Transaction management system vendors have used the lessons they learned from their mistake-laden first-generation products to add new features that differentiate their systems from other products on the market and make their own systems more appealing to specific groups of users.

Transaction management companies have outgrown their start-up phase. The sector now includes big-name corporations like First American, which acquired RealtyPlus Online's CloseYourDeal platform in 2001, and Fidelity National Information Solutions, which bought the TransactionPoint service the same year, and smaller independent companies like Guru Networks, which acquired the Synteleos platform in 2001, eFrogg, which cultivates the agent markets, Vienna, Va.-based SettlementRoom, which targets both agents and transaction coordinators as the end-user of its SR Enterprise platform, and Los Gatos, Calif.-based Wintrans Solutions (formerly eTranscentral), which rolled out its ClickConnect platform for agents last year.

Kelly Pantis, VP of marketing for First American Residential Real Estate, said the company's transaction platform today features a higher level of integration with other software applications and new document management systems that allow users who don't have Internet capabilities to upload and manage documents.

"(Our product is) integrated with public record data, MLS data, Microsoft Word programs and First American's title and escrow national ordering systems," she said.

The next level for the transaction management system also will include a focus on integration capabilities. Pantis said technology that will create the capability to integrate FirstAm's Transaction Manager platform with top broker-requested products is in the works.

"The whole point is to make things easier, and not have to use five systems to close one deal," she said.

Guru Networks President Ike Broaddus also said a transaction platform must have the capability to integrate with other applications.

"One of the reasons why people are moving toward transaction management systems is to avoid re-keying. That is a benefit today and as more integration occurs, that will become a bigger benefit," he said.

Broaddus said MLSs and Realtor associations that want to offer a common platform for their members are adopting online transaction systems. That's one reason why Guru Networks has changed its marketing strategy.

"Our first product was geared toward the mega-broker with integrated (transaction) services and hundreds of agents. We had to build a module that enabled us to turn off a lot of that functionality for the bulk of the users," he said.

The latest version of Guru's g3Direct is less complex than earlier versions were and prices have dropped about 75 percent, according to Broaddus. He said a large association would pay less per person today to use the system than an individual agent would pay.

Broaddus credits Guru's Realtor roots and user feedback for the company's relative longevity. Broaddus was a sales agent for three years and a broker for 12 years.

"We had virtually no venture capital, but were a company made up of Realtors," he said.

Competitor eFrogg was formed in 1999 and is still a small company that markets its system almost exclusively to individual agents and agent teams, according to Kevin Hoffman, director of member services.

"Our belief has been that the tortoise always wins the race," Hoffman said.

The company's reputation for one-on-one help and the platform's home showing feedback function set it apart, according to Hoffman. The showing system sends the seller an e-mail when feedback from a home showing is posted. The seller can log in to eFrogg's Web site and view the showing report.

Hoffman said a user-feedback button built into the transaction platform enables agents to submit ideas for system improvements.

EFrogg caters to real estate agents with lead and contact management capabilities and a price of $29.95 per month and 25 cents per transaction.

Carlsbad, Calif.-based RealtyAssist's transaction management system targets brokers and focuses on delivering a paperless real estate office, according to CEO Mark Cira. The product is also sold by Stewart Title with the SureClose name.

"Brokers typically manage their commission and accounting functions in a back-office software tool, but the compliance tracking and document review process remains paper-based. We move that process to the digital world and increasingly integrate with other software tools brokers use," he said.

RealtyAssist also allows brokers to self-publish CDs they can give or sell to buyers, sellers and agents at closing, according to Cira. Each CD contains all the transaction documents and vendor contact information for the transaction and costs the broker only pennies to produce.

Cira said the CDs can turn a profit if the broker charges a fee for them. A fee of, say, $75 could generate a sizeable profit while creating a new customer service.

Cira expects transaction management systems to increasingly emphasize document management and paperless filing. He said applications can focus more on integration without side systems once the paperless file is accomplished.