NEW TECHNOLOGY You can even, in some cases, retrieve


the owner’s name and phone number. Definitely a new tool for your super-


estate-agent toolbox! Vizzihome is available on subscription from £20 per month.


PROPERTYPRO PropertyPro supply white label Apps to some of the country’s leading agents, but they are also about to launch their all new, singing and dancing iPad App which is designed to impress prospective sellers with your agency’s efficiency and walk away with the instruction. The App will soon be installed at the first client’s offices, Atkinson & Keene in Maidenhead and Windsor; it is available to order from PropertyPro now and should be in the Apple Store in a few weeks. The iPad, aside from being a thing of


beauty and joy to Appleholics, is very straightforward to use, but useful business applications for the device seem to be few and far between, says Hugh McClean at PropertyPro. “Some companies suggest running their agency software in the internet browser, but when you are in a customer’s home, it is not always possible to connect to the internet - with people reluctant or unable to let you use their wireless broadband and 3G coverage patchy and slow. Equally, many agency software packages are primarily back office tools with lots of functionality that is not designed to be customer facing. “When you are in front of a potential vendor in their home you have a single opportunity to impress them with your presentation. This needs to be slick and professional with technology only used if it enhances the experience.” PropertyPro’s starting point was not


“How can we put our software into an iPad”, it was “How can we best use the iPad?” Thus the new App utilises the


Your presentation needs to be slick


and professional, with technology only used if it enhances the experience.’


presentational capabilities of the device; it allows agents to enter property information without needing to be connected to the internet; it gives the opportunity to digitally sign off agency agreements and it can instantly capture photos of the client’s home, taken by the agent (on a decent camera) and loaded onto the iPad. This App also can record your dictation (iPad2 only) of the property descriptions for later transcription and send property information, photos, voice files and signed documents back to your office where these can be integrated to most software.


MI PROGRAM miProgram is designed to carry out Inventories, mid term inspections and check-outs. It also allows for dilapidation reports to be carried out as part of the Inventory Process to save having to duplicate on work and report production. According to Mobile Inventory, who


make miProgram, as well as creating a very robust set of documents, a letting agent can save up to five hours of admin time throughout the period of a tenancy. There are versions for iPhone, iPad and


iPod Touch, Android and Windows Mobile. 95 per cent of their clients go for the Apple version as the devices are easy to use and require almost no support – with miProgram, a user can create an inventory which will meet ARLA, APIP, TDS and the DPS guidelines.


Since the iPhone and iPad version were


released in February, the App is already used by 180 branches; with the planned training and rollouts in place this will rise to over 300 by the end of June. Director Stuart McCormick says, “Users


range from single branch independents, regional multi office companies, national chains, branded franchisees and independent inventory clerks. “The inventory market is becoming


commoditised and miProgram helps both letting agents and inventory clerks make the process of producing inventories and subsequent documents a more profitable element of their business. “Some of our clients who wish to carry


out inventories in-house have been able to do so because this previously time consuming task has been reduced to a much simpler process whilst still producing a robust and fully detailed Schedule of Condition/Inventory.” A telling sign was when demonstrating


the software to an independent inventory clerk, who had already agreed that the finished result was excellent, their comment was, “The only problem is that the Agent can do my job themselves.” The cost typically for the term of a


tenancy if the agent carried out all the phases the software allows is £9.95. This works out at about £1.25 per document.


REPORTS2GO Reports2go is a multi faceted App that offers assistance with check-ins, check- outs, periodic checks and full inventories. It is available for Android phones and Windows Mobile PDAs like HTC. An iPhone App is in development due for release very soon. The services provided by the App are


managed by a portal, which, says Minesh Patel of Reports2go, has quite a rich set of features. “The portal allows a whole multi- branch network to be supported. It has the ability to have users with different levels of authority – branch admin, booking clerks, inventory clerks, end client etc. “In a branch setup, a ‘Booking Clerk’


Photos, dictation, details, data, notes, prices – the whole world on a tiny App!


would take the request for a job to be done and assign the job to an inventory clerk (which might be another colleague, an external provider or themselves, all of whom can have a login). In the case of a single inventory clerk doing everything, it is simple to have a couple of logins which cover all of the required functions to create jobs, assign jobs and actually conduct and download jobs.”


PROPERTYdrum JULY 2011 47


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