5 reasons why your real estate business needs an online file storage solution

Recent growth in technology has allowed industries worldwide to discover more flexible ways to run their businesses. The adoption of cloud storage solutions is one such advancement, owing to its great flexibility in operating a business from anywhere. It should come as no surprise, then, that file management solutions are currently making an impact in the real estate market.

A typical realtor's job involves managing numerous documents, and frequent travel between multiple property sites and the office, which is definitely exhausting. Switching to the cloud is the ultimate solution for real estate teams looking to run their business more efficiently.

In this article, we'll look at how real estate agents can benefit from WorkDrive, an online file storage solution that helps you manage business documents and collaborate effectively with your team and clients.

Keep your team and your clients on the same page

When real estate professionals can access their business data from any location, their productivity can only increase. WorkDrive allows you to centrally store your company files—such as legal forms, property deeds, purchase agreements, sales contracts, and customer data—and access them from anywhere.

When a potential client requests a property image or a relevant document, you can easily send the files on the go, without rushing back to the office. With an online file management tool, you can also manage your many files effectively and stay organized—allowing you to speed up the process of selling or buying properties.

Getting your team members on the same page can be done easier, too. WorkDrive supports granular access control, which means you can grant or revoke the file or folder access of a team member at any time. You can also work together with your team on documents by leaving comments or providing feedback, which makes the whole review process smoother.

Better internal collaboration

While WorkDrive helps you access files from anywhere, it's also the best team collaboration tool you’ll ever come across. WorkDrive is integrated with the Zoho Office Suite, to meet your needs for creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations using Zoho Writer, Sheet, and Show respectively. You can work together with your team in real time and stay up to date on all the changes at both the Team-Folder and file level.

To top it all off, Zoho Writer is integrated with Zoho Sign, which means real estate brokers can seal deals digitally. You can share contracts and approvals from WorkDrive and convert prospects to customers more quickly.

Improve customer relationships

Closing a real estate deal is no easy task to accomplish. Agents regularly get bombarded with questions from clients throughout the buying and selling process. Storing all the documents in a central space helps you realize quick turnover for all inquiries.

With WorkDrive you can share files of any size while maintaining complete control over them. There are multiple ways you can send documents or property images to your clients based on your business needs:

• If you have a floor plan to share with a group of clients, you can create multiple external links for a file or folder to distribute it to different client groups and closely monitor user activity. You can also add a password to the link, set an expiration date, and request user information.

• You can also directly share files and folders with an email address, in order to deliver the information to a particular client.

• WorkDrive's embed file functionality is a great option when you want to showcase property pictures or brochures on your website. Create embed codes for the files and display them directly on the webpage for your clients to view the current listings.

By delivering the required information promptly, you can impress customers and close deals as soon as possible.

Increase security

Data security is crucial for any business, whether it's a small startup or a big organization. It ensures that all client data and other sensitive information is kept private, safe, and secure.

Real estate databases involve a lot of private and personal information, including customer profiles, government IDs, social security numbers, credit scores, loan agreements, and more. Zoho WorkDrive allows you to store all this data with top-level security. Your files are encrypted at rest with 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and with perfect forward secrecy (PFS) during transit.

Shifting to a cloud content management solution also eliminates the fear of losing data due to a natural or physical disaster. It assures users that their data is stored securely in compliance with the law, and, even if the files are accidentally erased, you can recover and continue working on them.

In addition, if one of your employees loses their device, you can ensure that the data stored on the laptop or mobile gets cleared, with WorkDrive's remote wipe functionality. With this feature, you can secure your business information immediately.

Reduce operational costs

Online file storage solutions are cost-effective for any business size. You can select the plan that works best for your organization and scale up at any time, as your company grows. By opting for an online file management platform, you can save money spent on maintaining your physical servers or paper documentation.

Your real estate business can thrive with WorkDrive, because switching to cloud storage provides more than just remote access to files. It also boosts productivity, enhances security, is more cost-effective, and brings countless advantages to your business.

Many companies have already started harnessing the power of the cloud. Are you ready to start your journey with Zoho WorkDrive? We'd be happy to get you started with a free trial.