Real estate professionals should take note of the major technology trends this year that could be applied to their business, allowing them to beef up their outreach and marketing campaigns. An article in Forbes recently highlighted the top seven technology trends of 2016, and here are three we think can be applied to your business.
1. Virtual reality & augmented reality
Whether you want to show off an empty room staged virtually with augmented reality, or teleport your clients to a far away home listing, a virtual reality headset can do both. With the debut of tools like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive this year finally bringing VR to the masses, the implications for real estate could be huge.
2. Live streaming
Numerous real estate agents have already adopted live streaming technologies to broadcast information about their listings, host coaching sessions and more. Live streaming is probably among the fastest growing technologies right now, with platforms including Facebook Live, Periscope and Twitch all proving to be hugely popular.
3. Big Data
Although Big Data has been a buzzword for several years, it’s only just beginning to go mainstream. Businesses from almost every industry are now seeing the advantages of collecting data on their customers. One particular trend is data visualization, which refers to advanced software programs that can automatically generate useful insights from company’s data. As RealtorMag reported earlier this summer, real estate pros are already adopting Big Data in numerous ways to boost their business.
We're primarily in the first one - developing for the HTC Vive, but see Live Streaming and Big Data as part of our strategy, as we stream user experiences of their VR experience and collect user data from all the different experiences. :D.