Realtors in Pinellas County, Fla., have converted to MarketLinx Inc.’s TEMPO 5 multiple listing service (MLS) system, a process the vendor is touting as "a model of customer service."
The transition "was one of the smoothest I’ve experienced in more than 20 years," Jan Dean, director of information services for Suncoast MLS and the Pinellas Realtor Organization, said in a press release issued by MarketLinx.
Business reports are "amazingly fast" and listing maintenance is "extremely efficient," PRO’s chairman of the board reports.
The transition to TEMPO 5 went less smoothly for members of the San Diego Association of Realtors (Sandicor) this summer, as broker-owner and Inman News columnist Kris Berg reported at the time.
"The new software is as intuitive as the Bush administration," Berg wrote in June. "For a profession where the barriers to entry include a number two pencil and an opposable thumb, we have a software system seemingly developed by a rabid badger holding a doctorate in quantum physics and a grudge."
Sandicor acknowledged that the upgrade — which also included the addition of a "key fob" security measure, SafeMLS — "presented some challenges." But association officials said they remained confident "that TEMPO 5 will provide yet again a valuable resource and data security to real estate professionals and consumers."
This time around, MarketLinx says it provided the Pinellas Realtor Organization’s members with access to the company’s AnswerLink call center, and conducted "dozens" of broker office visits to answer questions and provide on-site training in the weeks before the conversion.
"Everything MarketLinx did to accomplish the conversion should be duplicated and used as a standard for other MLS organizations," Dean said in a statement.
***
What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor.
