Brokers to Tech Companies: Fewer Systems, Not More Features

Integration tops brokers' wish list, most brokerage-provided technology sees 15% to 20% adoption and a growing number of firms are building their own tools, new study finds

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Brokerage owners are not asking the technology industry for more capability. They are asking for fewer systems, clean access to their own data and proof that their people will actually use what they buy. When vendors do not deliver, a growing number of brokers are building the solution themselves. Those are the central conclusions of "What Brokers Want From Technology Companies," a new study by T3 Sixty drawn from more than 500 advisory meetings with independents, franchise affiliates, master franchise networks, portfolio holding companies and mega teams.

"The gap between what brokers pay for and what their agents use is stark," said Derek Taylor, senior vice president of technology consulting at T3 Sixty.

Adoption of most brokerage-provided technology sits at roughly 15% to 20%, compared with 40% to 50% for the strongest CRMs. Asked to fix one thing about their technology, brokers named integration more than anything else. Not one broker in the sample asked for another standalone tool built to do a single job. Instead, eight firms have built, are building or have replaced commercial products with in-house tools, several of them assembled with general-purpose AI.

Taylor, the study's lead researcher, added, "Brokers have moved past the single sign-on dashboard. They want one interface that connects the systems they already pay for, and they're done waiting for the industry to build it. In 20 years of working with brokerages, I've never seen them this creative about technology."

The free report identifies nine findings that surfaced repeatedly across brokerages of every size and in markets across the country:

1. Consolidation beats capability.
2. Very few solutions are architected for the buyer with money, such as teams, franchise networks and multi-entity operators.
3. Measurement is the most broken function in the brokerage, at every size.
4. Compliance and transaction review is the top AI use case, but these brokers have not bought it.
5. The system of record will not release its data cleanly or at a predictable price.
6. A consistent challenge is the pricing model, not the price.
7. Adoption is the product.
8. Vendors lose existing customers at migration, not at renewal.
9. Franchisor and platform roadmap silence is freezing third-party purchasing.

Beneath all nine findings sits a tenth, subtler trend: Brokers are building. Five firms in the sample have built or are building core platform components, and three more have replaced commercial products with in-house tools. In every case, the trigger was a measurement or workflow problem existing vendors had not solved. Brokers now underwrite purchases against adoption risk and want evidence of who uses a product and whether it produces results.

"Brokers are great at starting new things, but they are less successful at maintaining them over the long term," said Jack Miller, president and CEO of T3 Sixty. "That creates a real opening for technology companies that understand the market and are willing to solve the problems."

How to Get It
"What Brokers Want From Technology Companies" is available as a free download.

About T3 Sixty
T3 Sixty is the leader in management consultancy and research in the residential real estate industry. Now in its 28th year of operation, the company is also the leading publisher of many annual reports, including the Swanepoel Trends Report, Swanepoel Power 200 and the Real Estate Almanac. For more information, visit www.t3sixty.com.

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SOURCE T3 Sixty