Real estate and tech fit, despite economic woes.

Despite tough times in the dot.com world, real estate companies should not shy away from new technology initiatives. In fact, according to industry observers at Ernst & Young LLP, the time is right to embrace technology -- especially market-tested, tools; that can offer immediate value by bolstering profits through operational efficiencies.

"Each day costly, inefficient processes in the real estate industry demonstrate the need for technology-enabled performance improvement," says Joseph Rubin, director, of Ernst & Young's Real Estate eBusiness Solutions Group. In a re cent paper; Online Real Estate: The Path to Operational Excellence, Rubin claimed that because real estate is a highly fragmented, transaction-centric, data-intensive industry it is the perfect venue for web-based solutions that deliver on their promise: greater" efficiency leading to revenue enhancement and cost reductions. "Recent softening in real estate markets nationally adds urgency to performance improvement initiatives," he says.

Rubin pointed out that during the past six months the ranks have thinned considerably among real estate-dedicated technology sites, but the weeding out of poor performers is positive. "We are now seeing the consolidation and emergence of market leaders Ernst & Young predicted last year," he says. "The remaining companies that target specific points of pain in business processes and those that can deliver measurable value will be the long-term winners."

Rubin also believes that while the industry has gone flat for now, it won't be for long. "Clearly there are major challenges ahead for the real estate technology space, just as there are for companies in other sectors, most notably the slow adoption rate of web-based technologies," he noted.

But a variety of business processes -- from procurement to accounts payable and workflow management - already enable management to reduce costs, improve communications with customers, and get better control over their operating data. "Accessible, reliable, actionable data is a key goal of web enablement," Rubin said.