Keys to Technology Adoption: Part 4

Today we're releasing the final installment of the white paper from Michael Audet of WAV Group.

Conclusions – Some "Keys" to Consider When Choosing Technology

1. Look at every product objectively and ask whether your “average” agent can use it with little or no training at least at some level, to get value from the product.  Too often we let techies lead us in these decisions and the reality is they represent only a small portion of the users.
2. Try the product and let a representative sampling of the intended users try it.  Do they like it?  Are they excited about the benefits?  Can they tell you how it will help their business?
3. When you review the product, does it adapt to your current business model, not in terms of process but in terms of language?  Can you incorporate the statuses you use today and the language you use to define transactions or do you have to learn something new?
4. When you compare technologies ask, what problem they are solving and whether any of them  “innovate” rather than just “incrementalize”.  There is nothing wrong with improving a process but if you find one that truly innovates it will be adopted more easily.
5. Don’t be limited by “standards”.  Some vendors will try to sell you on the concept of standards but look closely at what this really means.  Standards are great and have their place in our technology world but most of the real innovation in our technology world came from visionaries that abandoned “standards” and struck out on their own.
6. The most important of all keys is “easy, easy, easy”, “fast, fast, fast”!  This doesn’t mean there can’t be training and that everyone will understand everything about a product on their own from day one.  But make sure you can roll any new product out easily in bite size chunks that provide real value right from the beginning.

About WAV Group
WAV Group is a leader in providing consulting services to the real estate industry and is comprised of corporate executives with a depth of expertise in both the real estate industry as well as the consumer market.

The company has conducted studies for some of the largest organizations in the industry including the National Association of REALTORS®, California Association of REALTORS® and others. It has also authored many independent studies including the 2009 Transaction Management Adoption Study, MLS Consumer Website Effectiveness Study, Broker Website Effectiveness Study, and New Options For MLS Data Use and many others.  For more information or to register to receive report releases and newsletters please contact Mike Audet at [email protected].

WAV Group works with Multiple Listing Services, Associations, real estate firms, franchise organizations and technology vendors in the US, Canada and Europe. WAV Group has expertise in the areas of strategic planning, technology evaluation, product development, market research, recruiting, sales & marketing plan development, technology selection and implementation.

For more information on WAV Group products and services, contact Mike Audet at mike@wavgroup.com visit or website at www.wavgroup.com.

To view the installments of the white paper:

• Part 1: click here
• Part 2: click here
• Part 3: click here
• You can download the full white paper here.