You're already using the concept whenever you use your ATM card at your bank and any other bank besides your own. Your ATM card is basically a logon and password device designed to save time for you and the service providers who share you as a customer.
Now, imagine that same access technology being used by real estate companies, vendors, associations, and MLSs who share you as a customer. Multiple log-ons and passwords could be history, as Single Sign On, or SSO, becomes a reality for Realtors.
The applications are endless -- access to multiple cooperating MLSs, vendors, transactions-in-progress, and more. All you need is one thing -- cooperation between two or more websites that require password protected log-ons.
To put it into an even smaller soundbite, SSO allows peer-to-peer or customer entry into two or more systems or databases using one password.
"It's an identity concept that can be used transactionally and commercially," says Saul Klein, president of InternetCrusade's Realtown Internet portal. "If you're a Realtor, you may want to access your local association website and need something from a closed state site. With SSO, you don't have to log on to a different site. ID's and passcodes are a thing of the past."
That's why Realtown has partnered with Point2 Technologies Inc. ("Point2") to introduce Single Sign On, a web authentication initiative that will enable members of Point2 NLS (Point2 National Listing Service) and RealTown.com to access or sign up to either system directly from their respective Online Office, using their existing credentials, identity and pass codes.
"We have customers in common," says Klein. "InternetCrusade's RealTown is excited to partner with Point2 and to be among the first to bring the concept of SSO to real estate. Over the next few years, SSO will be the subject of much discussion and application in the industry, as the benefits and advantages of the technology become more apparent, adopted and implemented by trusted partners across the sector."
Customers of Point2 and RealTown can access websites, upload listings for syndication and advertising, and participate in blogs, for example, using one log-on.
"This will be even more of a benefit for those using wireless technology as they can make changes while in the field through a single interface," says Klein.
The collaboration between Point2 and InternetCrusade will now also bring to Point2 NLS members a free real-time RSS feed containing custom content from RealTown’s numerous communities and RealTown Blogs, with additional features being added each week, say the two companies.
SSO is likely to be the subject of discussion in the industry at all levels going forward, says Klein. "As the benefits of the technology become more and more apparent with new implementations like what Point2 and RealTown have partnered on, we believe that a broader vision for SSO will emerge and related efforts among industry players, MLSs and Associations across North America will increase. Just imagine a network of companies and organizations offering varied services, all recognizing and collaborating to support each other’s members and identities on the web. While making this happen is not an easy task, the advance and the benefits to the industry can be significant."
The National Association of Realtors is already working on standards of cooperation, and is expected to release them at the upcoming Mid-year meetings in Washington, D.C. in May.
"It's not an overnight thing," says Klein. "SSO is two people who agree that their customers can get the benefit, and that's why we decided to move ahead with it, but we have to educate people to the benefits for it to become more widely accepted."
