Access to property data from any computer has become a reality with the development of Application Service Provision. Adam Tinworth reports on the organisational and marketing benefits they offer agents
Many innovations in technology take years to catch on. The internet came into being in the late 1960s, but it wasn’t until the mid 1990s that most people paid attention to it. Similarly, Application Service Provision (ASP) was first mooted widely three years ago, but is only now being taken seriously.
The basic idea is simple. Instead of a program being installed on your computer, it is hosted on a server elsewhere, and you access it via the internet using standard web browsers such as Internet Explorer.
The idea’s initial failure to catch on was partly due to limited broadband capabilities and partly to the psychological barrier of storing data remotely. A number of property management ASP-based applications were launched, but the take-up was poor.
The digital landscape is different now, and attitudes are changing. One company taking advantage of ASP is CALdes, whose Contour Agency System allows agents to access all the information needed to run their business from any computer with internet access. “Broadband use had grown so much that, by the end of 2001, we were ready to go,” says CALdes managing director Stuart Rand-Bell.
Catching the imagination
Five companies, totalling 180 users, are using the system across their intranets, but it is the wider ASP version that has caught people’s imaginations. In its first two months, six firms, with a total of 450 users, signed up.
So why the interest? The system has all the advantages of the ASP model. Data is accessible from any internet connection, and the system is updated centrally at the main server, so the software is always up to date.
Contour combines the functions of a general personal information manager, such as Microsoft Outlook, with a property database. It allows you to link appointments to the properties you are visiting, or log enquiries or e-mail against a particular property. It also plugs into another growing internet-driven concept: extranets. Clients can log into a secure area to check the situation with their property – what mailing has been done, visits arranged and so on.
Property details can be output as particulars with a customised company template, included as part of an e-mail shot, or uploaded to a listings website.
An agent’s clients, properties and tasks are organised into a “briefcase”. Tasks relating to properties and clients can be transferred between staff, even if they work in different offices. The contacts and tasks element of the system can be also synchronised with Microsoft Outlook.
“It finally moves us toward that paperless office we were all promised years ago,” says CALdes’ Philip Challinor.
Security worries have been addressed by both a regular and rigorous back-up regime and industrial-strength firewall protection on the servers, housed in a data storage centre.
The system ranges in cost from around £20-£35 per user per month, depending on the number of users. Installation costs between £1,000 and £2,000. Find out more on http://www.caldes.co.uk.
