The Company
Cousins Properties is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company, based in Atlanta, GA and acting through its operating partnership, Cousins Properties LP, primarily invests in Class A office buildings located in high-growth Sun Belt markets. Founded in 1958, Cousins creates shareholder value through its extensive expertise in the development, acquisition, leasing and management of high-quality real estate assets.
The Challenge
Limited software
Cousins previously used a software system that was owned by their accounting department and did not extend functionality across operations to include all teams. The company sought a single stack solution that would get all staff on one software platform to increase efficiency, collaboration and transparency.
The Solution
Yardi Elevate
Yardi Elevate centralizes in-depth operational data for asset and property teams to improve transparency, control costs and drive performance. To optimize business processes from end to end, it connects the deal pipeline to revenue forecasting and construction management as well as tenant and facility management in one connected solution. The Elevate suite includes Yardi Facility Manager, Yardi Construction Manager, Yardi Floorplan Manager, Yardi Forecast Manager and Yardi Valuation Manager.
The Story
One connected platform
When Cindy Hill joined Cousins as their vice president of IT applications, her first project was to transition the company from its existing software to Yardi Voyager to achieve a single stack solution. Hill explained that the company needed a cultural shift from the mindset that software was only meant for accounting functions. Further, without a development team to manage integrations, the connected Yardi platform with a centralized database was the clear choice. “We really wanted to go with a single solution that would meet the needs of not only accounting but also every other team across our business,” said Hill.
A unified organization
Yardi Elevate has helped Cousins develop internal partnerships with various departments across the company, and every team member is using the solution in some capacity to do their job. Hill commented that training staff to use Elevate has been easy and that they understand the need for software and how it makes them more efficient in their daily tasks. It also provides Cousins with visibility across departments that they never had before. For example, you can log in and see leasing activity in Yardi Deal Manager as well as what types of jobs are in progress with status and budget details in Yardi Construction Manager.
With regard to external leasing staff, it was initially hard to get everybody on board with new software. But when Cousins adopted Deal Manager, Hill said it was effortless to convince external teams to use the solution thanks to its powerful dashboards and easy navigation — they could instantly see the benefits for them. And since it’s easy to train people on Deal Manager [and the other Elevate products], it’s also easy to manage turnover.
