What is Cloud Computing & What does it have to do with Real Estate?

What is Cloud Computing?

In short, cloud computing means that we use the computing power, support, infrastructure, and needed IT people power of a single large enterprise focused on delivering us the computing platform--all at a lower cost and without IT hassles and overhead.

For real estate pros, cloud computing is a better way to run your business. Instead of running your apps yourself, they run on a shared data center. When you use any app that runs in the cloud, you just log in, customize it, and start using it. That's the power of cloud computing. Businesses of all shapes and sizes are running all kinds of apps in the cloud these days. Cloud-based apps can be up and running in a few days, which is unheard of with traditional business software. They cost less, because you don't need to pay for all the people, products, and facilities to run them. And, it turns out they're more scalable, more secure, and more reliable than most apps. Plus, upgrades are taken care of for you, so your apps get security and performance enhancements and new features-automatically.

And the way you pay for cloud-based apps is also different. Forget about buying servers and software or hiring IT contractors. When your apps run in the cloud, you don't buy anything. It's all rolled up into a predictable monthly subscription, so you only pay for what you actually use.

Why the Cloud in Real Estate?

Almost all real estate practitioners are independent business people-even if attached to franchise firm, in the end most of us are responsible for our own systems, software, marketing, and...everything else.  The cloud computing platform is the perfect foundation for real estate.  Because in the cloud, your CRM or other applications are never limited by your underlying technology or infrastructure or IT knowledge. In the cloud, your access to a great system is not limited to having a big enterprise IT budget & a team of IT people. In the cloud, your success with CRM is not restricted by your ability manage a server, install software upgrades, or support software.  

In the cloud, real estate agents and brokers can finally leverage a real systems-like a real CRM--not limp along with a rudimentary  desktop contact manager--to deliver results that today's real estate clients expect and deserve. And in the cloud you can start where you are and grow in real time, as your business evolves.

 The Bottom Line: Cloud computing simplifies computing and lowers costs; it is perfect for the real estate business because it allows you to focus on clients, closings and commissions-not software, servers and systems.