Aspasia, which pioneered web-based lettings and property sales software for agents, is to score another first.
Its radical new product will be released around the end of this year, and will be called Aspasia Cloud.
It takes advantage of what the internet world is calling the next step-change in technology and which is taking America by storm – cloud computing. In the US, 2,000 companies a week are signing up to the cloud.
The impact on the UK agency world is likely to be substantial, with vast savings and much greater efficiency – with no operating system licence fees and no need, ever, to buy updates or maintain expensive servers. One blue chip company using cloud technology has slashed its annual IT bill from £500,000 a year to £25,000.
Its radical new product will be released around the end of this year, and will be called Aspasia Cloud.
It takes advantage of what the internet world is calling the next step-change in technology and which is taking America by storm – cloud computing. In the US, 2,000 companies a week are signing up to the cloud.
The impact on the UK agency world is likely to be substantial, with vast savings and much greater efficiency – with no operating system licence fees and no need, ever, to buy updates or maintain expensive servers. One blue chip company using cloud technology has slashed its annual IT bill from £500,000 a year to £25,000.
Word processing and emailing will be integrated within Aspasia Cloud for those who choose to use cloud rather than their deskbound equivalents, although it will still bbe possible to use the old methods if required.
Because the cloud revolution is about connectivity rather than products, it would be possible for an estate agency IT system to consist purely of a portable cheap Netbook per member of staff, costing about £200 each, and some form of internet connectivity such as ADSL, Wireless or 3G mobile phone and Bluetooth, so that it can be used in the office, at a customer’s home or wherever – the point being that it is “always on”.
Stewart Anderson, chief executive of Aspasia, said: “Analogies are being drawn between cloud computing and what Edison did for electricity.
“Prior to the grid, if you wanted electricity you had to own a generator and make your own. But then Edison facilitated the structure to allow you to buy electricity on demand with no capital expenditure. This is where computing is now going.
“Businesses will no longer need to invest in hardware systems, manage software upgrades and retain expensive in-house IT teams.”
With cloud computing, electronic information is stored and processed somewhere else – in the cloud – and delivered when, where and how it is needed.
It is the total opposite of the ‘closed’ systems that agents are familiar with, whereby documents and spreadsheets are stored on computers. With the cloud, it is the internet itself that is the operating system. Cloud technology also allows users to draw down emails, music, videos and every other type of information.
Anderson said: “With cloud computing, businesses can access all the applications they need from any device that can access the internet, not just expensive and complicated PCs with all their associated baggage like viruses and the stream of irritating system updates. Agents should not underestimate the fundamental change in computing that is going to occur as we enter the next decade.
“Agents will now be able to compete head on with the upsurge in new ‘let’s cut the agent out of the loop’ products that are beginning to materialise, by offering their professional services in a new fashion more suited to our digital age.”
Anderson, who has personally developed the new Aspasia Cloud product, said: “The recession has in fact really helped us because we have had customers saying, ‘We need to do things in a different way’.”
Existing Aspasia customers will be able to choose to continue with their existing service, or be migrated – free – to Aspasia Cloud, even though Anderson describes it as a totally new product.
Because the cloud revolution is about connectivity rather than products, it would be possible for an estate agency IT system to consist purely of a portable cheap Netbook per member of staff, costing about £200 each, and some form of internet connectivity such as ADSL, Wireless or 3G mobile phone and Bluetooth, so that it can be used in the office, at a customer’s home or wherever – the point being that it is “always on”.
Stewart Anderson, chief executive of Aspasia, said: “Analogies are being drawn between cloud computing and what Edison did for electricity.
“Prior to the grid, if you wanted electricity you had to own a generator and make your own. But then Edison facilitated the structure to allow you to buy electricity on demand with no capital expenditure. This is where computing is now going.
“Businesses will no longer need to invest in hardware systems, manage software upgrades and retain expensive in-house IT teams.”
With cloud computing, electronic information is stored and processed somewhere else – in the cloud – and delivered when, where and how it is needed.
It is the total opposite of the ‘closed’ systems that agents are familiar with, whereby documents and spreadsheets are stored on computers. With the cloud, it is the internet itself that is the operating system. Cloud technology also allows users to draw down emails, music, videos and every other type of information.
Anderson said: “With cloud computing, businesses can access all the applications they need from any device that can access the internet, not just expensive and complicated PCs with all their associated baggage like viruses and the stream of irritating system updates. Agents should not underestimate the fundamental change in computing that is going to occur as we enter the next decade.
