EPM: Technology & Social

  • Daily grind or creative mind?

    Technology may be getting more sophisticated every day, and slowly cannibalising manual tasks and administration, but data shows it’s not a future of robot overlords we face, so much as technology-assisted work. That’s good news. Tech that cuts out admin and gives us powerful insights into our customers frees us up from the daily grind. It allows us to use…

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  • Four marketing trends that matter in 2020

    This year will not be the year of artificial intelligence, but you’re sure going to hear a lot about it. While AI, augmented reality and things like blockchain work on closing the gap between market promise and market reality, plenty of other important trends are set to hit the Australian real estate sector in 2020. Here are four you’ll want…

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  • Three tech ways to wow your clients – now!

    Technology is moving us forward as an industry. These are pretty exciting times, but it can also be easy to lose the personal touch when you add so much automation. So, how can you use technology to connect with your clients better? Here are three ways you can harness technology to wow your clients and grow your rent roll at…

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  • 6 tips for property managers to thrive in the customer experience economy

    The CX economy is already here. Let’s begin by stating the obvious: the property management industry is in flux right now. Owners have more options than ever and expect more value from property management services as a result. Agencies can no longer compete realistically on price, with margins already wafer-thin across the industry. Add difficult market conditions and marketplace disruption,…

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  • Life begins at 40

    Rockend will mark 40 years in business in September. This is an impressive milestone for any technology company, especially when you consider the internet only became widely available to Australians and New Zealanders in the mid-90s. Reaching this milestone lends itself to looking back on how much the real estate industry has changed over the past four decades. As a…

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  • It’s not all about fees: Kul Singh

    It’s hardly an industry secret that the rental market is hot right now, with economic trends and more stringent lending criteria seeing the great Australian home ownership dream make way for a more transient living experience. realestate.com.au’s Kul Singh explains the shift is resulting in rental searches outstripping sales in some areas. It’s also seeing rental properties in many suburbs spending…

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  • Build your BDM profile through video

    Every day I have BDMs telling me that they want to do more videos to promote themselves and educate their clients, but have no idea what to say or where to even start. My first piece of advice is just to start. It won’t be perfect in the beginning and, to be honest, would you really want it to be?…

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  • How to get more buyers through your listing

    When you get a vendor who is willing to invest in social media, you want to make sure you are maximising the return for them. You also want to make sure that the leads generated are captured and that you are able to start converting them into either buyers or future sellers. We have outlined below one of our most…

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  • How to unlock your technology superpowers

    While it can’t magically give you more time, the right technology can help you do more and provide your customers with a valuable and personalised experience. But there’s no point simply using technology for technology’s sake. The value of implementing the right technology lies in its ability to save everyone time, over and over again. Here are three ways technology…

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  • Why you need to be an early tech adopter

    Because we cannot see into the future, predictions tend to be vague. Economists predict you’ll need to be agile and adaptable, and that you’ll have to ‘deal with information’. These are conceptual ideas. They don’t tell us what will happen to our spreadsheets. They don’t indicate if we’ll still need a virtual assistant in two years. The tech providers making…

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  • Why are property managers worried about automation?

    We live in the digital era which is quickly paving the way for the future, but adapting to the needs and demands of a tech-focused world can often be scary. When people hear the word ‘automation’, there is a natural fear because the thought of minimising human intervention leads to an assumption of ‘less to do’ or ‘blocking relationships’. The…

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  • A game of drones: Sharon Fox-Slater

    It wasn’t long ago that drones were developed only for military purposes. Today, remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are mainstream and flocks can be seen flying over local parks and beaches every weekend.But it’s not only enthusiastic families taking to the skies; real estate agents have been quick to adopt the technology. When the first commercial drones came on the scene, early…

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  • Using Technology to Build Relationships: Alister Maple-Brown

    Today’s world is filled with technology; so much so that many feel it’s making us ‘less human’. Our mobile devices are never far from reach. We sit at the family dinner table using one hand to eat and the other to tap away on our iPad. We go to our kids’ soccer game on the weekend with our smartphone pinging…

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  • How to protect your business from cyberattacks: Sharon Fox-Slater

    Sharon Fox-Slater of EBM’s RentCover explains how real estate businesses need to mitigate the risk of cybersecurity, with ransomware attacks and data breaches on the rise. It wasn’t that long ago that the only Trojans we knew of were an ancient people who made the fatal mistake of accepting a gift of a horse from their neighbours. Today, a real…

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  • NBN: Time To Connect

    As real estate professionals, you spend much of your day dealing with landlords, tenants or prospective buyers wanting to know everything there is to know about a property. Today, the availability of the Internet, specifically the National Broadband Network (NBN), is something more and more tenants are asking about. Here is an explainer on all things NBN for you courtesy…

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  • Elevation meets integration: The evolution of the property management industry

    The property management industry experienced a significant shift in 2017. But that’s nothing compared to what’s to come in 2018, according to Rockend CEO Alister Maple-Brown and Antonia Mercorella, CEO at REIQ. Here they discuss the year that was and the year ahead in property management. With the dream of home ownership becoming more and more difficult for many, the…

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  • Unplugged and Plugged In: Alister Maple-Brown

    While you can’t lean on the latest app to set your goals for you, it’s possible to use some clever tech to track your progress. Alister Maple-Brown from Rockend offers five steps you can follow to keep motivated and on track in the New Year. While technology isn’t a wand you can wave to magically achieve your goals, it can…

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  • How Self-Driving Cars Will Change Property Management

    I’ve just taken off from Sydney on the way to see our teams in Melbourne. Aeroplane time is always good to get through a backlog or just have some clear headspace. It’s an overcast, windy day in Sydney and take-off is bumpy as we pass through a layer of cloud. I reflect on our own journey from client-server business systems…

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  • 10 Productivity Apps Leading Agents Use Every Day

    New generation agents are mobile agents. With fewer physical hours in the office, collaboration with their colleagues is still critical to success – as is their desire to nurture more relationships with prospective clients. You might be wondering: how do these uber-agents keep all their plates spinning? How can they be fast, accurate, connected and productive whilst being outside of…

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  • Meet the (New) Office Genius

    If there were a tool that could give you back two and a half out of the four weeks a year you would normally spend on manual invoice entry, would you make whatever change was necessary to get that time back and spend it doing something more meaningful? You don’t need to be Einstein to answer that question; the benefit…

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  • Is technology leaving your team behind?

