The Property Software Group, part of ZPG, is to pull support for some of its older software products because of the new General Data Protection Regulations.
It is the first tangible sign of the upheaval that the new regime, coming in next May, could cause. While PSG is playing this down, the concern for agents is the relatively short time frame they have to identify, purchase, get a new software system in place – and have staff trained up in its use.
One agent, with a large portfolio of properties, told us they have had ‘sleepless nights’ worrying about the cost and disruption to their business. They felt they were simply being pressurised into purchasing another ZPG system.
The agents affected are those using CFP Premise and Premise Platinum, and CFP Winman ADB products who have been told that support will be withdrawn from May 25 next year, when the new GDPR kick in.
Agents will still be able to use the software under their existing licences, but uploads to the portals will stop, as will SMS delivery. There will be no more user training, and support in the instance of system issues or hardware failure will cease.
Users have been written to, advising them to make alternative arrangements before May 25 “as your properties will be removed from our servers after this date”.
The letter continues: “We are aware that your estate agency software system is key to the operation of your business and this decision has not been taken lightly.”
One user says the decision has come as a “great shock”. He says six months is too short to find and implement an alternative.
The agent told us: “As a loyal customer of more than ten years using Vebra Premise, we feel the rug has been pulled from under our business.
“I am not sure how long they have known about this but feel they have given woefully short notice to adapt.
“We have 1,000+ active properties that we let and manage, and the disruption in trying to change to another management system is massive as well as the huge cost involved.
“There is an incredible amount of data and financial information within the current software that needs to be transferred. Their letter offers no help other than a sales contact to sell us another system. Their excuse for discontinuing is not reasonable and the holding company, Zoopla Property Group, certainly has the resources to ensure all their software functions adequately.”
A spokesperson for PSG told us that only a few agents are affected.
He said: “We have written to a very small number of our partners and given them six months’ notice of our intention to remove support for our legacy products: CFP Premise, CFP Premise Platinum and CFP Winman ADB software.
“Over the last few years we have been slowly removing these older desktop products from the market and helping our customers transition to the latest desktop or cloud versions of our market leading products.
“The majority of those who transition to one of our newer products will have all of the current functionality as well as further significant business-enhancing new functionality.
“GDPR has been a catalyst for the recent letter as we are in the process of ensuring all of our ongoing software will enable all customers to be fully compliant with the new regulations.
“This does not affect our main CFP Winman SDB product in any way.
This is nothing out of the ordinary and is in line with how we’ve worked with our customers on older products over the last few years.”
As you’ll know i’m always one to help out a fellow competitor, with over half of our clients on the accounts side of things coming from CFP most of which have had a data conversion we have huge experience in migrating people with a minimum of disruption.
Also number of high profile Premise upgrades like Marsh & Parsons, Karl Tatler and Pygott & Crone.
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Such a selfless man. What a hero x
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Whaley
can you confirm if the Reapit system is accredited by any of the professional bodies please. Having a client accounting system that is fully compliant is a must. Also, is Reapit a single platform designed for sales and lettings?
If CFP is retiring some of its products I suspect you are going to be busy
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Yes it is, we wanted our accounts module to be the most robust available so we got ICAEW and NALS accreditation.
So far everyone of our clients has penny perfect reconciliation.
And yes its a combined sales and lettings system, and has received Supplier of the Year awards for both the sales and lettings side of the system.
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Sorry, the product and support you entered into a contract with us to supply no longer complies with the law…. but we’ll happily sell you something else that might.
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Does anyone have the explanation as to why they feel this software needs to be dropped for GDPR, or it is just an excuse?
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Seriously, is this news?? – “Software company pulls 20 year old software systems“…
To me, this seems like another example of just how slow most letting agents (and many estate agents) in our industry are at moving with the times.
Technology moves fast. How many people are still running Windows 95?
