Editor’s Note: “eXp Insider” is our new continuing series in which we share what’s happening behind the scenes within eXp Realty. Learn from eXp’s Chief Product and Technology Officer Scott Petronis about our upcoming launch of the eXp Enterprise app. The Enterprise Fact Sheet is also available for download, click here.
Q. I’ve heard others talk about Enterprise. What is it?
Enterprise is our new proprietary platform that manages all of the company’s critical processes and information, including agent details, transactions, commissions and revenue share. We’re gearing up for the first company-wide release, but we wanted to give you a quick look at what’s on the horizon.
For the last couple months, eXp staff has been using Enterprise for back office workflow management and to implement Operation Payment Express, an initiative to speed up commission payments to agents. A few agents and brokers have tested Enterprise to gain better transparency into their transactions and payments.
Q. Why did you build a totally new broker platform?
Onboarding thousands of new agents in 2016 was a huge undertaking. We needed one platform to run our business, and who better to build it than the people who know the ins and outs of the complex real estate transaction process – us!
As eXp continues its explosive growth, it is important to strengthen and improve our business infrastructure to match that pace; Enterprise will be another step in that direction.
Enterprise will create greater efficiency, accountability and visibility by eliminating redundancy, improving integration and reducing vendor dependencies.
Q. What will agents and brokers be able to do in Enterprise?
Our goal is to create a unified and collaborative experience for agents, brokers and staff with Enterprise. The formal launch will be a first step toward that goal.
In the cloud there are no business hours or time zones. Enterprise will give eXp agents and brokers autonomy and greater visibility into their individual transactions and overall revenue.
Soon agents and brokers will be able to use Enterprise to get direct visibility into the metrics and information that’s crucial to their real-time needs.
- Agents will be able to view the current status of their transactions and commission payments.
- Brokers will be able to manage approvals and workflow.
Q. How will eXp staff use Enterprise to better serve agents and brokers?
We still have a lot of work to do to bring more autonomy to agents and brokers, but, currently, eXp accounting and agent services staff are able to manage:
- Agent Onboarding: A new onboarding process streamlines the flow of joining agents using centralized information capture, approvals and account creation to reduce multi-entry and eliminate errors.
- Transaction Processing: Agent transactions are automatically pulled into the system to validate details, streamline approvals, automatically notify participants and push closed transactions directly through for payments.
- Financial Oversight: Agent commissions, revenue share, splits and other crucial financial details are standardized and applied with auditable rigor.
- Modular Growth: eXp Realty has the ability to constantly enhance and build out capabilities that meet the needs of all company stakeholders as and when we need.
Q. This sounds like just another place I have to log in and do something. Do I have to use Enterprise, can’t I just use SkySlope?
All of eXp’s critical processes and information will run in Enterprise. Agents will continue to submit transactions in SkySlope for broker review, but it is linked to Enterprise. One of the key benefits of Enterprise is the autonomy and greater visibility into individual transactions and overall revenue.
Soon there will be a number of functions for agents and brokers that will only be available in Enterprise:
- View/review disbursement agreements
- View/review settlement statements
- View/review revenue share calculations
- View/review equity program and share grants
- View/review/modify agent profile details
Plus, starting next week, disbursement and settlement notifications will start automatically being generated from Enterprise to offer more visibility into the transaction process.
Q. What’s next?
What I’m most excited about is that Enterprise will help us not just keep the pace, but outpace the industry.
As a web application, eXp can continuously add new features and functionality to Enterprise. Over time, we will integrate more processes, reducing the need to go from one system to another; provide greater visibility through enhanced dashboards; and enhance integrations with partner systems to eliminate multiple log-ins. We are committed to continuous feature expansion and improvement based on feedback.
Q. How do I access Enterprise and what should I do?
Soon everyone will be able to log-in to see information specific and important to them. On your first visit, you’ll want to look at:
- Profile: Make sure your information, photo and bio is up to date.
- Finance: Review your equity and revenue share information.
- Transactions: Check out your active and closed transactions.
- Contact support: Send direct notifications to support when you need assistance.
More information will be available next week as we start to make Enterprise available to a broader audience. If you have any immediate questions, please email [email protected].
Q. Is there a training course, or how else can I learn how to use it?
We will offer short video tutorials and other active help methods. Our goal — and we’re not there yet — is to make the interface and experience highly intuitive so anyone can quickly get started.