Few people understand industry standards. “That’s for the computer geeks,” most of us think. Our busy schedules and our tenacious focus on business priorities rarely allow us to fully understand how standards directly impact us every day.
Our ability to easily communicate with one another relies on standards. Think of computers and operating systems. Right now, the giants are Apple and Windows. They each implemented their own standards for communicating between devices. If standards had not been designed and implemented, we would not have cell phones, tablets, laptops and desktops all talking to one another. Do you remember when Apple devices could not talk to Windows devices?
So now, let’s look at the real estate industry. We all agree that MLSs are our life blood for listing and finding properties suited for our customers, our revenue. Yet MLSs tend to have different ways of presenting data. So RESO has created a “data dictionary” that ensures each system speaks the same language and defines real estate data in consistent terms.
As real estate listings flow from one place to another, they follow policies and rules through software that facilitates listings from the MLS database to be publicly displayed. This process is called Internet Data Exchange or IDX. It allows brokers to reciprocate information.
So, I can see that your eyes are beginning to cross. Let’s stop here and simply remind you to think about how fast information travels today. Think about all the technology that has dramatically changed our lives in just a couple of decades. And it’s moving faster and faster BECAUSE of standards.
Do you want to get left behind like the guy who insisted 8-track tapes were better than cassettes or, for the younger in the crowd, who still has a fat TV instead of a smart TV?
For those of you who take action to learn and understand the brink that the RE industry is on, for those who accept the role as an early adopter, YOU are the leaders who will benefit rather than get left in the dust. YOU will be the innovators who can see the future and who will TAKE the competitive advantage. You will BE SET APART from the masses who follow.
Take that leap to set your business at the top and keep it there. Join us at the upcoming RESO webinar to discover how to cut operating expenses, to establish a nimble, innovative, and profitable brokerage, and STOP PLAYING CATCH-UP.
