Role of Standardized Data in Monitoring Tech Adoption and Engagement

Interview with Jeffrey Bratton, MLS Manager, Southwest Multiple Listing Service (SWMLS)

Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the Greater Albuquerque Association of REALTORS® (GAAR), a  RESO member and perennial change leader committed to employing leading-edge technology that embraces RESO standards.

In a video interview, Jeffrey Bratton, MLS Manager at Southwest Multiple Listing Service (SWMLS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of GAAR, discussed what he typically needs from vendors in order to monitor both technology adoption and subscriber engagement.

“RESO is a big part of what I do with the standards and working with our technology partners,” said Bratton, “And that includes working to collect better data to help with SWMLS planning and analytics.”

Bratton said he needs help from his vendors in order to create a more holistic view rather than their current piecemeal approach. He admitted, “We could get better data that could help us in our planning and analytics. We have some work ahead of us to get the kind of information we know we need.”

He said getting that data is going to be one vendor at a time, and that he wants more than just adoption numbers, which he considers to be a fairly low-level analysis point. “I think the most important thing would be the event history by users of all aspects of how they use the key functions of that system,” said Bratton.

“So, if we have an MLS product, I want to know what the user is doing, how they’re using a CMA, how frequently they’re logging in to it, what are they searching? I’d like to know every piece of that information back to me – an API – and then we can use it to make our own decisions,” he said.

As for the role RESO could play to help achieve his goals, Bratton points out that RESO plays a crucial role in helping him work with vendors, by “fostering those relationships with those vendor partners and other technology people in the industry. We have a lot of genius minds in here, and I think that together, we can come up with a solution that can help the whole industry.”

One way to do that, he suggests, is attending a RESO conference. 

“I attend RESO conferences because I’m on the cusp of technology,” Bratton said. “I never will be a software developer, but learning to learn their lingo and talk in their world to understand their needs and their frustrations can help us both benefit in the end.”

Are you registered for the 2020 RESO Fall Conference? RESO Remote Encore: The Standards Collection will be virtual and is set for October 27–29, 2020. It will be presented by Stellar MLS with additional sponsorship from First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS), dynaConnections, ShowingTime, RPR, Austin Board of REALTORS®, and RE/MAX. Reserve your spot today here!