The real estate industry was among the first to go digital, using the Internet to market property listings and SMS to communicate faster with clients. As more of their processes went virtual, real estate brokerages reassessed their internal business management approaches and started looking for new ways technology could help them work more effectively and efficiently.

Fast forward to today, and many of these companies are struggling to make sense of the many disparate systems and disconnected applications they’ve implemented. These client-focused service providers will often have a customer relationship management (CRM) platform plus different tools to handle lead generation, sales and marketing, accounting, and finance. Because most of these applications aren’t integrated, brokerages have to rely on manual data entry and spreadsheets. This can result in miscommunication, poor time management, and data errors that can be costly in every department.

On-premises systems and disparate solutions quickly became liabilities during the COVID era and continue to plague brokerages as more of their work is done remotely, meetings take place virtually, and agents work offsite.

Many companies have formalized the remote and hybrid workplace policies that sprung up over the past few years. Now it’s time to cement a strategy for centralized, integrated business systems that are accessible in the cloud and able to grow with the brokerage.

A growing number of real estate brokerages are turning to cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms as the core of that strategy. With its deep expertise in the real estate industry, Allied Cloud uses NetSuite to give organizations all of the tools they need to run their growing businesses on a single platform.

With NetSuite, brokerages can manage their customers, agents, and finances; automate many of their manual processes; and make better use of their resources. The latter is becoming increasingly important as markets retreat from their recent highs.

5 Ways NetSuite Helps Brokerages Do More with Less

All companies want to be as efficient and profitable as possible regardless of market conditions. That takes the right combination of people, processes, and technology.

Here are five ways cloud ERP helps brokerages hit their targets:

1. Efficiency gains. The most obvious and immediate benefit for real estate companies when they implement a new ERP system is increased efficiency, mainly from process automation opportunities. By bringing interdepartmental communications onto a single software platform, for example, companies can better manage the documentation, deadlines, data, and financial transfers that go into the typical real estate deal.

2. Agent empowerment. Your agents have a lot of choices as to where they want to hang their licenses: In the United States, there are currently more than 3 million active real estate licensees and more than 106,500 real estate brokerage firms. And market slowdowns mean brokerages need a core group of productive agents more than ever. Saddling those agents with manual spreadsheets and ad-hoc processes is no way to keep them onboard and productive. With NetSuite, Allied Cloud gives brokers a sure way to reduce headaches, ease agents’ workloads, minimize miscommunication, and provide better work-life balance for the entire team. The solution provides a way for agents to be self-sufficient in terms of recordkeeping while providing accounting and finance associates with access to real-time financial information. No more wasted time tracking down agents for commission or deal information.

3. Improved communications. In a market where speed is of the essence, email can quickly become burdensome. Real estate brokerages are especially prone to this problem due to the many documents, inspections, due diligence processes, and financial considerations that go into every deal. Managing a fast-moving close with a cloud ERP equals fewer errors and miscommunications — a differentiator in today’s competitive environment

4. Accuracy in all levels of financial reporting. Because agents operate as independent contractors and work on commission, real estate brokerages need to distribute the correct amounts on every deal, issue 1099 tax forms, and manage other high-level financial reports. In some cases, a deal may be segmented across several brokers, with each getting a commission check. This segmentation has to be accurate, and checks must be sent in a timely manner. Brokerages also need access to reports for their own tax and accounting purposes. Especially with commercial real estate, where large sums of money are moving around, reports are vital to high-level business decisions like bringing on new team members, marketing spend, or opening a location in a new city. NetSuite provides the accurate, high-level financial reporting that brokerages require.

5. Centralization of business operations. Brokerages must be able to track deals across multiple different agents and/or market segments, from initial offer to final closing. Then, companies must tie all of those processes into their financials, track the deals, avoid clerical errors, and maintain high levels of accuracy. And where some brokerages may have a robust system for deal tracking plus a CRM, many of them are still using Excel spreadsheets to manage deals and distribute commissions. By eliminating these manual processes and bringing their finances, CRM, and operations onto the same platform, Allied Cloud helps brokerages overcome these issues and optimize their investments in NetSuite. It also gives agents autonomy in a transparent way because, with NetSuite, all information entered by agents is available to the brokerage’s finance teams.

Happy Agents Build Successful Brokerages

To run a successful brokerage, you need happy agents that have the proper tools to work efficiently for high job satisfaction. There’s a brighter light shining on these realities right now, and the more a brokerage can do to help agents focus on what they’re best at — selling properties and closing deals — the better positioned the company will be for success.