What Are The Dominant #CRE Platforms? What Do They Really Provide?

Let’s name a few shall we?

Yardi, VTS, RDM, LoopNet, Xcelligent, etc. etc. and on and on.

You get the picture.

At the basic level, what is their function, what do they do?

They provide a platform for data, your data.

They aggregate that data. Some may even analyze, process and sell it back to you in a pretty visual dashboard.

Ok, yeah you get that. Who controls that data? Well, you do of course.

You are giving them permission to use it, make it better and then sell it back to you.

Your data is their product. Wait maybe a better way to put it is that your data is their inventory.

The software platform they have or have created makes the data better. (It’s their value prop.)

Why don’t you have software that makes your data better?

That’s not your thing? It’s not what you do? Don’t you know how to code?

Of course, you don’t, I get that, maybe you don’t have to learn how to code.

You just need to know how you want your data to work and possibly what workflow environment you prefer to use.

Who knows better than you? No one probably.

You are outsourcing the processing and analyzation of your data.

Outsourcing happens every day in many industries.

Entire industries are based just off of that premise alone.

Let me ask you this, when is it not the right thing to do?

When is it not the smartest cost-effective competitive and profit generating thing to do?

Who makes that decision? I’m guessing it’s way up the chain if not at the top.

It’s that important. I get that.

I did just ask why you don’t create a platform or program to aggregate and process your own data.

Too hard to do? Not important enough of a task to warrant the spend.

You have to focus on your core, you have to.

Isn’t your data what you base almost all of your critical business decisions on?

You’re ok, giving it way obviously.

Do you justify it by paying for access to data other than your own?

Is that other data that critical?

Can you function in the marketplace without it?

Can’t you? How about your competition? Can’t they either?

So maybe these technology platforms are providing a crucial service for you and the industry.

You’re willing to pay to have that service, that outsourced service.

What if you could and should do it yourself?

What if you got paid to do it?