The real estate market is high-speed and competitive. Subsequently, digitization and rapid changes in the industry present unprecedented challenges for realtors to successfully run their business. While technology benefits many real estate companies, they also present a set of overwhelming challenges for businesses.

In response, smart real estate companies have begun investing in managed IT services to ensure a smooth workflow and manage effective operations. Moreover, it allows them to utilize the technology that underpins the industry to their advantage. This leads to a competitive edge that sustains their operations and achieve business goals.

Here are seven ways a managed IT service provider can help your real estate business find success:

1.    24/7 Multiple Listing Service

Today’s digital age provides people with the ability to view and purchase real estate properties online in the comfort of their homes. With this in mind, real estate brokers need continuous access to multiple listing service (MLS).

Real estate companies use the MLS database which tracks property listings. Moreover, it provides more exposure to brokers and allows them to offer more options to their clients.

A managed IT service provider ensures the needed minimum downtime and 24/7 connectivity. As a result, your brokers can enjoy uninterrupted access to the MLS database and other online resources.

2.    Professional Website

According to statistics, 44% of homebuyers started their search online.  Clearly, it’s crucial for real estate businesses to maintain an excellent online presence. A business can lose  customers if their website is down or not responding.

By using managed IT services, your real estate firm can maintain a functional and responsive with fast load times. It allows potential buyers to navigate the website conveniently for increases leads and business.

3.    Software Updates

It is no surprise that the real estate industry is highly competitive. As such, realtors need to remain up-to-date with industry trends and implement the latest upgrades to compete with other businesses. In fact, the real estate local board sometimes mandates upgrading to a new system.

Nevertheless, most real estate companies do not have a dedicated IT team that can keep tabs on these latest updates while managing company IT operations. As expected, older systems are more prone to cyberattacks, which can compromise their confidential data.

With managed IT services, your MSP assumes responsibility. Moreover, it ensures that your database and servers remain up to date while your real estate company thrives.

4.    Better collaboration and teamwork

Many real estate firms, especially those with significant operations, have multiple branches across different cities. This makes presents challenges to preserve effective collaboration and communication channels.

Additionally, connectivity problems lead to complex support issues. Luckily, managed IT services effectively helps you maintain 24/7 channels of communication and integrated database for better collaboration and improved teamwork.

5.    Document storage and backup

Many real estate firms heavily rely on Dropbox, Google Drive, or other online third-party storage services to store their documents and confidential files.

While these platforms are generally safe, they are not intended to use for saving confidential information. Moreover, they do not allow automatic backup services, bit require time-consuming manual file imports and management.

Managed IT services is a great solution to maintain a secure database for your real estate firm. Data automatically backs up to the cloud, so, that files can be retrieved in case of lost data. It also facilitates real-time collaboration and teamwork.

6.    Miscellaneous problems

Real estate businesses certainly encounter IT issues in their day-to-day operations. From fixing the email account to troubleshooting network issues, they require an IT expert’s help. Therefore, having a managed IT service provider by your side means 24/7 access to the specialized services of professional experts who are trained to to assist with IT concerns. They can offer instant support to troubleshoot issues.

7.    Seasonal variation

The real estate industry is affected severely by seasonal variation. While the seasonality of a market varies from location to location, every realtor must identify these changes to allocate their resources effectively.

For instance, real estate companies hire more agents and brokers during busy seasons to meet demand. As such, scaling up the team means an increase in IT costs associated with simultaneous infrastructure expansion.

Managed IT services allows your real estate firm to scale up the operations and accommodate new employees without incurring heavy expenses.

Mitigating Cyber Security Threats

In addition to these seven benefits, managed IT services help mitigate cybersecurity. In fact, the real estate industry is heavily targeted by hackers who attempt to gain unauthorized access to steal confidential information from databases.

Real estate companies face different types of cyber threats including business email compromise, ransomware, and malware attacks. Unsurprisingly, hackers use different exploits to access databases and steal valuable company data for blackmailing purposes. From injecting malware to carrying out DDoS attacks, cybercriminals use different sophisticated techniques that highlight the high risk of cyber attacks on real estate businesses.

However, a managed IT service provider offers network security solutions that strengthen the safety of the database and system. Accordingly, using firewalls, encryption, and other security protocols deters cyberattacks and keep confidential information safe and protected.

Final words

Clearly, a real estate business must keep it’s systems protected to maintain efficient operations. Sp,pPartner with a professional managed IT service provider that offers a range of managed services for your IT tasks today.

Contact Us

Percento is a Professional IT Consulting, Implementation and Management firm.  To find out how we can help your organization, please contact one of our friendly sales representatives. We will review of your system and a comprehensive (No Obligation) proposal of services. Call today toll-free at 800.614-7886 [Austin | Dallas | Houston | League City | Sugar Land | The Woodlands  | San Antonio] or email us at sales@percentotech.com