Commercial Investment Real Estate is the magazine of the CCIM Institute, the leading provider of commercial real estate education. CIRE covers market trends, current developments, and business strategies within the commercial real estate field.
Issue link: http://cire.epubxp.com/i/92705
Respondents also mentioned SlideShark, a program that allows users to view and show PowerPoint presentations on iPads and iPhones. What to expect in 2013: Microsoſt Offi ce 2013, which is currently available as a free preview, will include a redesigned version of PowerPoint. T e new version includes a zoom feature, a navigation grid for reorder- ing slides on the fl y, and new themes. Google Docs' creatively named pre- sentation soſt ware, Presentations, hasn't seen a major update since 4Q11. The cloud-based program could receive a fea- ture boost in 2013 to match the essential features users have come to expect from Keynote and PowerPoint. Social Media Site Winner: LinkedIn LinkedIn easily won in the social media cat- egory, but CCIM members said they fi nd it benefi cial to use more than one platform. "For business LinkedIn is better than Face- book, but I use them both," says Daniel G. Zelonker, CCIM, broker associate at Miz- rach Realty Associates in Miami. In 2012, LinkedIn started to look more like Facebook aſt er redesigning its home page and company pages. T e new home page resembles the news feed layout seen on Face- book and on Google's social media platform, Google+, and company pages now include a cover photo reminiscent of the landscape image at the top of Facebook profi les. Twitter ranked third behind LinkedIn and Facebook. Survey respondents said Duke Long (@dukelong), owner of T e Duke Long Agency, is the most infl uential commercial real estate person on Twitter. What to expect in 2013: Despite low ini- tial usage, Google remains committed to Google+. In a trend that will continue in 2013, the platform became more integrated into other Google products, notably search results, this year. Businesses that use social media may be reluctant to add another plat- form into their mix. But setting up a Google+ business page and regularly updating it, even with posts that appear on Facebook, could boost search engine optimization. A new social media privacy controversy 38 November | December | 2012 will almost certainly make headlines in 2013. Users can stay ahead of the headlines by reg- ularly checking their social media privacy settings — as well as settings for apps that integrate with social media sites — to ensure they're only sharing what they want to share. Commercial Real Estate Tech Blog Winner: The CRE App Review Commercial real estate professionals have a reputation of being slow to adopt new technology. A few tech blogs focused on the commercial real estate industry are aiming to change that reputation. The CRE App Review was selected as members' favorite. "I love it," says Jenni- fer L. Gray, CCIM, senior vice president of Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services in Southlake, Texas. "Technology is moving so fast. It's great to have a resource like T e CRE App Review." T e blog focuses primarily on apps but also covers mapping, contact management, and marketing. Respondents also men- tioned CREvation and Startups (patrick braswell.info) and CREoutsider as use- ful blogs for tech-related commercial real estate information. Productivity App Winner: Dropbox With hundreds of thousands of apps to choose from, picking one as a favorite can be daunting. So members didn't pick just one. T e majority selected Dropbox, the cloud- based fi le-storage app, as their favorite and then also wrote in a second app. T e free version of Dropbox includes 2 GB of storage and gives users access to fi les synced on their desktop computers, laptops, and other devices. "It makes bringing paper with you obsolete," says Harold S. Alpert, CCIM, broker associate at Alpert Commer- cial Real Estate in Vacaville, Calif. Dropbox is useful for viewing fi les, but it doesn't allow for editing or creating fi les. Evernote, which ranked second in the sur- vey, fi lls that gap by giving users a simpli- fi ed word processing app to capture ideas or reminders while in the fi eld. GoodReader, another popular productivity app among members, costs $4.99 and provides more annotation features across more document types than Evernote. Property Listing App Winner: LoopNet "Both are really good," says Bruce R. Isaac, CCIM, senior vice president of NAI Isaac Commercial Properties in Lexington, Ky., referring to LoopNet and CoStarGo. CCIM members chose LoopNet as their favorite listing app but saw it as a comple- mentary tool to second-place CoStarGo. Both apps are free to download and have additional features for paid subscribers. LoopNet is available on the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, and CoStarGo is only available on the iPad. "One may have information that the other one doesn't," Isaac says. He uses LoopNet for leasing information and turns to CoStarGo for analytics. "T e longer the apps are out there the more complete and accurate the information will become," he adds. T e listing search on both apps is nearly identical. Using the mobile device's GPS fea- ture, CoStarGo and LoopNet allow users to run proximity searches, or users can enter address information to fi nd listings near a specifi c location. Results are fi ltered by prop- erty attributes such as by price, size, and property type. Appreciation for the Basics While advances in mobile technology attract the most attention, CCIM members are pragmatic about their use of technol- ogy. When asked about the most valu- able tech tool for their businesses, several respondents said it was a browser, laptop, or search engine. "Without question my browser is my favorite piece of technology," says Bruce Meringolo of Newmark Associates in Cedar Knolls, N.J. "It provides access to informa- tion that has made the job signifi cantly easier and faster to perform. I can't imagine work- ing in this profession without it!" Dennis LaMantia is interactive marketing man- ager of the CCIM Institute. Scott Lavick, senior business analyst of the CCIM Institute, provided data analysis. Commercial Investment Real Estate