Is it AI and big data?

Is it blockchain?

Robots?

Frictionless marketplaces?

I honestly don’t know.

What I do know, though, is that brokerage and agent processes will be fundamentally changed, and only those who adapt and evolve will remain.

It’s a reasonable assumption that tech has and will continue to streamline the often convoluted and inefficient processes involved in settling the sales of homes—something I’m sure most people in the industry will eagerly embrace. But will tech replace agents? Not if agents adapt to the changing expectations of the consumer.

In today’s online world, consumers expect information to be served to them in a personalized and relevant manner. Brokerages and agents who embrace this and leverage the unique tech tools now available are those that will remain relevant.

A prospective buyer has different information requirements than a prospective seller, while someone who has recently purchased a home has different information expectations yet again. A first-time homebuyer has a whole basket of separate needs. Keeping track of changes across a vast sphere of contacts is very challenging, and tailoring content specific to their current status can be mind-boggling.

Fortunately, there’s now tech available in the real estate space that specifically addresses these issues in a fully automated way by tracking, predicting and managing changes to someone’s property interests, and seamlessly and automatically curating content that remains personalized and fluid to each consumer.

To remain relevant, agents need to nourish and nurture their contacts with highly tailored and personalized information, helping to build their recognition as an expert in order to sustain a relationship through meaningful information that will help bridge the years between repeated transactions.

But which agents have the bandwidth to assess, let alone implement, the latest tech? In the ultra-competitive environment of attracting and retaining agents, it’s up to the brokerage to see the future and guide agents down the path of heightened relevancy.

Some of the more proactive brokerages are going one step further and providing marketing concierge-style services to their agents—an increasingly powerful strategy in the “why join us” pitch.

Brokerages must be relevant to agents, and agents must be relevant to their audience. Tech can help empower both brokerages and agents and help quell the hyperbole of disruption.

Bear the following quote in mind when developing your brokerage’s tech offering, your processes and culture needed to support the evolution that’s to come if you’re to succeed: “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” – Bill Gates

Ashley Farrugia is the CEO of ActivePipe, a leading marketing automation platform built specifically for the real estate industry. For more information, please visit www.activepipe.com.