COMMENT It is my tenth year with EG and in this time I have seen much change and progress throughout the industry.
I began life here as a telephone researcher, calling property agents for their deal and available space information. It was a tireless task, with agents reluctant to share their data. A senior industry figure once told me: “I’m not going to show you my underpants,” in a tired, dated reference to his prize deal information. How glad I am that times have changed on both the data and the underpants analogies front.
The emergence of tech has increased understanding of the value of data and put a bigger focus on the process of how it is gathered. Advisory firms and their clients are now more aware of how data helps make smarter choices and determines better, quantifiable outcomes.
This week, CBRE – 2018’s most active agent in the UK, according to EG’s annual deals competition – spoke about the increasing expectation from its clients to improve on the amount and type of data that it provides. Such expectation requires a fresh approach and a new solution. Tech challenges traditional methods of operating in property, and Radius Data Exchange has advanced how property data is collected and stored.
The platform’s move to data contributed directly from source as soon as a deal completes or an instruction is won significantly increases the timeliness and accuracy of that data versus EG’s traditional method. No longer relying on telephone-based researchers “who may or may not understand the property market”, played a significant part in CBRE’s decision to support Radius Data Exchange.
Miles Gibson, head of UK research at CBRE, said the decision was influenced by a number of factors. “We want the best technology in the industry and we want the best data in the industry. And of course the price has got to be right. Radius ticks all of those boxes,” he said.
A lot has happened during the past decade of technological evolution and my time at EG. The iPhone has largely replaced the Blackberry as the device of choice in this industry and the evolution of data and subsequent launch of Radius Data Exchange will replace the use of incomplete, inaccurate and untimely data.
Tom Pilkington is senior product manager at EG
