Perhaps more than at any other time in the history of the real estate industry, brokers today find themselves facing a host of daunting challenges everywhere they turn. An industry admired for its winner-take-all entrepreneurial spirit is more intensely competitive than ever.

But now there's a way brokers can increase their profits, productivity and customer service - all without adding a single new agent or leasing an additional square foot of space. Some, in fact, are already doing so.

How? One word: technology.

As it has promised for so long, technology is finally making good on its pledge to make life easier - and the bottom line healthier - for real estate brokers and their firms. By relying on Realty Desktop - an Internet-based software program from Interealty Corp. - growing numbers of leading real estate firms are increasing their profits, and more easily managing transactions from start to finish, all while recording record levels of customer satisfaction.

One such broker is John Reinhardt, president of Fillmore Real Estate, one of New York City's largest privately owned and operated real estate firms.

In the first two months of 2002 alone, Fillmore's business increased 25 percent over the same period last year. What's more, when we asked Reinhardt how many new agents and how much additional office space Fillmore required to boost business to such a degree, he did a quick tally and came up with...zero.

But Reinhardt says Fillmore's financial picture isn't the only beneficiary. Customer service is higher than it's ever been throughout Fillmore's 36-year history, and not surprisingly, that in turn is helping the firm score major points with its growing customer base.

In Reinhardt's words, "Technology helps provide more control of the transaction, which improves customer satisfaction."

But technology is doing much more than just helping brokers better manage transactions. It's helping create new revenue streams. Industry studies show that consumers typically spend $5,000 or more on home-related goods and services within months of purchasing a home - and savvy brokers are tapping into this by implementing technology to establish or enhance their own home services program.

Reinhardt says technology has been instrumental in helping the firm's Home Services Program become the fastest-growing part of the company's business. Reinhardt is so optimistic, in fact, that he predicts a 30 percent increase in the Home Services Program this year alone.

Like the revenue it generates, the Home Services Program itself is growing: Reinhardt plans to expand the number of participating vendors from 15 to 50 this year, "and it's certainly as a result of us implementing Realty Desktop," he believes.

Reinhardt says implementing technology offers other benefits as well. For example, it allows the firm to control the vast array of information flowing between its 20 offices and the main office.

For too many years, technology and its myriad accompanying promises have turned out to be little more than a dangling carrot - so tempting and so close, yet always just slightly beyond our grasp. As John Reinhardt and others will tell you, technology's day has finally arrived, and it is now within reach of all brokers. At Interealty, we're proud of our continuing role in transforming technology's promises into tangible, meaningful benefits for our industry.

Bryan Foreman is president of Interealty Corp., which provides a full line of technology tools, services and support for each segment of the real estate industry, including Multiple Listing Services (MLS), national and regional broker franchises, independent broker owners and agents. Realty Desktop is available to real estate brokers nationwide by calling 1-866-397-3286. More information about Interealty and its products is available at www.interealty.com.