Recently, I spoke with COO Eric Nielsen and CIO Jon Green, who emphasized two aspects of their company's unusual business culture. First, brokers must work collectively to gather market data. So each broker is responsible for surveying and maintaining his (or her!) "territory." This is the primary data that populates the company's space available and market comparables property information system.

Second, the company provides each broker with a private "home page," MyISIS, to manage biographical and listing information available at the public web site and to monitor internal financial data. So you can see your current listings, lease expirations, as well as commissions paid year-to-date and other personal statistics. Client collaboration is currently facilitated by eRoom technology.

Nielsen and Green are currently working on the "next generation" of MyISIS, which they hope will become the primary "desktop" used by brokers. Each broker will customize his "home page" to include only the elements of programs most frequently accessed, and this page will be accessible from any web browser or mobile telephone. As Nielsen says, "We must be more efficient than our competitors."

--Peter Pike