Riding the 100% Adoption Bicycle (Transmission #309)

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[Adapted from Approaching 100% Adoption in Proptech.]

WRITTEN BY: RIVERS PEARCE

The puzzle of technology adoption has been wrestled with for years. Agents and teams who effectively leverage technology can better manage, grow, and scale their businesses—the evidence is clear. Yet despite this proven path to success, widespread adoption remains frustratingly elusive.

It’s not that PropTech companies have been trying to solve the wrong problem—they’ve poured millions of dollars into making their products easier to use through UI/UX design, enhanced training, and robust support systems. Despite the vast resources deployed by tech companies and their brokerage partners, we appear to have reached peak simplification with the available options. Remaining underlying issues won’t be solved via UI/UX design (combined with training & support).

The evolution driven by AI from “point and click” to “describe and done” is poised to finally unjam the current residential real estate technology adoption impasse.

ADOPTION REALITY
The current state of PropTech adoption tells us something crucial: The closer to the transaction, the higher the adoption rate. NAR’s 2024 Technology Survey data regarding technology that agents find very impactful illustrates this clearly:

• eSignature (81 percent)
• lockbox/showing tech (63 percent)
• transaction management (50 percent)

These tools represent core operational services that brokerages provide to facilitate transactions. Unlike marketing or growth-oriented technology, agents don’t typically seek out or bring their own versions of these tools—they’re accepted as part of the brokerage infrastructure. Their purpose is clear and straightforward: They support specific tasks with immediate results. There’s no ambiguity in their use—this operational focus, combined with their simple “input-equals-output” nature, helps explain their higher adoption rates.

In contrast, CRM technology—a critical tool for business growth—is consistently found very impactful by about 35-45% of agents year over year. While CRM ranks as the second-highest source of quality leads (behind only social media), agents often prefer to bring their own solutions. That makes sense when you consider the multifaceted nature of CRM technology. Unlike transaction tools with a singular purpose, CRM platforms are used in vastly different ways: lead generation, database management, contact organization, automated communications, and marketing campaigns. Agents develop their own unique workflows and processes around these various capabilities, making them more personal than transactional tools.

This disparity in adoption rates points to two fundamental truths: Technology adoption soars when both the value is immediate and the use case is straightforward. It also suggests that tools requiring more personalized workflows tend to remain under the agent’s direct control, even at personal expense.

CRISIS IN COMPLEXITY
The technology solutions that power and empower real estate are inherently complex any way you slice it. This is true for “end-to-end solutions,” and the “integrated modular platform/point solutions” approach. All require large amounts of training and expertise to execute on the various functions of the real estate lifecycle.

Compounding this is the fact that agents are 1099 independent contractors, meaning brokerages can’t enforce technology usage/adoption (unless you’re a W2 model brokerage, e.g. Redfin, which would still be an outlier). However, as mentioned, the data shows that agents willingly adopt brokerage tools that enable the transaction (i.e. agents will adopt simple, straightforward tools—especially ones that get them paid). 

But higher producing agents and teams (i.e. the agents all brokerages desire) are most likely to bring their own relationship/database tools to the table. This creates a problematic cycle: An agent’s reluctance to input valuable customer data into a brokerage CRM system leads to low adoption, which in turn devalues these tools in the eyes of both parties. Brokerages maintain expensive systems that go largely unused, yet feel compelled to offer them to remain competitive in agent recruitment and retention. Meanwhile, agents see little value in a system they’re unwilling to fully utilize, further reinforcing their adoption hesitation. The end result is brokerages investing in robust relationship management and integrated marketing tools that primarily serve as costly checkboxes in their technology stack.

And round and round we go…

MULTIPLIER POTENTIAL
Steve Jobs in a famous 1980 interview referenced a study he read in Scientific American that measured the efficiency of locomotion across different species. The study showed that humans were relatively inefficient compared to most animals in terms of energy expended to travel. But add a bicycle to the mix, and we topped the list. Jobs shared, “And that’s what a computer is to me. What a computer is to me is it’s the most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with, and it’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.” 

