…and it’s raising the bar in every sector
I remember standing in a room in the late nineties, watching a demonstration of what was then the next shiny new idea – the corporate website.
It loaded slowly. The design was garish. The functionality was, by contemporary standards, basic.
When the demo was over, an elderly gentleman, a credible and successful business leader, who had been staring intently at the computer monitor, turned and shook his head.
“It will never catch on,” he said.
It’s easy to laugh at that now, but at the time, it didn’t sound ridiculous. It sounded… cautious. Sensible, even.
And yet here we are.
Because what that moment really showed wasn’t a lack of intelligence, it was a lack of foresight and failure to recognise how quickly a shift can go from optional to mandatory.
Which brings us to now.
Because whether we like it or not, we’re standing at a similar point again, only this time, it’s AI. And I’ve said it before in a previous Natter, there are some technological advances that create fundamental change and this is one of them.
The database illusion
Elsewhere in this week’s EAT features section, you can read a piece by my friend and colleague, Craig Vile, on what’s been described as the ‘database illusion’.
For years, agents have been told their database is their biggest asset. It’s repeated so often it’s almost become a natural law of estate agency.
But the reality is that most databases are nowhere near as valuable as we like to think they are.
They’re bloated. Out of date. Poorly segmented. Full of contacts that haven’t been meaningfully engaged with in months, sometimes years.
And yet we still talk about them as if they’re gold.
That’s the illusion.
Because in practice, ‘working the database’ usually means someone sitting there, manually trawling through records, making calls, sending emails, trying to spark conversations one by one. It’s time-consuming, inconsistent and usually the first thing that slips when things get busy.
Now compare that to what’s starting to emerge.
Systems that don’t wait to be told what to do. That are constantly scanning, triggering follow-ups, sending messages, prompting action. Not once a week when someone has time, but perpetually.
The difference isn’t subtle.
A neglected database stays quiet. An active, automated one behaves more like a radar, constantly looking for opportunity, constantly nudging it into view.
That’s where automation wins hands down. AI doesn’t get tired, it takes no leave, never falls ill and works around the clock.
What’s that you say? What about the clients? They’ll never talk to an AI Bot! Oh yeah – just like they never got used to Google.
The change people are still underestimating
There’s a pattern to how new technology is adopted.
First, it’s dismissed. Then it’s questioned. Then it’s everywhere.
Today, AI is somewhere between the second and third stages.
There’s still a tendency to treat it as something experimental, but that window doesn’t stay open for long.
Because AI isn’t just improving efficiency. It’s raising client expectations in every sector.
Faster responses. Better follow-up. More consistent communication. Smarter use of information. These don’t remain differentiators; they become the baseline. The bare minimum.
We’ve seen it before. With portals, with CRMs, with digital marketing.
The agents who treated those shifts as optional didn’t stay competitive for long.
AI will be no different.
The real risk is inertia
The biggest risk here isn’t AI. That’s here to stay. The real threat is inertia.
It’s the belief that there’s still time. That things will settle. That you can wait and see.
Because most change doesn’t feel dramatic while it’s happening. It feels gradual. Easy to manage. Something you’ll get around to in the fulness of time.
Until suddenly it isn’t.
And by the time it’s obvious, the shift has already taken place.
This is where the wider changes across the sector start to connect.
The rise of larger platforms, more integrated systems, a growing dependence on data, automation and end-to-end workflows.
Different approaches, same direction: less friction, more speed, better use of information.
The only real question is who moves with it and who waits.
If that comment from the nineties tells us anything, it’s this:
The biggest shifts rarely look convincing at the start.
They appear clunky, slightly underwhelming and are easy to dismiss.
Right up until the point they become expected, mandatory even.
And when that happens, the people who moved early don’t look super smart, they just look prepared.
Until next time,
N.
PS – One small habit I swear by: Hey, Siri! Call (say phone number out loud) while working at my desk with the phone in front of me.
If you’ve got a story you’d like to Natter about, email [email protected]