Every year, Yardi honors outstanding members of the customer service department during the CSD Week Awards ceremony. Cody Costello, consultant, consulting practices, received the VP Award at our most recent event. Tamara J. Berndt, vice president, residential, consulting practices at Yardi, works closely with Costello. She has seen him assist many of the company’s complex clients. During customer service week, the team received an extraordinary kudos from a client stating that “Cody was the best account manager [she has] ever had.” “That is high praise from a client that has been using the Yardi suite of products for more than 15 years,” reflect Berndt. “I never have to worry about Cody’s clients. He just takes care of business. He does it with a calm and professional manner that instills confidence and gets the job done!” Berndt continues, “Cody does a great job taking care of his clients. He is helpful towards his colleagues. Cody embodies the ‘whatever it takes’ attitude of the services department.” We caught up with Costello to learn more about the man behind the VP Award honor. TBS: What does it mean to you to receive the VP award? Costello: I think this means I might actually be kind of good at this job! I think it’s easy to get caught up in the now without looking back to see how far I’ve really come since I first started here. TBS: What do you enjoy most about working at Yardi? Costello: There are so many things I enjoy, from the challenging and diverse work to the wonderful employees. If I absolutely had to pick one thing, I think it would be the freedom that is given on how to best complete my work and accomplish my goals. I’m given all of the tools...

Clearwater Living is new to the senior living real estate market, but the Southern California-based developer and owner/operator of new senior communities aims to set standards for high quality resident and employee experiences in every market it enters. As they  opened their first three communities, and prepare to manage more independent senior communities  Clearwater Living wanted to start off with a strong technology platform. After analyzing the options in the marketplace, the Yardi Senior Living Suite was the right choice. Breck Austin, VP Support Services for Clearwater Living, knew of Yardi’s strong reputation in the real estate technology space from his work at prior employers. Though Austin had never been a Yardi user before, he knew that the reputation of the company’s platforms was tremendous for meeting a myriad of business needs, from resident services to the back office. “As we grow our company and the systems we use, one of the questions we faced was how to best support the next generation of senior living residents coming into our communities with robust technology and systems,” Austin said. “We wanted to be able to easily communicate to residents about our lifestyle programs and engage them into enjoying our restaurant venues. We wanted them to see their statements and pay bills, and provide their families access to those resources. We knew that what would provide the highest resident and associate satisfaction was a fully integrated system, so Yardi was our answer.” The RentCafe Senior Living resident portal for family and resident provides access to records, statements and care details which was one of the main factors that led Clearwater Living to pick Yardi as its software provider. “To have your medical records, your electronic health care records, all housed in one place with your accounting...

Yardi Boston recently participated in a Garden Party project at Somerville Village that will bring therapeutic and educational resources to young women in transitional housing. The project reflects how humble beginnings can be transformed into spectacular endings. About Somerville Village Somerville Village is a collaboration between Focus and The Home for Little Wanderers. The former is a Massachusetts-based non-profit that advocates and supports affordable housing as well as services for its residents. The latter offers programming to strengthen vulnerable families and keep children safe in their communities. Together, the organizations launched Somerville Village, transitional housing and programing to help young women who have aged-out of The Home for Little Wanderers yet need additional assistance to pursue higher education. Somerville Village is a two-story house with 15 bedrooms, five bathrooms, a kitchen and several communal spaces. Residents have easy access to public transportation, allowing them to commute to their post-secondary classes. In addition to housing, Somerville Village also provides access to therapeutic and educational support for residents as they take additional steps towards independence. The Garden Party When Yardi Boston team members arrived at Somerville Village, they found a lovely home with one aesthetic flaw: an underused side yard in serious need of attention. The organization wanted to transform the space into an educational and functional garden. Yardi was there to help. Rick Houpt, Development, The Home for Little Wanderers, explains, “The Yardi team absolutely transformed a dreary, black-padded side-yard into a cheerful educational and therapeutic space: a garden of raised beds for vegetables, herbs, and flowers.” The garden is an educational opportunity because the women of Somerville Village will have the chance to learn about nutrition, gardening, and growing food. The resource can help them take better care of bodies and minds, reaping the...

“We use our Yardi platform to accomplish everything. It works for us,” said Joenita Turner, senior application support specialist at Silver Sky Assisted Living. Silver Sky Assisted Living and Silver Sky at Deer Springs are Nevada HAND’s two communities for seniors who need some extra help. The communities offer comprehensive services including meals, onsite caregivers, 24-hour nursing and medical support along with a full calendar of activities. To ensure the most efficient operations so that its residents get the best care possible, Silver Sky relies on fully integrated and cloud-hosted software solutions from the Yardi Senior Living Suite including Yardi Voyager Senior Housing, RENTCafé Senior Living, Yardi Senior CRM and Yardi EHR along with Yardi Maintenance and Yardi eLearning. Turner started out as a property manager before switching over to her applications role at Silver Sky. “I know how things work from the front office to back end administration,” she said. The company recently went through a rebrand, which included adding RENTCafé Senior Living to offer a range of convenient online services to its residents and their families. Succeeding with online services RENTCafé Senior Living is built into the Voyager platform and through online portals it allows residents and their families to manage healthcare information, make payments, communicate with staff and submit service requests. “Out of state family members can log in to make payments, view health records and submit maintenance requests — which saves them time so that when they visit, they can focus on being with their loved ones. Our residents have been excited to enroll for online services, and we’re expecting an at least 80% adoption rate,” Turner said. Silver Sky’s staff is also enjoying the benefits of online services and electronic transactions. Turner added, “Our accountants love it, because it...

