate to bottom-line performance. The best IT investments ar those made in tools that will actually be used.
The most important role of the Association to Broker profitability is educational. By providing information on trends, tools and techniques, the Association can reduce the effort the Broker has to make to keep abreast of developments in technology.
The MLS can share in the education role with the Association, but their most important contribution is to provide tools that can be delivered as a service. Not all technology needs to be installed on the Broker's computer.
The mission of the Center for REALTOR Technology has three parts: Advocacy, Implementation and Information. We advocate that vendors and members adopt standards-based tools into their businesses. With information, we distill the verbose and highlight important trends. Implementation means that we provide Open Source solutions developed by professional software developers at no charge to members.
I think the advice of Edward Tufte (Yale) is appropriate to remaining relevant:
“Respect your audience because the are precious”
This is an overall concept that can be applied to dealing with competitors or business operations. There are competitive, non Real Estate forces who are trying to insert themselves between Members and consumers. Consumers will migrate to parties who provide the higher perceived utility.
Mark can be reached at MLesswing@REALTOR.org
