Real estate brokerages face a technology challenge that has little to do with artificial intelligence and everything to do with complexity, according to Matt Fischer, the new chief executive of Lone Wolf. Fischer joined the transaction-management platform earlier this year after more than two decades at Bullhorn, a staffing and recruiting software firm. He said brokerages now juggle separate systems for transactions, customer relationship management, marketing, accounting, signatures and AI, each promising efficiency but collectively creating friction.
The explosion of AI point solutions since the introduction of ChatGPT in late 2022 has made the fragmentation problem worse, Fischer said. Every workflow now has an AI company attached to it, leaving brokerages to spend money on increasingly fragmented technology stacks and agents to become system integrators instead of real estate practitioners. For many agents, that means ignoring new tools to avoid the friction of figuring out how to make them work together.
Fischer did not come up through the real estate ranks. He helped grow Bullhorn from a startup into a market leader and in recent years oversaw the integration of AI into its platform. His outsider perspective combines with his personal experience buying and selling multiple properties. Fischer understood the transaction from the consumer side, without preconceived notions around brokerage operations or transaction management. He said he spent his first months listening to customers, watching how they use the company's products and repeatedly questioning why things are done the way they are.
Technology should eliminate integration bottlenecks such as duplicate entry, repetitive tasks, unnecessary clicks and manual handoffs, Fischer said. Instead of another login, dashboard or AI assistant with a clever name, software needs to get out of agents' way and actually help them, he said. Technology is supposed to simplify and remove effort, not create more work.
Proptech companies typically sell to brokerages, multiple listing services or agents and think of them as their customer. But ultimately, it is consumers who determine whether agents earn repeat business, referrals and long-term loyalty, Fischer said. That happens in part based on seamless technology integrations that improve the customer experience rather than adding unneeded complexity during an already overwhelming experience. Every technology decision at the brokerage level shapes the client experience.
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When technology removes friction, it gives agents the opportunity to focus on the consumer, Fischer said. Real estate is a relationship-oriented business, and software must help the users of its solutions focus on what really matters, which is building those relationships. Software can get in the way, or it can help. Consumers do not care which transaction platform their agent uses, how many integrations the brokerage is juggling or what compliance software sits behind the scenes. They care whether communication is timely, documents arrive when expected, the transaction feels organized and the process feels less stressful.
Technology is invisible until it creates friction, so reducing operational complexity becomes a customer experience strategy, Fischer said. That means brokerage leaders must measure their technology investment by one question: Does this help agents deliver a better client experience? Software needs to get out of their way and actually help them, he said.
The answer is not less AI but better integrated AI that is part of the agent's workflow and trained on excellent, high-quality data sets, Fischer said. You do not want to send users off into a separate workflow in order to use AI. In Fischer's view, that makes simplicity an increasingly potent competitive advantage. Currently, customers are the ones rebuilding integrations every time a new product rolls out, forcing them to assemble the puzzle pieces.
Proptech companies that want to succeed need to have fewer moving parts, Fischer said. That is not as simple as the super-app solution. Instead, it means platforms that leverage open ecosystems, intuitive integrations, customer choice and fewer silos. Software can get in the way, or it can help, he said. The company's goal is to make sure that it is not getting in the way and it is helping.