MoxiWorks to Deliver LeadingRE Cloud Data Services Ahead of Big Franchises

In an announcement made to their membership, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World (LeadingRE) have entered into a definitive agreement with Moxi Works to provide LeadingRE Cloud to their 565+ brokerage members.

Franchises and networks like LeadingRE have been providing data services for their brokers over decades. No doubt, the most notorious version is the legacy CREST system at Realogy Holdings Corporation. Keller Williams CEO, Gary Keller, has kicked off a billion dollar investment in technology. RE/MAX® is in the process to buy a company or outsource to a vendor. Berkshire Hathaway Home Services has projects underway but have not released their ambitions to the media.

Remember, all franchise systems are required to have some sort of database for tracking payments from the broker to the franchise on transactions. They all need data systems to power up their franchise software solutions.

Realogy made a $220 million investment in the acquisition of ZipRealty to upgrade their technology. Formerly CREST, this system is now called Dash, a data management system that allows the franchise to delivery all of their software as a service systems, like Zap (lead managment, CRM and agent website), Dotloop (transaction management), etc. Each of the brands does something a little different in their software stack, but core solutions like ListHub and LeadRouter carry across them all. Remember, too, that Realogy is also the world's largest brokerage, NRT. Operating in more than 100 MLS areas, they are handling a lot of data aggregation. A lot of the features in LeadingRE Cloud are on the roadmap for Dash and Zap, but they are not available yet.

LeadingRE Cloud is not a competitor to Upstream, but has some similar benefits to brokers. All of these activities are representative of brokerage and franchises collaborating to disrupt themselves. Unlike the taxi industry that got rolled by Uber and Lyft – or the travel industry that was rolled by Expedia and dozens of others – brokerage is fixing itself before any third party disrupters take over. Admittedly, brokers and franchises were already rolled by Realtor.com and Zillow Group in online search. But data strategy is open territory to get it right before the newcomers step in. LeadingRE just took the lead. How apropos.

How LeadingRE Just Passed the Franchises

There is a keynote of significance to the move made by LeadingRE. Today, WAV Group is unaware of any franchise that handles MLS data aggregation and systems integration for their brokers. Today's franchises absorb data, but they do not give it back. There are no franchises that allow brokers to pull data from the franchise. There are no franchises that have full stack integration that blend the franchise software products with those of the brokerage. There are no franchises that offer APIs to do this integration. Franchises do not allow their member firms to put any software they want onto the agent dashboard. LeadingRE Cloud is not perfect, but it is way ahead in terms of thinking like a systems integrator to brokers.

LeadingRE has set the bar high and others will need to catch up.

LeadingRE Cloud is a data aggregation system. They pull MLS data on behalf of member firms and offer aggregation as a service. The disparate MLS data feeds are consolidated and normalized into a single data pool.

LeadingRE Cloud also is a systems integrator. The LeadingRE brokerage using LeadingRE Cloud for data aggregation tells their technology providers to integrate with LeadingRE Cloud. LeadingRE Cloud publishes application programming interfaces (API) that any technology provider can connect to. Like others, LeadingRE Cloud also supports single sign-on to allow agents to click to access the software without remembering dozens of passwords. Software is accessed though Moxi Hub, an intranet dashboard where agents access the software. When they do select the software, their data is already in there! This strategy is scoped to support LeadingRE's international network operating in 69 different countries.

LeadingRE Cloud Is More than Just MLS Data

MLS data is vital to the software that brokers deploy, but it is only a slice of the data required. Today's brokerage software marries MLS data to three very important other data sets: The Customer Record, the Agent Record, and The Brokerage Assets (logos, templates, etc). LeadingRE Cloud integrates all of the broker's data to all of the systems they use from a single source.

Moxi Cloud Already Has Lots of Connected Providers that LeadingRE Cloud Will Inherit

Moxi Cloud is not something that appeared recently. It has been powering brokers and franchises for decades. The company evolved out of Seattle based Windermere Services. Windermere is owned by the Jacobi family and supports both company owned offices as well as a nationwide network of franchise brokers. About five years ago, Moxi Works was spun out of Windermere as a standalone corporation.

Today, Moxi Works offers popular enterprise software like Moxi Present (listing presentation), Moxi Engage (CRM), Moxi Marketing (drip marketing), Moxi Talent (recruiting), and Moxi Websites (co-branded agent websites). All of these solutions are connected to Moxi Cloud. The idea is that data can be aggregated into a central data pool, and each product can dip their straw into it as needed.

How it works: Sometimes it helps non-technical people to talk about these complex data management solutions in terms that acquaint complex systems to experiences that you have everyday.

Do you notice that photos are only stored in one place on your phone? However, if you want to send a photo by mail, text messenger, or publish to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram, etc., you can?

That access uses APIs that integrate software together. You have seen the screen notification, "Do you want to authorize Facebook access to your photos?" When you give access, you are not transferring all of your photos. You just authorize the data use when it is needed. You are doing the same thing with Moxi Cloud. In this context, Moxi Cloud works like the Apple App Store or the Google Play store. Pick your product, add it, and it goes live with the broker's data. It's more complicated than this, but you should get the picture.

Moxi Present and Moxi Engage are very popular with enterprise brokers. In fact, they are so popular that huge top five brokerages like like Howard Hanna and Long & Foster have invested in Moxi Works. This is a broker owned company, and that is an important differentiator. Today's real estate brokers are threatened by the technology from Redfin, Compass, Keller Williams, and Realogy. These companies are all investing millions in the development of data management and solutions management to give their brokerages a competitive edge. Now the LeadingRE firms—and specifically Windermere, Howard Hanna, and Long & Foster—have taken a step ahead. With the launch of LeadingRE Cloud, this strategy will accrue to all 565 LeadingRE firms globally.

When you look at Moxi Cloud, you see that they have a healthy head start on systems integrations in the key areas of broker and franchise service offerings. Although they offer solutions, no broker is required to use the Moxi product suite. They have a diverse set of offerings in marketing, CRM, lead management, transaction management, presentations, reviews, websites, concierge, gifting, intranet, email, calendar, and accounting. The image below that was captured from their website is not the full list. I know for a fact that they are integrated into ProfitPower accounting – and that is not displayed. There are others, and the list grows every day. Regardless, they are at about 40 today and growing.

With this announcement, all of the technology partners to LeadingRE will be integrating with LeadingRE Cloud. This is another big differentiator from what the franchise organizations have done. Franchises integrate with products offered to the brokers, but they sell hunting licenses to many other companies that do not have a data integration. With LeadingRE Cloud, they will all be data integrated for a true plug-and-use system.

WAV Group supports brokerages in developing their technology solutions, integrating them, and measuring agent satisfaction. If you are considering the Moxi Cloud, LeadingRE Cloud or any other product integration, please contact us. Our lead technology consultant, David Gumpper, has 14 years of experience working on enterprise brokerage systems in residential, commercial, title, mortgage, insurance, property management, relocation, and other home services companies. His former company, Michael Saunders, is a founding member of LeadingRE. We are the only dedicated real estate consulting firm focused on brokerage that has in-house developers available to you.

Disclaimer: WAV Group has provided consulting services Moxi Works. Moxi Works is also an advertiser on RE Technology, a company owned by WAV Group partners. WAV Group has also provided consulting services to the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, and just about every other company mentioned in this article.

Read the press release from LeadingRE.

To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.