PULSE JOURNEY - HOW FAR WE ’ VE COME
BY BELLA PULJ AND ISABELLE WALKER
The network effect is a term used for a situation where the increased numbers of people or participants improve the value of a good or service .
This is an exciting concept for our group , as we have the most people and by definition should be best placed to receive the most benefit .
Pulse is something that exemplifies the power of network effect . In 2016 we had a pretty rudimentary analytics platform that few people used . The first iteration of Pulse was developed out of a Curiosity presentation from a corporate team member at the time , Adam Downes , who ’ s now a business owner .
A simple drawing on a napkin handed to our internal team of developers after Adam ’ s Curiosity opened the door to a world of opportunities . He had an idea that we should be putting much more relevant information in front of our members and business owners on how they are performing , and sharing these vital statistics in comparison with the broader group . It was thought this could be a great tool for leaders to understand where the successes and where the opportunities were .
This was initially built out in Tableau , which was a bit clunky , but it included business leader recognition . It then developed a lot further into a format that we have now . It extends to analysis of the relative success of each method of sale used . It incorporates a world view , giving everyone visibility of what ’ s happening in the broader market trends in regards listings , sales , auctions bidders , loan approvals and so on . Many Ray White Capital customers often ask for a Pulse World View demonstration to help them with their investment decisions .
Since 2019 , our internal team of developers have continued to enhance Pulse while rolling out two additional , home grown platforms , exclusive to Ray White members : Stockboard and Radar .
The value and success of our home grown applications is directly proportional to the size of our network and high engagement of our members . The greater the number of members using our products , the greater the network effect - and the greater the value created by the platforms .
One System allows us to ingest data from a single source and deliver those insights on Pulse and Stockboard . The size , strength and willingness of our group is what has allowed us to deliver the Pulse Suite .
Our members have been heavily involved in the process of development and are able to have an influence on the features and functionalities we deliver . This extends from providing feedback , to taking the time to pilot these platforms at early stages to get them where they are today .
Pulse has made it possible to remove spreadsheets and documents at an individual office level and bring everyone onto a platform that can deliver automation and insights , creating a competitive advantage for our group and members .
The decision to develop more and more of our own applications like the Pulse Suite clearly demonstrates our determination to control our data and the digital future we intend to lead . Moving forward as a group with access to real-time data for consumers has never been more important .
The Profit Team has done amazing work over the past eight or so years producing their profit book . It started manually , and required a lot of work post year end , and delivered the industry ’ s only accurate benchmarking tool to assess the financial performance across all financial metrics . This put us in alignment with our business owners , and doing what all responsible franchisors should be doing . We ’ ve just released Profit Pulse - it ’ s a real time profit book providing confidential benchmarking for business owners - no waiting for the year end . We have 140 businesses accessing it now - we can only guess how powerful it will be once everyone is involved .
We ’ ve also released Property Management Pulse , giving our PM teams and business owners the same opportunities for analysis and benchmarking in this key area of our business . With your engagement we ’ ll provide the first industry platform delivering not only personal and business performance results , but also market insights and confidential benchmarking in real time .
46