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May 6, 2015

           Volume 17 - Number 18

      
Streamlining the Business of Commercial Real Estate
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YouConnect© is a Web-based Appraisal and Vendor Management solution enabling financial institutions to automate and streamline their process, while satisfying federal and state examination and auditing requirements.
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DataComp© is the No. 1 In-house Commercial Comparable Management Software on the market today made by and for commercial real estate appraisers.
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EDGE© is a simple to use, but powerful report writing solution. A stand-alone application that integrates seamlessly with Word, Excel and DataComp©. 

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Manager© is our cloud-based commercial appraisal workflow application that can be accessed from any browser, Windows, Mac or cell phone. 

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Check Out Our Sister Publication...
TOP OF THE WEEK TO YOU!
(by realwired! CEO, Brenda Dohring Hicks)

Brenda Dohring Hicks

 

Top of the Week to You! is designed to offer the inside scoop and latest of what's important in the world of technology as it relates to the commercial real estate industry.


Can Theory Explain It?

 

Have you heard of the Diffusion of Innovations Theory? I ran across it while doing one of my favorite things...listening /watching TED Talks. I purposely combined listening and watching just now because that's literally what I do. For me, TED is like the best talk radio ever. What's being said is way more important than seeing the speaker, so many times the computer or tablet is playing and I'm not doing anything but "watching." So anyway, on a recent day when I was feeling a little distraught about the pace of acceptance in the marketplace of one of our products, up popped a TED Talk about the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. Everett Rogers first published his book on this back in 1962. You can find lots of information online about it and The Tipping Point, by Malcom Gladwell, is the most recent and popular book on the topic.

As a brief overview, the theory states that there are four main elements that influence the spread of a new idea:
  1. The innovation itself
  2. The communication channels
  3. Time
  4. A social system
Any innovation must be widely adopted in order to self-sustain, and within the rate of adoption there is a point at which an innovation reaches critical mass. Within the population of adoption reside five types of people; the innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.



But I'm not really concerned about that. I am good with believing it to be true. I'm just wondering if in our industry we are doomed to have a chasm so wide between the innovators and the laggards that it's insurmountable. Being the optimist that I am, and certainly falling in the range between innovators and the early majority most of my life, I don't see it that way, but boy, a lot of our industry sure seems to see little value in being in this range with me. Now I know that commercial real estate and all of the disciplines that interact with it, like banking and finance aren't known to be all that inventive. But is the industry doomed to be described as Laggards? A term often illustrated by an old person sitting in a rocking chair. And if that's the case, how can we and the group of millennials that are beginning to enter our industry get along? These bright folks are all about innovation and live in a world where their decisions to do or not do something are deeply entrenched in the social proof that others are doing or not doing something, (think number of "Likes" on everything.) Here's the problem - the laggards don't have a clue that they are thinking like this. It's a collision of sorts. Which can't be a good thing.

So what does all this mean? I'm not sure, but I know that the baby boomers in our industry who want to stay working and relevant for much longer than previous generations because they are healthier and wealthier, will have the biggest issues. It's funny to me that the very thing that keeps people young - doing new and different things, comes so hard to many in our industry. Many hold lofty positions of thought leadership. Positions that are in danger of being toppled and they aren't quick to recognize that or change. Commercial real estate and the ancillary professions are like a big community. A social system if you will like the one illustrated here. What the Diffusion of Innovations Theory proves is that social interaction drives important innovation and if our industry forms a deep chasm between the innovators and the laggards, we'll have a fairly dysfunctional market.

But it doesn't have to be. The story doesn't have to end badly. The potential for our industry to affirm its potential for change by intelligent action is there for the taking. "There are exceptional people out there who are capable of starting epidemics." Can you decide to be one of them and help me find more of them? 

I welcome your feedback through email.
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