Second, we are dealing with an industry that can prove to be a gateway to a variety of B2B services and products. For years, companies relegated IT's role in commercial real estate to the back office, as firms first pursued tools to improve their bookkeeping and accounting functions. Increasingly, the attention has been on the front lines. For example, a multitude of independent software developers have focused on work-order programs wherein a tenant emails a request for, say, a light bulb change. The system manages customer service when it notifies the appropriate building employee and tracks meaningful statistics, including how many calls a particular job received or the average response time in one location vs. another.
Corporations also use software to manage customer call databases for tenants and brokers.
Other application arenas are attractive, too, including those that help firms manage and close their deals. In the past, small, private firms have dominated the field of core transaction system and property management products, but that is changing. Serious money is spilling over into other areas as well. Co-Star, Propertyfirst, and Loopnet, also backed by major investors, are among the services with national and international ambitions that will list space that is available for lease or a building that is ready for sale.