The latent value in PropTech to amplify agent ability—to become the bicycle for the real estate industry—has always been there.  But unlocking its full potential was only feasible for well-oiled agent teams putting the time, energy, money and effort into extracting it. Until, at least, the paradigm shifting combination of generative and agentic AI created a powerful equalizer able to break the stalemate and reveal pathways to fundamental disruption.

Generative AI provides the intelligence to understand complex requests and adapt to changing conditions, while agentic AI provides the capability to execute tasks across multiple systems. Together, they allow complexity to shift into the background, into the unseen, and unleash the potential for PropTech to deliver the value that has been latent for so long—read this McKinsey piece for a more in depth overview of this evolution.

These changes are appearing across industries—Scott Brinker’s piece on MarTech is another compelling read. The short of it is this: As AI advancement enables more user-friendly interfaces, and interprets natural language commands with increased accuracy, users can better leverage sophisticated technologies without being overwhelmed by their intricacies.

Agentic AI (i.e. independent AI agents interacting with and executing operations across the technology stack) moves complexity behind the scenes and shifts simplicity to the forefront. This new world promises an inverse relationship between software complexity and user experience. 

The implications are profound. 

AI AS THE GREAT FORCE MULTIPLIER
Brinker also highlights howHubspot’s new Breeze Copilot represents this new era. A simple ChatGPT-like text prompt allows Breeze Copilot to execute complex actions and tasks—create a contact, write a personalized email, run a report. Gone are the tedious menus, dropdowns, and screens. ”This new mode of software interaction is a shift from point-and-click to describe-and-done,” he summarizes.

This seismic shift is occurring across industries. OpenAI recently introduced its “Swarm” technology, which allows multiple AI agents to work together to break down complex tasks and orchestrate various tools simultaneously. Meanwhile, Anthropic launched capabilities that enable its AI to directly control computer interfaces. So instead of the AI suggesting a great place to go on vacation and instructing you to where to buy your hotel and flights, agentic AI executes all of those tasks for you (video).

Think about that for a second: AI can now not only understand what you want to accomplish, but can actually execute the tasks across multiple systems. This isn’t science fiction anymore. 

Again, the implications of this shift cannot be overstated. In this new world, complex workflows become simple commands. Multiple systems work together invisibly. Energy and resources are diverted away from training on tool mastery, and focused on strategic thinking and customer experience.

In other words, those who best articulate their desired outcome will achieve the greatest results. 

A NEW MASTERY AT PLAY
The shift from “point-and-click to describe-and-done” transforms everything about how real estate professionals interact with technology. It solves one of the fundamental problems the industry faces: making the complex simple.

Historically, measuring ROI from proptech solutions has been a herculean task for all but the most seasoned and tech-forward practitioners. At best, we could draw correlations between feature usage and increases in production. For example: Users who login daily, log their calls, create audience segments, and send timely emails see an increase of X in leads generated and/or deals closed. However, the difficulty of feature usage as a benchmark for future success rises as software complexity increases.

In this new world, tool usage moves behind the curtain and energy shifts to articulating the desired outcome or goal. While there is no doubt a learning curve associated with mastering goal articulation, it’s arguably much less daunting than tool mastery. How many times have you heard someone say, “I just want the system to do XYZ!!” That is now becoming a reality.

This paradigm shift redefines what proptech adoption means. Instead of measuring feature usage, we measure agents’ ability to achieve desired outcomes through a clean interface (i.e., prompt box). Behind the scenes, AI becomes the power user, intelligently leveraging the full technology stack to deliver results. In this way, agents “adopt” more of the technology than ever before, even though they never directly interact with most of it. This invisible utilization is how we finally approach 100% adoption: not by making tools easier to use, but by making them invisible to the user entirely.

This transformation couldn’t come at a more critical time. As Jeff Corbett explains, the combination of the NAR Settlement and generative AI represents a quantum leap for competitive forces in real estate. Agents and brokerages will need to leverage technology not just to maintain margins, but to meet evolving consumer expectations around both service and cost.

One important factor to note, though: This transformation isn’t about replacing real estate agents—it’s about elevating their role. While AI excels at executing routine tasks and managing complexity behind the scenes, it still requires human oversight and expertise. AI can schedule showings and analyze market data, but it can’t replace an agent’s strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, or negotiation expertise. By handling the rote and complex tasks that previously consumed so much time, AI frees agents to focus on what they do best: building relationships, providing strategic counsel, and applying their market expertise to help clients make better decisions.

