By David Boemecke
Building effective management systems can be a complicated and daunting exercise for commercial real estate owners, brokers and managers. Without a good system in place your business can slowly deteriorate and eventually become ineffective. Particular qualities to look for in a comprehensive system include communications, property management, accounting, leasing administration, maintenance, prospecting, document management, and client login portals. Each of these should allow information to flow freely between all necessary parties. Some new technologies in the marketplace can save time and money in the following areas:
Communications and organization are fundamental components of a good management system. Communications starts in your office and should propagate to clients (owners, tenants, and prospects). Designed correctly, communication systems should allow you to publish everything you do for others in your organization to see. Additionally, instant access to task management and history records will allow you to delegate more effectively.
Inventory management is vital for property management/brokerage companies. Companies should be able to publish information though any medium. Keeping inventory in an online system will easily allow you to publish the information to your website, print brochures, or pull information while a client is on the phone. Your system should capture all property details including square footage, rental amounts, photos, site plans, demographics, and aerial photographs, etc. for easy publication to your website.
Leasing Administration is your ability to track tenants. You should always be aware of leases that are about to expire, leases that have been signed, and lease status by property. Having a dashboard that informs you of all your leasing obligations is essential. How else can you effectively respond to tenant or prospects needs? If all your leasing obligations are at your fingertips you will always know where to place prospective prospects and where you stand on leases.
Maintenance Administration can also be a critical aspect of property management. A good work order management system will hold vendors accountable. How many times do you get calls regarding maintenance issues that were supposedly fixed last month? Performing preventive maintenance, and easily creating work lists also saves money. The ability to click a button to schedule preventive maintenance, and allow employees to review work lists online, is invaluable.
Prospecting is the heart of your business, and without it you can’t survive. Keeping tabs on properties you’ve shown, and quickly producing lists of properties a potential client is interested in is crucial. Good prospecting systems can double the amount of leases signed per year.
Accounting modules built into your system, or one that can exchange documents or reports, is also important. Certain systems today allow owners to login to an application to view current and past reports, P/L statements, and rent-roll.
Client login portals are the newest way for owners to see what’s happening with their property or tenants to create and view work order history. Are you fielding questions from owners about space interest, lease status, or P/L statements? A good reporting system allows owners/tenants to have their questions answered through your website.
Effective management systems are becoming more and more critical in the commercial real estate industry. Choosing a comprehensive system with the right components will ensure that companies provide the most effective, efficient service in a seamless manner to its clients.
David Boemecke is owner and CEO of ESS, a Denver-based software development company focused on delivering solutions geared to unique business needs. David can be reached at 303-225-8377 or dboemecke@esssoftware.com.