Speeding Up Transactions... Full Disclosure: In July 1996, Bill Millichap at Marcus & Millichap bought the very first PikeNet banner ad. Ever since, I've admired his superb business acumen. Just kidding. But Marcus & Millichap certainly is one of the leaders in leveraging the Internet. So it was fun to visit their San Francisco office recently where Rick Peltz, Chief Information Officer, and Hessam Nadji, Chief Marketing Officer, demonstrated their tech initiatives, which include Mnet, MapNet and iManage.

Marcus & Millichap's Mnet makes newly listed properties instantly available to its 600 investment brokers and provides proprietary data on over 700,000 properties nationwide. MapNet generates demographic and mapping data from SRC with custom templates designed for the various property specialties. Say that you're racing out the door to discuss a retail listing with a prospective client. Bang. Just run the appropriate MapNet template, and you'll generate the relevant demographic information to impress the owner.

But the really interesting technology is Marcus & Millichap's new collaboration platform based on software from iManage. After a prospective buyer has signed a nondisclosure form, a newly created, private web site displays detailed property information and offers a wide variety of features to facilitate collaboration, including Discussion Threads, Marketing Milestones, Team E-mail, a Marketing Calendar and Escrow Contacts.

Initially this collaboration tool will target "major sales" (over $10 million), a growing part of Marcus & Millichap's overall sales. For example, in 2001 the National Multi Housing Group completed major sales of 50 apartment properties, totaling more than $1 billion. According to Peltz and Nadji, demand for a collaboration web site is strongest at the $10 million and above range. They argue that Mnet, MapNet and iManage improve client satisfaction and provide a competitive advantage for Marcus & Millichap professionals.

KPMG Seminar and Vendor Fair... I'll be speaking at KPMG's Corporate Real Estate conference in New York City on Tuesday, July 30, on the topic, Reality Check: Striking the Right Balance between People and Technology. If you're a corporate real estate professional and would like to attend, please e-mail KPMG's Chris Davidson or call 203-406-8426.

--Peter Pike