Think of it as a partnership where each party plays to their strengths: AI handles the operational complexity while agents focus on the high-value activities that truly impact client outcomes. This isn’t about diminishing the agent’s role—it’s about amplifying it. Breaking down these implications further:

For Agents:

• Energy is redirected from learning tools to more dollar-productive activities.
• Natural language replaces complex workflows.
• Technology truly becomes their force multiplier.
• Focus shifts from tool mastery to outcome articulation.
• Clear and tangible ROI creates stronger incentive to engage with brokerage tools.

For Brokerages:

• Technology training costs plummet.
• Technology stack decisions are simplified through stack optimization based on actual AI utilization (i.e. a monthly report showcasing which tools and their associated features were leveraged by the AI to compose solutions for agent requests).
• Focus shifts to enabling agent outcomes vs. teaching tools, which is more aligned with brokerage competencies around coaching, for example.
• Better agent adoption leads to more valuable data insights.
• Agent churn isn’t impacted by the individual components of a tech stack (thus, fear of agent churn is also reduced).

For PropTech Companies (it’s not as clear…)

• Freedom to build deeply sophisticated solutions and shift resources away from UI/UX design (but this raises intriguing questions about differentiation in an AI-first world).
• While complexity moves to the backend where it belongs, the implications for competitive advantage are still emerging. When every solution has an AI interface, what becomes the key differentiator?
• Traditional metrics based on feature usage will become obsolete, but new success metrics remain undefined. How do we measure effectiveness when the user interface is largely invisible?
• The technology stack hierarchy may shift dramatically. Will data aggregators gain power as AI’s need for comprehensive data grows? Will point solutions thrive in a composable world, or will end-to-end providers maintain their advantage through integrated data and workflows?
• Integration becomes paramount, but questions remain about what form this takes. Will we see a new ecosystem of AI agents communicating with each other? Who controls these interactions?
• As focus shifts from user retention to AI utilization, PropTech companies face strategic choices about their role in the value chain. Is it better to be the platform where AI operates, or the intelligence that guides it?

THE ETCHES OF TRANSFORMATION
While this might sound like a future vision, we’re already seeing evidence of this shift across the industry. 

Real estate brokerages such as Compass, Real Brokerage, and SERHANT are integrating advanced AI tools to enhance agent productivity and client engagement. While these tools are currently more focused on marketing-related tasks (i.e. generative AI that helps with writing emails or property descriptions), some are also beginning to execute operational tasks like scheduling meetings, as well as provide data analysis. SERHANT claims that its S.MPLE platform “has become a transformative tool for agents, streamlining workflows and saving nearly 1,000 documented hours of administrative work.” 

PropTech companies like StackWrap and RealSynch have an opportunity to fold into the tech stack in a way that facilitates this new reality (i.e. by connecting disparate toolsets via API integrations, which serve as the foundational layer for agentic AI). Sidekick’s AI assistant is already integrating into MLS and other proptech tools to augment agent productivity (e.g. market analysis, CMA generation, document analysis, and calendar management).

These early implementations, while focused on specific tasks, hint at the broader transformation ahead. They are simple interfaces and app experiences that sit on top of the complex tech stack hidden safely behind the scenes. Turning these advancements into consumer-facing experiences is the logical next step (as Real Brokerage plans to do in 2025).

RIDE OR DIE
When Jobs spoke of computers as “bicycles for the mind,” he envisioned technology that amplified human capability without requiring mastery of the machine itself. Most people don’t need to understand gear ratios and mechanical advantage to ride a bicycle—they just need to know where they want to go.

Similarly, in this new era of PropTech, agents don’t need to master complex tools—they simply need to articulate their destination. The AI handles the mechanics behind the scenes, much like a bicycle’s gears and chain working invisibly to multiply human effort.

PropTech will finally deliver on its promise–not by making tools easier to use, but by making complexity invisible. The question isn’t whether agents will adopt it, but how quickly they’ll learn to ride.