“Agents will now be able to compete head on with the upsurge in new ‘let’s cut the agent out of the loop’ products that are beginning to materialise, by offering their professional services in a new fashion more suited to our digital age.”
Anderson, who has personally developed the new Aspasia Cloud product, said: “The recession has in fact really helped us because we have had customers saying, ‘We need to do things in a different way’.”
Existing Aspasia customers will be able to choose to continue with their existing service, or be migrated – free – to Aspasia Cloud, even though Anderson describes it as a totally new product.
%20A%20property%20tale%20for%20our%20times.png)
Comments
Cloud computing is a somewhat nebulous and overused umbrella term for a range of hosting and storage technologies. Aspasia may or may not have a decent software offering (I have heard generally nice things about them) but regardless, whether they host in the cloud or on dedicated infrastructure is entirely irrelevant to most agency users. Browser based applications have been around for several years. Better concentrate on development rather than over-promising months before release. Another pointless PR piece.
As a user of Aspasia and probably one of SPAs users who take advantage of the majority of the system (we are 99% paperless !) this is a fantastic new step. As long as the security and backup process is constructed adequately 'off-cloud' then this will totally make us re-think our IT infrastructure.
There seem to be a few other software companies commenting on this post and trying to sell in their products. I have been fotunate enough to use 'many' other products and look in the backend structures. They fall very short of the Aspasia system.
You do currently get some 'minor' speed issues but that is the nature of computers and affects all products. This cloud computing takes all that away.
Assuming that using the cloud only needs an internet browser to access it rather than control it, an iphone would easily suffice when out of the office rather than a bulky laptop.
Very much looking forward to seeing this roll-out. Well done SPA.
And there was me thinking Stewart had taken a back seat and was cruising around the world !!!
Charlie, please don’t get too hung up on the “first” thing – I’m not even sure where that came from, probably makes things more contentious and interesting to read! Congratulations on your product and, yes, you are getting much closer to what the article was hinting at – I must confess to not having noticed what thebu2iness.com was doing – must be a London thing – we are out in the sticks. The whole point is that the article is announcing a totally new product and with respect our two offerings are addressing different market segments particularly in terms of functionality and scope although I am sure that will change in time. In the meantime I am sure you will agree there is plenty of room for all and there is nothing wrong with healthy competition which works in favour of our customers, the estate and lettings agents in the UK. I wish you and thebu2iness.com every success.
This really isn't a first. thebu2iness.com has been providing all the cloud computing benefits for over a year now, by utilising Amazons Cloud Computing services S3 and EC2. This is why thebu2iness.com has uniquely provided it's clients with unlimited file storage facilities for over a year already!
I think we should all say thank you to Stewart for his efforts towards the industry, in keeping EA's costs down and for a product that competes with "cut the agent out" merchants. Yes he has a vested intersted in his product and the Stewart I know know is not a natural salesman but he is a genuine bloke who works very hard on making his products work for his clients in the most cost effective way for them. On behalf of the estate agency world I'd be the first to give him a pat on the back and wish him and Aspasia massive success with their new product.
Richard, you are quite right Edison did invent the lightbulb but that was not what I was referring to. I was talking about his company Edison General Electric Company subsequently acquired by the General Electric Co. (GEC) in the USA. Not the national Grid in the UK. My apologies for any confusion.
Glyn, the LetMC model is what the traditional version of Aspasia has provided since 2001, originally referred to as ASP or more recently as SaaS (Software as a Service). Although this is 100% web based and part of the equation, "Cloud Computing" is generally used in a wider context and involves the integration of a much broader set of web based services that present really new exciting opportunities and it is this aspect that is alluded to in the article above. These broader integrations present the opportunity for estate and lettings agents to conduct their business in new ways more suited to our digital age rather than the traditional model that the current version of Aspasia and LetMC deploy. As you will know the traditional agency model is now starting to be threatened from many quarters (indeed from the digital age itself) and Aspasia Cloud is an attempt to redress the balance in favour of our current estate and lettings customers many of whom are looking for something new. You will understand that for competitive reasons I can't give a fuller explanation until Aspasia Cloud is released around the end of the year.
Edison invented the lightbulb. It was Charles Merz and Lord Weir who started the process that ended up with the national grid!
This is not a first, Letmc.com has provided 100% web based (cloud computing) residential lettings software since 2004.
EstateCRM by Estate Solutions already allows users to access the CRM system and data anywhere on any machine and update with or without access to the internet. No upfront costs, no reliance on slow or unreliable internet,no need for servers, IT staff or mobile internet connectivity and the cost is only £70 pcm for a branch. www.estatesolutions.co.uk