The definition of the word innovate is: To make changes in something already established by introducing new methods, ideas, or products. The idea of innovation is to continue breathing new life into something that already exists, a continual challenge to make something better today than it was yesterday. There is a saying in business that has always resonated with me: "You're either growing, or you're dying." So, technology must always keep moving forward as a lack of innovation directly leads to stagnation, meaning the business or product is dying. 

I was recently challenged by a large enterprise real estate brokerage representing tens of thousands of agents to create a presentation for their executive team that was "inspirational," something that sold the big picture on why they should make a switch from a different enterprise all-in-one platform to DeltaNET®. This challenge got me to reflect on what is valuable for a technology partner to provide a real estate brokerage. It got me asking the question: What will the users of the software actually care about, beyond the usual bells and whistles you expect to see in any CRM/MarTech platform? 

A Cycle of Stagnation

I reflected on the previous 30 years worth of technology giants in the real estate sector, including which companies entered the marketplace, who had real estate agents with shiny new technology, and who grew to become behemoths in this space. I began to notice a trend that started shortly after the dot-com bubble burst in the late '90s. 

Over and over again, there is a cycle that technology companies seem to fall into. This cycle begins when someone has a great idea for a new tool in real estate, then they pitch to Wall Street Venture Capital Funds and raise the money they need to scale quickly. Next, the product is delivered with millions poured into sales and marketing to bring the product to market, and the software gains great market share, typically 10-15% of real estate agents using the tool.

Ultimately, the technology provider fails to innovate on the product, instead focusing more money on sales and marketing to get it into the hands of as many agents as possible. Due to the lack of innovation, agents stop using the tools as they have become stale over the years, and the next shiny new technology tool has already hit the market. Now, as sales slow and the adoption of tools dies, the Venture Capital firm looks to sell off the technology company to recoup as much money as possible. In the end, users of the product are left with something no longer being updated until they leave for a new tool. 

This cycle has been repeated over and over for the last 25 years. It is immensely frustrating for any real estate brokerage who has to make platform switch after platform switch because agents want all of the marketing and technology tools, but they don't want to pay for software that nobody uses. The reason why adoption dries up is either because their tools aren't easy to use or they don't stay innovative enough and newer tools enter the marketplace, capturing the attention of their agents. Brokerages need competitive tools to recruit with, so they go through painful switch after painful switch to appease the agents who rarely use those technology platforms long term. 

Technology Providers That Stay Innovative

I decided to look at technology companies that still had a massive presence today. Not just in real estate, but technology companies as a whole who had managed to stay in business and be competitive for 30, sometimes 40+ years. Microsoft and Apple are two prime examples. What do they do that truly captures their users? It's about the innovation of their technology. Giving their customers something new to look forward to every couple of years. 

This brought me to think about cell phone models. One of the first consumer models of a cell phone ever released was the Motorola DanaTAC 800x. The cell phone model was released in 1983 for $4,000 and lasted a whopping 30 minutes of wireless talk time. The first mass-produced consumer cell phone was the Motorola International 3200. Released in 1992, this was the #1 selling cell phone for the next few years. Ironically, this is around the time Delta Media Group® was founded. So, as a bit of a fun experiment, I began to put a timeline together of what the #1 selling cell phone was each year that our company put out a new major version update of our real estate technology software. 

As you can see in the image, our first product release happened in 1994. This was the first real estate website powered by MLS data and photos in the United States. The next major update wouldn't come until the year 2000 when we released the very first version of DeltaNET. Over the next 23 years, we would release seven major version updates to our all-in-one technology platform, with four of those major updates coming in the last 10 years alone.

Why is this relevant? We have customers who have been using our technology tools for decades, which is an anomaly in the real estate software space. It is an indicator that real estate agents are happy to stick with the same technology platform forever as long as that platform never becomes stale but instead continues to grow and stay bleeding edge with new trends in the marketplace. Hundreds of brokerages have avoided the painful, and often disruptive, change that comes with moving providers by settling with a vendor who is focused more on product development than multi-million dollar marketing campaigns.

I personally upgrade my cell phone every 2-3 years. My service provider offers free model updates every couple of years to make sure I'm on modern hardware that is fast, snappy, has great picture quality, and will keep me happy. Suppose every major cell phone carrier in the United States is offering new product updates every couple of years. Why would you expect anything different from the technology tools that power your entire business? Shouldn't the tools in your agents' toolkits be updated and modernized as often as their cell phones? 

The Future of Real Estate Technology With Innovation

I think it's critical to understand what the next 3-5 years of your real estate marketing tools' future really look like. Ask yourself: Are you working with a partner who is focused on innovation, or is just focused on growing revenue? 

I believe 2023 will ultimately become known as the year that AI (Artificial Intelligence) really took off. I have heard from several peers in this space that their technology partners don't plan on doing anything with generative content AI software like ChatGPT or Google's Bard AI. While I have my personal opinions about this type of AI software, the reality is that your agents want it. This software will revolutionize productivity for thousands of industries, and real estate agents have an opportunity to embrace this technology now. Keep this quote from Walt Disney in mind: "You don't build it for yourself. You know what the people want and you build it for them." 

Our team has been hard at work looking for opportunities to embrace this type of content-generating AI over the last few months. The possibilities are far beyond what we even originally believed. You'll find a screenshot in this article showing what an integrated AI assistant may look like within our DeltaNET® 7 platform. 

Your AI partner will have the ability to do things like:

• Build a blog article (Buyer-focused, seller-focused, home-improvement focused, etc.)
• Generate a property description
• Write a bio for a new agent you've hired
• Create engaging social media content 
• Automatically translate your website content for potential foreign buyers

While this software will be great for the users of our system, it doesn't come without its challenges. For example, nothing available in ChatGPT today will automatically be Fair Housing Complaint. It also won't be able to keep up with the most up-to-date NAR rules (yet). Plus, each state, or country, with its own set of laws regarding regulations on how real estate professionals can interact with the community, will not be automatically accounted for by these types of tools. So, they will still require oversight by an agent or marketing professional. As I have often heard speakers say this year, "The content generated by AI is good, but it's not great. It's B level, but with a little editing it can become A level." 

The good news is that we will overcome these types of challenges with time. Any forward-thinking technology company focused on automation, innovation, simplification and the user experience in mind will be able to embrace this new AI software in ways that will make real estate agents more productive and provide more opportunities for that agent to engage with their contacts in meaningful ways. The real question is, which providers in this space are truly focused on pushing the real estate industry forward with these types of new initiatives, and which ones are happy to be a part of the cycle of stagnation?