iProjects Strengthens CB's Digital Connectivity

Are You Wired to Your Clients?... As I've written frequently, the human protocol is a much bigger challenge than technology. In other words, persuading people to learn and use new Internet services is much more difficult than writing software. So I was eager to poke around a demo area of iProjects, CB Richard Ellis' extranet, with a password supplied by Valeri Ward, Vice President - Business Systems.

According to Ward, iProjects is "designed for sharing information with and about clients and projects." In other words, it's a private web site where CB professionals and clients can collaborate. So of course, you need a login name and password for access. Ward estimates that it takes about 10 minutes to create a site for a client. Features available include Team Members (contact info), Assets (property information and photos), Tasks (action items), Calendars (dates and events), Notes (meeting notes, FAQ's, FYI's), Links (web links to other web sites and document library), Files (uploading, viewing and downloading) and Chat (threaded message area for project-related topics).

Wow, that's a big service. Ward reports that iProjects (but you need a password) has 3-4,000 users with about two-thirds them CB professionals and the other one-third clients. There are about 1,500 active sites covering a range of services, including brokerage, property management and project management. The most interesting aspect to me is that iProjects is not based upon a huge, enterprise CRM application (Customer Relationship Management). But that Ward worked with an outside contractor and created the program in two months! ... NOTE: Joe Fitzpatrick, EVP of Global Corporate Communications, will discuss CB Richard Ellis' Internet strategy at PikeNet 2000.

--Peter