This seems like nothing more than a case of simply fortuitous timing for something that was probably already long overdue. I firmly believe that it’s a good thing that someone in the industry is on the agents’ side, embracing cloud technology and trying to help agents get “with it” and compete with the every changing marketplace we operate in…
@Whaley – last time I looked, Reapit (and your so-called ‘new’ offering, Jet) was old client/server technology, still requiring a Windows installation, so it’s as good as useless if I want to work from home, or on an iPad from a client’s premises or whilst travelling.
Modern agents need modern tech to compete with Purplebricks and the like.
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Our v.12 software is cloud based hosted in a private cloud at Rackspace to ensure all our data stays inside the UK at all times. It was developed using .Net and WPF and has been developed from the ground up to offer a future proofed solution, although we called it v.12 it was a completely new system but unlike other providers when launching a new system we weren’t going to charge to buy a whole new package as many do. So we wanted the continuity angle rather than launching Reapit Live or some other magical rebrand, competitors have got a little confused by that still referring to us as desktop.
Where we do have an issue though being completely candid is that we do integrate natively with Word, Excel and Outlook so those Apple fans out there, like myself to be fair have to either use our mobile version of the software or install it on VM Fusion or Parallels.
Our new mobile version of the software is going down very well,but I’m conscious I don’t want Ros or Nick getting me with the hook though for such blatant salesy behaviour so if you do want any more drop me a line and happy to elaborate.
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I think we have VERY different definitions of “cloud” – to me a true cloud solution is something that just works on any device using a browser, with no software installation at all.
Fundamentally, what you’re saying is that Reapit is a Visual Basic Windows application, where the data just happens to be in another location, not my own office.
Some people might fall for this, but it’s the loosest definition of ‘cloud’ that I think is possible.
To run your “completely new system” on my Mac requires me to install:
1. VM Fusion or Parallels
2. AND a copy of Windows
3. AND Microsoft Office
4, AND your RPS software
You must be joking…?
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And of course definitions of what cloud truly is are as difficult as getting a consistent definition of what Brexit is from someone in government. But comparing Visual Basic to the Microsoft .NET framework is way off the piste.
Its dull as dishwater but if you want to research WPF and cs.js you’ll get a much better idea of what future proofing technology looks like to us. Why have a browser based application that was designed for a desktop audience.
Its like the providers that simply provide URL access to their systems on mobile devices when all they’re actually doing is shrinking it without best thinking of responsive design fit for the device. For us its all about the right tool for the right job.
What i’d absolutely concede is that as you say being completely device agnostic has attractions but we’re not there yet, so for the Mac crew like myself its either the mobile version of Parallels. On the plus side we do have a system that works for the very best agents so its swings and roundabouts.
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“Technology moves fast. How many people are still running Windows 95?”
Do you mean MS DOS has been superseded.
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The small number of users affected by this need to take this opportunity and drag themselves into the 21st Century. I echo the voice of reason above, the ADB & Premise products went out with Nelsons eye pretty much, so you’ll be doing all your staff (& clients) a favour by updating your systems….GDPR changes or not.
Yes there will be costs involved, a little disruption for staff whilst training is taking place but knowing both the CFP & Alto products the way I do, your staff will be thanking you for it once they’ve got used to the changes.
See it as an investment for your business & staff, not an expense, streamline processes and let the software work for you!
PS Nothing grinds my gears me more than a competitor jumping on the band wagon…rant over, Happy Monday 🙂
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Get your facts correct. The last Vebra Premise upgrade was 4 years ago. Can’t think of anything else we need in a PM software package unless you can tell me differently.
We bought the software outright and pay approx. £1000pa support. Alto would be £800/mth plus all the migration and training costs.
Who’s got the best deal here? ZPG or us?
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How can we get an extra 30% profit?
How about the older system we have we make obsolete, and give them the option to upgrade to our newer more expensive system. We can blame it on new regs and not look like money grabbing so and so’s
Great idea!
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nice
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