Remember back in the old days when job positions were more specialized? Managers and data entry clerks rarely performed the same daily tasks at work – before cross-training became the biggest buzzword in HR, that is.

These days, companies don't have to spend as many resources training team members how to do different departmental functions. The nature of the work industry has changed, and the tech savvy professionals entering the labor market are comfortable with using technology to help them complete tasks outside of their professional comfort zones.

Haven’t you noticed how much smoother businesses are run? It’s all because of improved integration, Which still has a ways to go before it is seamless. There are still many turf wars in the background causing this process not to be as easy as it could be. But here’s how it can help the CRE industry:

1. Consolidating data

The best part about working in today’s market is having programs that communicate and sync with each other. Customer relationship management programs, analytic software, and marketing platforms can all be integrated into one easy-to-use program that essentially does the job of an entire office for you. This means that you can get all of your important data from one source, making it much easier to keep track of all the changes in the real estate market as they happen in real time.

2. Working together to reach a common goal

Like other competitive business sectors, success in the CRE industry requires innovation and forward thinking. Unfortunately, as departments operate in their own little silos, it’s hard for everyone to be on the same page when planning the future of the company. Integration has helped by bringing everyone into the fold together. Marketing, IT, Finance, and all other departments play an active role in the meetings and work together to build a plan that helps the company as a whole.

It allows you not to have to ask other team members at work for information you need to do your job, which just causes everyone involved wasted productivity. It also causes a lot of tension that is not necessary.

3. Creating teams with the best workers

The main purpose of building an integrated working staff is to have a team that’s capable of performing a number of different functions. For this to happen, you’ll need to first hand-pick the best applicants for the job. After all, you don’t want someone who doesn’t even know what cloud technology is to manage your data or create your marketing campaigns, do you?

Another thing to remember is that experience isn’t always the be all, end all of the professional world. Instead, it's one of many valuable attributes that make up an excellent employee. So don't choose someone just because they've worked in CRE the longest, go for the tech-savvy professional who has experience in the field but also has an idea of where the industry is changing and is comfortable with using the software to take your company to the next level.

The Bottom Line

Teamwork is the foundation that builds a strong company, and no better way to get that foundation than through an integrated staff that works together and can tackle projects as a unit. From here on out, you shouldn’t be training sales reps, agents, and office staff, but rather jacks of all trades with specialization in a certain field – a teammate first and an employee second. The other major factor the will come out of this is everyone in your company will know much more about your company.

When you accomplish this, everyone feels so much more connected to the mission and business plan that we are working so hard to execute day in and day out. This will lead to everyone becoming much more equipped to speak to that giant world of potential new customers out there —which will lead to more business coming from places you would least expect.