Creating policy for Third Pary Vendor’s Access to MLS Data
Mark Kraus, Chair
Tech Users Committee
Talk about a moving target! The Technology User’s Committee (TUC) is charged with keeping our membership informed of useful technologies that agents and brokerages might consider incorporating into their businesses. If there were ever an industry that almost by definition requires constant change, it would be the broad industry known as technology.
As the technologies are introduced to the field of real estate, many customers and clients expect greater and more complex services from their agents. Many of us can remember wrestling with the decision of whether or not we really needed to acquire a mobile phone so that our clients could reach us.
In those days, the six-pound mobile phone, the size of a shoebox, was a badge of honor carried only by the most successful agents. Today, the choices range from IDX enabled websites to GPS geo-mapping systems and image-creating promotional CD presentations.
As an example, the TUC recently saw a demonstration by Bluewater Business Solutions of VidiTalk, a product which allows a REALTOR® to use a digital video camera to tour a property, or even produce a sales/promotional video and, as Bluewater states, “associate the media with various electronic documents such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as Email, Instant Messaging, Customer Relationship Management, and E-marketing applications. In addition to personal video content, users can import digital media to enrich the message beyond the limits of conventional email.”
For the average REALTOR®, that last sentence may as well be written in another language. Suffice it to say that, with this product, you can take the same video camera you used on Saturday at the little league game, film a property, and email the video to a prospective buyer with minimal muss and fuss.
Historically, staying up to date with and providing information about available technology has been the primary function of the TUC. However, in the past two years we have seen a need to become involved in increasingly more complex issues. Some of these issues have involved technologies and vendors that interact with our MLS databases. This topic has arisen as vendors have developed software and services that provide brokers and agents with various methods of conveying listing information to their clientele.
Examples of present vendors which provide such products would include Tarasoft 2000, Pocket Real Estate, and Top Producer. The CBR, the TUC, and the MLS committee acutely realize the impact of making decisions that enable any company to access our invaluable data.
As such vendors have approached the Board, some of their inquiries have been directed to the TUC, while the Board of Directors has primarily handled others, with input from various committees.
The responsibility of screening some of these providers by the TUC required that we establish procedures that would enable us to scrutinize the credibility of the company, as well as the quality of the products and services.
As we started this process, we suggested that a joint subcommittee be established, made up of members from the TUC and the MLS Committee. We felt that the decisions and suggestions that needed to be made overlapped the jurisdiction of these two committees.
The process and discussions of the joint subcommittee have been very interesting, and we still have a considerable distance to go before we make recommendations concerning policy or protocol.
Central to the discussions have been the protection of our proprietary database while allowing our membership to utilize technologies that enhance the services that we can provide to our clientele. This is a very narrow path to follow, with little room for error. A liberal policy, allowing easier access, could inadvertently allow the loss of control of our data, and ultimately our industry. However, an overly restrictive environment would stifle our ability to provide accurate and timely information to the public, just at a time when the public’s expectations for such service is increasing.
The key will be a means by which we can vigilantly and responsibly allow access by accountable entities, while making it abundantly clear that any misuse of the data will not be tolerated.
As already stated, the target is always moving. Ten years ago, we could not have imagined the need for the policy that we are currently developing. Down the road, we will certainly be dealing with issues that we have not even considered at this point in time. It will be through the efforts of the national, state, and local REALTOR® staff members, our Board of Directors, and volunteer committees that the usefulness and profitability of our industry will be protected.
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