Is Quicker Better? Or Just Quicker?

Technology "Savings"... The last Dispatch before my July 4th break, Do $100 Office Rents Make Brokers More 'Productive'?, generated contrasting reader comments.

Steve Hufendick with NorthMarq Capital in Minneapolis, MN, puts technology in perspective. "Though I am one that embraces technology with a warm handshake, as opposed to open arms, there is little question in my mind that a notebook PC, a wireless card, some good software, e-mail, and a cell / PDA are akin to using an air powered wrench to remove your flattened tire's lug nuts as opposed to vice grips."

David Berger with Colliers International in Miami, FL, is skeptical about savings. "Finally someone realizes it... Tech tools create greater cost of operations! From the very beginning when companies were setting up the infrastructure, buying computers, acquiring the software, hiring in-house techs, etc., etc., I did not see the savings. I only saw the cost of investment and maintenance."

Christine Clark, an Information Management Consultant for Pyramid Brokerage Company, Syracuse, NY, believes technology has improved productivity at her company. "One story says it all. The day after we implemented a new property and listing database, an agent ran out of his office waving a bunch of papers, shouting at the top of his lungs, 'Fifteen minutes! I searched, I selected and I printed a tour report.' And then he slapped the pile on an admin staffer’s desk and said, 'I’ll never have to wait for one of these again.' The staffer was pretty happy, too. She was the one who used to have to type all those reports."

PikeNet Sabbatical... Dear reader, as I've recently told many of my friends, I will not send out the Dispatch in 2007. After ten years of publishing (and writing almost 1,000 issues), I'm ready to take a break! My plans are to read, write and travel. But I will enthusiastically publish the Dispatch through December this year. So blast away with your comments and opinions.