Alison Platt CEO Countrywide PLC Pie in Sky

For a CEO with no estate agency experience , no tech start up experience, I was surprised to hear " we are behind the curve" , you are indeed Alison Platt Countrywide Plc [CWD] .There are  currently , more 50 online estate agents who have been "making the curve" ,some who have been three years and others for last five years . All vying to increase their market share ,ahead of you by years ,together with R and D.

PRlatt  who has been at the helm for almost two years , having gone on record stating online,  is not like for like , they are at the fore front of high street retail.

Greenshoots of recovery in housing market  Alison Platt CEO  

Platt was also  appointed recently, to the non executive board of Tesco.

benefits as a non exec director, click to enlarge.

Googles Eric Schimdt has gone on record , saying the reason, many tech UK start ups don't reach full potential , is by selling out stake ownership, to larger companies . 




Pi labs known as the prop tech accelerator [ venture capitalist , mentoring, " letting back office space " ] the first in Europe to be exact, and has grand plans quote of building the next Airbnb or Nest, quite impressive you would say.

Platt went on to say "two companies that have impressed us " what people have told her " enough to take a stake in, will be in addition to continuing our long-standing investment in [property technology workshop] PI Labs.

So when Schmidt went onto say inhouse tech team lead,was the most important foundations of a start up, rather than outsourcing an IT crowd ,many will not be impressed with [CWD].

Airbnb  and Nest both had founders "who could code and pre Savvy tech back grounds  " ,Nathan Blecharczyk for Airbnb and  former Apple engineers Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers for Nest ,  get my drift ...

Countrywide's Long standing  relationship with pi labs [startup in 2014]  approached by [CWD] in mid /late 2015 . when deconstructing the relationship, it seems strange, who needs who , surely it's not a problem on either side ? Why do they need a tech accelerator ? which brings me back to a CEO without experience in this field relying on outsourcing a third party / tech accelerator rather using her own " savvy "'. This would worry me a CW investor ,especially in a volatile headwinds in the next six months. In the US tech accelerators are JUST VC's as more full stack inhouse is prevalent.  



how the two tech start ups must feel with Pi labs and countrywide association ...

I hope the two tech start ups chosen , are not dictated to by country wide management ,as it would stifle their own entrepreneurial spirit, which is the life blood of any startup. If it's  emoov  which i suspect and lettings company ,I wish them well , though worry, at Platt steering of CountryWide. 

source CWD capital market presentation 2015



Why have I  quoted these figures ,well bank branches across the country are increasingly closing their doors to customers,some say , leaving communities reliant on Post Offices and banks located miles from where they live.


Do you consider the immediacy of everyday living , physically collecting your pension , emergency cash or deposit. 

No it's definitely not the same, as buying letting property or choosing an insurance policy for the car, home, or mortgage, all easily done online today.


So the biggest problem ,downsizing 516 sales branches and 79 lettings offices you just dont need then anymore.



digital enablement is key” but online should be introduced to give vendors, buyers, landlords and tenants a choice, and not be the only available route.

PoppyCock!


Mobile and internet banking is now being used for transactions, worth nearly £1 billion a day, according to a major industry-wide report into consumer-friendly technology by the BBA and EY. 2014


Banking by smartphone , tablet and desktop has become the leading way customers manage their finances, as mobile banking overtakes branches and the internet as the most popular way to bank.

New research from CACI for the BBA shows that customers will use mobile devices to check their current accounts 895 million times in 2015, more than the 427 million branch interactions. By 2020 they are forecasting that customers will use their mobile to manage their current account 2.3 billion times – more than internet, branch and telephone banking put together.




The rise of internet only banks apps metro and atom bank is a is also a another challenge to the high street .



all systems go, clean sheet of paper, no legacy infrastructure or branches to worry about.Atom Bank CEO Mark Mullen.

Shopping online  ,eurostat data,   KPMG online drift  retail decline, investors public electing online estate agents investors should be very worried with Platt at the helm and of CWD future  fragile with such in inexperienced CEO.  

It has replaced  people visiting Countrywide agency offices, and staff from online agents are already in their [ours] homes, for more than a few years already.

This is not  going to play out like a Yahoo scenario either, where countrywide sorry ,the search engine, lost market share to purple bricks sorry google. Jerry Yang founder of Yahoo, is now only been held up, by it's boot straps, with a stake in emoov, sorry I meant alibaba.

Further Reading 
   
PURPLEBRICKS.com [LON:PURP] and ZOOPLA PROPERTY (ZPLA) on The smart money, as Rightmove RMV Plc fall


Formula One star Eddie Irvine lists his Irish home on Airbnb


Connells Estate Agents named and shamed in National Minimum Wage , Government offenders list .


Project targeting repeat criminals over property crime expanded


Kettering high street letting agent jailed for ripping off tenants and landlords
Zac GoldSmith and Sadiq Khan ,Mayor of London Hopefuls. the housing crisis London

TfL releases land for 10,000 homes across the Capital

Are you paying your high street estate agent to much to money ? Take the Challenge @onthemarketblog

Zac Gold Smith Housing Crisis what needs to be done

London’s housing crisis > Blue and Red debates @ London Mayor Question Time & Cop21

Elected Labour Candidate, for Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, outlines his Housing Policies

Boris tells planners & developers to put culture first for city development

why Uber is good for london

Class War protest outside Kennington Road London High Street Estate Agents Reed and Rains

£24m Westminster Mansion Sold Online to save High Street Estate Agent Fees

Rent Stabilisation Measures & Landlord Response >Research By University of Cambridge >Cambridge centre for Housing and Planning Research

Government's > Help to Buy ISA > First-Time Buyer Scheme > Mortgages Explained

Alison Platt CEO CountryWide PLC High Street Estate Agent > Debunking the Myth of Corporate PR


Airbnb Sharing Economy Marks 4M UK Guests by Hosting Business Secretary

Almost twice as many brits believe that property makes better use of cash then isa , pensions stock , shares ,premium bonds


PURPLEBRICKS [LON:PURP] The Telegraph Questor share tip:

Boost for housing as government puts hundreds of acres of land up for sale

Comparethemarket ready set go for Large IPO

Purplebricks.com interim results, good start, launches in house data sales, online market share continues

what next for zoopla realtor or zillow