Keller Williams technology is focused on shaping the real estate industry of the future. From the AI-powered virtual assistant (Kelle) and smart cloud (Keller Cloud), to the unending development of the real estate-specific operating system (KW Command) and several research and development partnerships. KW is changing how real estate agents do business.
How Is Real Estate Technology Changing?
It’s no secret real estate technology is a shifting landscape. “The fourth industrial revolution driven by big data and artificial intelligence has created a turning point in the real estate industry,” said Gary Keller, CEO/Co-founder of Keller Williams Realty. “Right now, it’s agent-enabled tech versus tech-enabled agents, and platform versus bolt-on technology. Whoever has a tech-enabled platform for real estate agents will be in the battle for the most successful platform – one consumers want to use.”
The best part is Keller Williams is leading the race to achieving the best real estate-specific platform. With over two years of collaboration and work with more than 27,000 KW associates, the introduction of KW Command is a timely release considering the real estate industry is in jeopardy of the platform effect.
Keller explained, “The larger your network is, the more data you can collect, which provides you with more insights that you can use to create more value for your users (agents or consumers). For the last couple years, my biggest concern was that someone who wasn’t hired by the agent would build the industry’s first, most robust, AI-driven platform.”
Why this is important is because the KW Command platform allows agents to work in one ecosystem, rather than a convoluted mess of third-party software programs. Command is the answer agents have been looking for.
What Is KW Command?
KW Command is one piece of the puzzle that is transforming Keller Williams into a world-class technology company. We have set out to revolutionize real estate by putting agent’s data back into their hands, instead of sharing it with countless other technology companies whose main goal is to use it to compete against us.
Command has been designed and continuously developed in partnership with in-house technology experts and top KW agents around the world. Our competitors, on the other hand, partner with tech companies to tweak their existing technology (bolt-on technology). This leaves the door wide open on who owns the data. The people who control the data control the business. At KW, you own all of your data.
With KW Command, agents can optimize and seamlessly run their business with ease by addressing needs that typical CRMs do not offer:
- Personalized Marketing & Design
- Pipeline Management
- Listings Management
- Workflow & Task Automation
- Email Strategy
- Lead Generation
- Contact Management
- Education & Training
- Collaboration with other KW associates
- Referrals through the largest real estate agent database in the world
- Chat
KW Command is more than just a CRM, it’s a centralized platform that puts agents in control of their database and their business. It also has solutions to the real estate industry’s most recognized issues:
- Problem: Rising cost of technology makes it difficult to build a profitable real estate career.
- Solution: All Keller Williams technology platforms are offered at no additional cost.
- Problem: Traditional real estate technology limits interaction with clients at different stages in their buying/selling journey.
- Solution: Command prioritizes contacts in the agent’s database to ensure timely follow-up and maximizes conversion rates.
- Problem: Real estate data is organized by zip code or boundaries. People search by neighborhood, not these arbitrary boundaries.
- Solution: Data in KW Command is organically organized by neighborhood, allowing agents to zero in on the neighborhoods they service and provide the best information to their clients.
None of this would be possible without the creation of an innovative engine to run the Keller Williams technology platforms. Enter the Keller Cloud.
Keller Cloud – Building Our Home In the Clouds
In real estate technology, an innovation engine in its simplest form is a cloud-based service that has AI (artificial intelligence) built on top of it. The Keller Cloud is a specific cloud environment that leverages our most coveted participants – KW agents. As the largest real estate company in the world, Keller Williams has a huge advantage over competitors when it comes to creating new customer experiences.
Instead of relying on technology companies that offered “bolt-on” products to our associates, KW took a huge leap forward to be responsible for our own destiny. Having a dependent mindset would have resulted in KW not being able to develop a world-class experience for consumers.
“Everything we do is about reaching the consumer.” says Josh Team, president of Keller Williams Realty.
“If our innovation engine allows us to build anything we want in 90 days, that means there is a race any time a disrupter comes into the market,” emphasizes Team. “Be confident that as these disruptors come to take your market share, you have the largest, strongest platform behind you pivoting. In order to be successful, they would have to get more market share than you and your 170,000 fellow agents have combined in less than 90 days. This is our greatest strength.”
The Keller Cloud brings all things together to allow us to continue to offer the best platform for our agents. To be able to provide great real estate technology, like Kelle, we have to be in the cloud.
Meet Kelle – AI Powered Virtual Personal Assistant
You’ve heard of Siri and Alexa. Now meet Kelle, the Keller Williams app that is going to help agents run their real estate businesses with efficiency and profitability.
“If you sat Siri and Alexa down for the day and trained them on The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, that’s Kelle,” says Team.
In the first iteration, Kelle responds to agents via text only, but later versions will include email and likely voice capabilities.
Kelle can help KW agents do the following:
- Get questions answered
- Find/follow associates on KWConnect
- Discover content provided by top associates around the world
- Manage agent-to-agent networks and referrals
- Set/update progress against career goals
- Pull/View market/neighborhood report
- Manage work schedules/calendars
- Access event information
Of course, the more agents use Kelle, the smarter she gets. Using machine learning, she will eventually be helpful with everyday tasks. This will allow the agents to focus on more important tasks for their businesses or their personal lives.
Say hello to Kelle and ask a few questions. Just don’t be surprised if your experience isn’t perfect just yet – that’s the learning process.
The Tech-Enabled Agent
Real estate is and always will be about relationships. That’s why we create technology that helps ensure these essential relationships endure and grow. All while helping you serve your clients’ unique needs and forge a path to your ultimate goal — a business worth owning, a career worth having and a life worth living.
The Keller Cloud streamlines everything you need to manage your business into one convenient, easy-to-access place. Through the power of AI and machine learning, we provide the technology you need to run, grow, and future-proof your business.
This is your path to become the tech-enabled agent.
The tech space for real estate will forever be moving and changing. Keller Williams is dedicated to supporting its associates through all market conditions in real estate, as well as in technology. We have invested $1 billion over the next 10 years to make sure we are top of mind when people think of real estate technology. Come learn more about how our technology can impact your business, as well as your life. We’re 100% behind you!