Information is accessed through a variety of devices, giving brokers a lot of flexibility (credit: Avel Chuklanov).

SAN FRANCISCO—Financial markets are in turmoil, and the future is volatile and unclear. As a result, companies are reviewing contracts to identify areas for cost-cutting and expense trimming.

With this unprecedented global economic shakeup, Industrial Science Renaissance/IndSR, an IT consulting group serving the commercial real estate industry, is allowing brokerages and agents free use of Foundry for the remainder of 2020. Foundry is property customer relationship management and prospecting back-office platform.

"By emphasizing fiscal responsibility through the reduction of operating expenses, brokerages and agents will be able to navigate these transitional markets with far less impact on their bottom lines," says IndSR founder Rick Peltz. "Foundry allows brokerages to be unconstrained from expensive contracts and unnecessary commitments. Our solution empowers brokerages and agents to own their deal management, property and CRM solution, and redirect their resources as a capital investment adding profits to their bottom line for years. All Foundry clients will receive a ROI in less than two years and in most cases less than one, making it a capital investment, not a recurring expense."

Peltz says managing deals and data has long been a challenge to brokerages, going back to when microcomputers began to communicate via local area networks prior to the Internet.

"Today, servers are leveraged via the cloud on the Internet and accessed through most any device, and brokerages and agents have transitioned to the solution that supports them the best," he tells GlobeSt.com. "Regardless of the solution, the information to support the deal has changed little, however, the costs to access the data and support the deal has."

Enterprise deal, property and CRM are an all-encompassing suite of applications. When each area is populated, information is used to complement with current information that can be shared among agents and management in one or many offices of a brokerage. It all begins with information about a building: total square foot, number of floors, units, elevators, parking spaces, photos, tenant/unit mix, vacancies, etc. CRM is a three layer set of data that begins with company, then offices and then contact(s).

"Access to CRM, deal and property information has never been easier. Importing this information into each module takes time and if done properly, can make the entire experience effective and efficient," Peltz tells GlobeSt.com. "Managing the deal transaction is pretty straightforward and requires structure and collaboration in order to get to the finish line so fees are collected and paid out. Databases are relational in design, eliminating the need for duplicate data or manual data entries. The application is where the glue is, and that better be simple and intuitive."