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Last year, I purchased a highly reputed office management software system for my 20 agent firm. While I have no complaint whatsoever with the firm or its efforts, the learning curve is rather extreme and I am faced with having to hire a new office manager as my current manager's family business has failed requiring her to move.
I need to decide whether to stay with what I have, or to purchase another system.
Let me clarify a couple of things so I can help answer your question, if I can. Is your office manager that is leaving the only one who is truly knowledgeable on how to run the software? It sounds like you are happy with the software, but everyone is just not sure how to use it properly--or are you having second thoughts about the software itself? Did the company that sold it to you offer training? Finally, it sounds like you're trying not to have to hire another office manager and instead, properly use the software, is that correct?
Any big software change requires preplanning for training and the switch. Since this is backoffice only, I am assuming your agents will not be involved(?) If you are happy with the software itself, see if the company that sold it to you will provide in-house training for a core group of people, including yourself, depending upon the size of your backoffice staff. If they don't offer training, see if there is a company that provides it. If you and your staff have already been trained, then ask for retraining. This may require shutting down your backoffice for a day or two, depending upon the software itself. I am assuming your software is loaded onto your computers and ready to rock 'n roll.
Then hold in-house training for the remainder of your backoffice staff and immediately begin using the program (very important), with a 1-800 number or local number to call for problems/questions. See if the training company will come back to your office to answer questions after a week of utilization. If you have to train your agents, extreme patience will be needed because they are the shakers and the movers of your firm and it's almost like nailing jello to the wall to get them to focus on computer stuff when their heads are in shaking and moving. If your agents have an assistant, they will turn to him/her for computer questions.
Finally, ask the company that sold you the software if there is another firm using it or if there is a user group or listserv you can join to share information about the utilization of the program. There is nothing like getting a group of users together for lunch and picking brains, or posting questions on a listserv with IT techs and software gurus reading and answering those questions(although beware, as there can be many ways to do one thing).
Since the learning curve is so high, the company that sold you the software should provide training for you so you're not left flapping in the wind by yourself. Your level of training and investment in training should depend on how much you spent on your software and how big of a change it is.
If you've already taken these steps, I hope you do not feel I've insulted your intelligence. I know you asked only managing brokers answer your question, and while I am not familiar with real estate software, I can share my experience with implementing big office management software changes in law firms. Good luck with your transition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomocox
Last year, I purchased a highly reputed office management software system for my 20 agent firm. While I have no complaint whatsoever with the firm or its efforts, the learning curve is rather extreme and I am faced with having to hire a new office manager as my current manager's family business has failed requiring her to move.
I need to decide whether to stay with what I have, or to purchase another system.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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I just use Quicken/Quick Books to keep track of finances. I write all the checks from the computer. I hire a personnel service to pay my hourly employees and do the payroll taxes, W2s etc. (I tried the trial version of payroll in Quicken and found it bothersome. I have a few Excel Speadsheets to keep track of and that's about it.
I fill out 1099's by hand but I only have a 1/4 of the agents that you do.
I'd be interested in hearing what your back office software does and what you pay for it, either in up front costs or annual maintenance.
Carolac, insulting my intelligence? I don't think anyone so thoughtful as you can do that. I truly appreciate your essay.
2bindenver, there are only 2000 offices using this system and most of them are not in my area.
DMensha, I was using QB and it worked fine with 5 agents, but with 20, the situation became a bit more problematic. I think I will ride out the storm here with about 12-15 agents, so your idea is good, but in the gray area.
Carolac, insulting my intelligence? I don't think anyone so thoughtful as you can do that. I truly appreciate your essay.
2bindenver, there are only 2000 offices using this system and most of them are not in my area.
DMensha, I was using QB and it worked fine with 5 agents, but with 20, the situation became a bit more problematic. I think I will ride out the storm here with about 12-15 agents, so your idea is good, but in the gray area.
It will be a hard call.
My "old" company used QB's for about 50 agents and got along fine. It's all in the setup and in the expertise of the person using it. It will totally track all the 1099 info needed as well as calc the commissions, fees, etc, and then print the 1099's at year end. My current company uses it, too, for about the same number of agents. Since being an office manager is what I did in my "former life" I know it can work well. However, I've seen people who thought they knew what they were doing make a total mess of the books. OTOH, if you've got somebody who really knows accounting and knows what they're doing - it's probably about the easiest and cheapest software out there.
I would like back office and property management combined. My LW software is too difficult for our users. We just have 5 agnets, and producer about 23 mil in sales, and my accountant wants to use Quick Books but I want something that is already framed for real estate. Any more ideas, I checked out UDS which is great for larger offices but too expensive for me I think.
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Maybe there's hope for this old geezer.