    The return on investment on technology for an agency owner is generally high; the monthly subscription cost of most apps pay for themselves by decreasing the workload and increasing the number of properties that can be managed by their staff. Isn’t that what technology is supposed to do: enhance our life by offering us greater flexibility, so we can accomplish…

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  • Spotlight on Rent Bidding: Sarah Bell

    Rental bidding apps have been on our radar for a little while now: think Rentberry, Liveoffer and Rentwolf. In theory, I love what this tech is attempting: A free and open system, rewarding those who compete and are bold. Many welcome the move to a freer economy between landlords and tenants, and while I’m just as big of a fan…

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  • Why Tech Is No Threat to Property Managers: Alister Maple-Brown

    Since its explosion in the 90s, technology has become central to everything we do in property management, and in business today. Completely changing the game was the iPhone, invented 10 years ago, which gave us access to the world in our back pockets. But will technology ever completely replace property managers? Absolutely not. The rate of change when it comes…

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  • Virtual Reality: Are We Nearing the Tipping Point?

    Pokémon Go gave us a sneak peek into augmented reality, but the technology still has a long way to go before it will be adopted on a large scale, says Alister Maple-Brown. Thanks to Pokémon Go, 2016 was the year the world paid attention to augmented reality. Men, women and children rushed to download it to their smartphones and started…

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  • Console Cloud Has Arrived

    In February we spoke to Console Group CEO Tim Molloy about the new beginning for Console and the goal of having their first client on the new platform by 31 March. Having successfully achieved this milestone, we caught up with Tim again recently to find out what exciting things we can expect from Console in the coming months. With the…

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  • The Power of Pure Cloud Computing

    What is the cloud? Where is the cloud? Am I using the cloud? These are all questions you’ve probably asked yourself at some point when you think about ‘cloud computing’. In the simplest terms, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the internet instead of your computer’s hard drive. The cloud is just a metaphor for the…

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  • Four Ways Technology Is Changing the Business of Real Estate

    REAL ESTATE AGENCIES across the country are developing new techniques to streamline services and keep up with emerging trends. Technology has come a long way from the first set of bulky computers in your local real estate office. With advancements in technology occurring rapidly, real estate agencies across the country are developing new techniques to streamline services and keep up…

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  • Is Artificial Intelligence the Future of Service?

    As consumers, we are never really satisfied with customer service. In fact, business reviews today are showing that this is one of the few areas of differentiation between competitors. Alister Maple-Brown looks at the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in improving customer service and whether it means the end of the ‘human touch’. There’s just something about picking up a…

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  • To New Beginnings: Console to Launch Cloud Product in March Under New CEO Tim Molloy

    Tim Molloy is no stranger to growing businesses, knowing as he does how almost any industry can be transformed through technology. Now, as the CEO of Console, he is taking a close look at how to make the role of the property manager more productive and efficient using the ‘new’ Console as a vehicle for change. Samantha McLean spoke exclusively…

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  • property managers emerging technology

    Consumer Tech Goes To Work

    The way we work today is so very different to the way we worked even a short number of years ago – and one of the key drivers of this change has been consumer technology. Alister Maple-Brown  shares two cloud-based tools that are gaining traction in the workplace. Traditionally, businesses have kept a tight rein on the devices their employees use…

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  • cloud technology

    Cloud Nine: Keeping Your Agency Safely Online

    From database and administration apps to major accounting and file-sharing platforms, Natalie Hastings looks at the cloud technology that is moving the industry forward. Remember the advent of the internet and mobile phones, and the technophobe principals who thought the internet and real estate portals were just a fad? The ones who believed newspaper adverts and letterbox-dropping would continue as…

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  • A UK Perspective on Technology and Change: Peter Knight

    Peter Knight, Chairman of The Property Academy in the United Kingdom, is one of the leading voices driving innovation in the real estate industry in both the UK and Europe. We caught up with him during his recent visit to Australia and asked him how real estate property managers and leasing agents in Britain are dealing with disruption – and…

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  • Youber: Uber-Proofing in the Age of Disruption

    The threat of disruption has received a lot of air-time, and perhaps too much speculation exists about how our industry will suffer. It can be easy to fall into the trap of either ignoring the threat or becoming overwhelmed by it. Sarah Bell takes a lesson from the past and applies it to the future. The essence of the threat…

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  • property managers emerging technology

    5 Emerging Technologies To Help You Stand Out

    Although they may remind you of the pipedream fantasies showcased in the old TV show ‘Beyond 2000’, coach Jo-Anne Oliveri has identified five trending technologies that may help you get ahead of the game. If you want to be the agency of choice and stand out from your competitors, it’s up to you to be an early adopter. Here are…

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  • Cautionary Tales in Technology

    Technology is ultimately about improving the customer experience as opposed to causing angst. However, in some cases, when used improperly, it has been known to do just that. Brock Fisher explains the pitfalls of three scenarios from his previous experiences that you may wish to consider in your own technology setup. As Steve Jobs once said, “You’ve got to start…

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