The Eco-System of the Commercial Brokerage Office: Can Technology Eliminate the “Silo” Effect?

The commercial real estate brokerage industry has a history of being typically slower in technology adoption and its tendency to operate in “silos.” Although this is still somewhat true today, more and more brokerages are implementing collaborative approaches to leverage the skills and strengths of every team member and also utilizing technology to manage their day-to-day processes.  It’s no coincidence that these are the firms that typically stand out from the competition. This blog aims to answer the question: Can technology eliminate the “Silo” effect?

The “Eco-System”

If you own or manage a commercial brokerage office then you understand what makes up the so-called “eco-system” of a successful brokerage business:

1. The Client Relationship
2. The Transaction
3. The Closing Process

While these three elements stand out as the most critical components of any brokerage eco-system, unfortunately, these are also the areas that also tend to function within silos. An individualized approach toward overseeing these components is also more likely to make them difficult to manage.

The client relationship is the first and arguably most important long-term element of the ecosystem. In many offices, brokers continue to rely on their own customer relationship management (CRM) systems or other personal methods to manage these connections, encompassing everything from prospecting to contact management and converting relationships into listings or assignments.

Once an assignment is awarded and negotiations on a deal commence, the second component of the eco-system, the transaction itself, springs into action. When a prospect or client becomes a “transaction in process,” many brokers still manage the critical and complicated details of deals on spreadsheets or even mentally.

Once a deal is finalized, we transition into the closing process. This stage represents the “homestretch” of the eco-system, where the firm actively collaborates with the broker to ensure the collection of all necessary documents, the preparation of deal vouchers, and the finalization of commission splits and cooperating broker payments. But the work does not stop there as firms must also oversee the many other important matters of the deal-closing process such as invoicing, receivables, and other items that are part of a seemingly endless list of procedures.

Can technology eliminate the “Silo” effect in the commercial real estate brokerage?

Most managers, owners, and even brokers understand these three components are the key drivers of their business, yet their existence within company silos is still prevalent in the commercial real estate industry.  From an administration standpoint, these silos create multiple data entry requirements, prevent a seamless process of managing the overall transaction, and simply waste time.

The solution involves a product that seamlessly integrates all three components into one, user-friendly system designed specifically for commercial real estate brokerages. While some technology products in the marketplace address individual components, they often require integrations and multiple entries, limiting their effectiveness as a one-stop-shop solution.

Developing a single, fully integrated technology program that allows brokers to manage the entire transaction process from listing to closing will steer the future success of the commercial real estate brokerage profession, help break down the silo walls and mitigate the hassle associated with the more technical and time-consuming parts of the job.