by G. Sax, Director of Growth Management, RESO
Welcome to “Three Questions,” an interview series that introduces you to real estate industry professionals, their businesses and how they interact with real estate standards with a goal of humanizing the tech side of the industry, fun included.
This week’s interview is with AJ Sulayman, Data Licensing Analyst at Canopy MLS, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. AJ has been an ardent supporter of RESO workgroups, and his MLS was a founding member of RESO.
Although AJ is generally polite and mild-mannered in meetings, he has displayed a wry sense of humor and biting wit that caught my attention during mic drop moments during “Pain Points” sessions at RESO conferences. It seemed like the larger world of real estate should hear more from this deeply experienced MLS pro.
Q1: You have been active in RESO’s workgroups and your MLS is continuously at the forefront of MLS trends and advocacy. What can other MLSs learn about what allows your work culture to give back to the community so regularly and enthusiastically?
AJ: It all starts with the membership. We listen to our members. We take feedback seriously, and we have internal discussions to determine what’s important and what aligns with what our members want.
We regularly check in with RESO to assure that the things that are happening throughout the industry line up with what we’re doing on a smaller but no less important scale.
Q2: What is Canopy MLS working on right now that will be the next thing to wow other MLSs around the country?
AJ: We have moved all of our RETS vendors over to the MLS Grid. As of April 1, 2022, we are 100% complete with that project. We completed IDX first, then the VOWs, then the AVMs.
Beyond that exciting landmark achievement, we have been talking about creating a script of some sort that reads a website to see if it’s in compliance.
For example, are there any issues with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)? Is the image size of the MLS participant greater than any other? And so on.
Some of this material is currently programmable and some of it isn’t, but we are always exploring new ways to solve problems while working smarter.
Q3: What is your favorite RESO workgroup and why? You can only choose one.
AJ: If I actually have to pick one, it’s Research & Development, because it is where ideas are discussed extensively and vetted before moving forward. Data Dictionary is a close second.
You can learn more about the Research & Development Workgroup, the Data Dictionary Workgroup and all of RESO’s workgroups, subgroups and focus groups at reso.org/workgroups.