California faces a dramatic shortfall of college-educated workers. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, by 2030, the state will be more than a million bachelor’s degrees short of what its innovation economy requires to thrive. In other words, if every college and every university in the state of California continues to graduate students at the current rate, the state will still be more than 1 million degrees short of what employers need. California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) is positioned to help meet the needs of the state’s growing economy. The university has committed to addressing that shortfall by serving a largely first generation, underserved student population. CSU Channel Islands’ Solution “CSUCI is about access to education. We believe that we play a pivotal role in equity and social mobility for vulnerable populations with in our region, state, and our nation,” says Nichole Ipach, Vice President for University Advancement. The large majority of the university’s populations come from first generation, underserved, low-income, and underrepresented groups. Such populations are critical to filling the state’s need for college-educated workers. “Serving these populations is at the heart of our mission at CSUCI. In fact, CSUCI was ranked 18th in the nation for social mobility just this year,” says Ipach. The student population at CSUCI is 50 percent Hispanic, where 60 percent are the first generation in their families to go to college. About 80 percent of students are qualified for financial aid, creating tremendous social mobility opportunities for graduates. Student Focus Leads to Statewide Success George Leis, the President of Montecito Bank and Trust and the currently the CSUCI Foundation Board Chair, has been a proud member of the CSUCI Foundation Board for almost 10 years. Over that time, he watched the university change the lives of...

“Yardi Orion is the tool that helps us create value for our clients,” said Jeanette Ruscitti, vice president of operations for The REMM Group. REMM is a third-party fee manager with more than 5,000 multifamily units and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space across Southern California. REMM takes a hands-on approach, working with its executive and onsite teams to go “above and beyond” for its clients — and investing in technology is key to the company’s success. Yardi Orion Business Intelligence is a mobile-enabled platform that combines financial, operational and ancillary services data from Yardi Voyager to deliver holistic portfolio insight. With configurable dashboards and more than 200 key performance indicators, Orion provides flexible reporting that enables REMM and its clients to make fast and informed business decisions. Shawn Conerty, REMM’s chief financial officer, said, “We have used Yardi Voyager software for years and find it is the most advanced property SaaS platform available. Our teams are empowered by the centralized source of data and automated workflows that simplify operations from leasing through move-ins and move-outs, work orders, purchase orders, check writing and more. Yardi’s marketing and leasing tools, including RentCafe, make life easier for our prospects, residents and staff with online leasing, rent payments and maintenance requests.” Conerty commented that REMM came to the table to analyze Orion with these previous Yardi successes in mind. “Orion draws from all the flows of information that go through those Yardi systems: occupancy, delinquency, exceptions, marketing, financials, etc.,” he added. Built right into its Voyager platform, Orion has proven to be the right choice for REMM to serve its clients and meet business goals, with mobile access that makes it easy for REMM’s executives to utilize the system on the go. Real-time tracking of rental...

Yardi honors exemplary members of the customer service department during the annual CSD Week Awards ceremony. Amanda Siegel received the Directors Award while she worked with the government services team. Josh Cunningham, Director, Specialty Solutions Group at Yardi, reflects on Siegel’s contributions. “Amanda has a calm presence that allows her to de-escalate difficult situations with ease. She worked with some of our largest government clients on upgrades, custom reporting and data conversions. I chose her for the Director’s Award because she was the top performer in her department.” The Balance Sheet sat down with Siegel to learn more about the woman behind the honor. TBS: What does it mean to you to receive the Director’s Award? Siegel: I was honored to be recognized with this award alongside co-workers that I know to be knowledgeable, hard-working and fantastic examples of leadership and integrity on their teams. The respect I have for the other recipients of this award motivates me to emulate their strengths in my own work. I think, for me personally, this award represented a lot of personal growth in learning to approach new challenges with determination and flexibility. Knowing how to use my resources and having the shared knowledge and support of my team has helped me be successful taking on some difficult tasks and new responsibilities this past year. I’m very grateful to have the additional confidence and new skills that came from these experiences. TBS: What do you enjoy most about working at Yardi? Siegel: I enjoy the company culture the most. Having a symbiotic rather than an adversarial relationship with my teammates makes me feel supported and motivated to not let my group down. I also really appreciate the value this company seems to put on integrity and empathy. I see this both in the attitudes of...

“The ROI using Voyager has been huge,” said Jason Hoffman, COO and vice president at Alliance Property Systems, about running its business on the mobile Yardi Voyager platform. Led by a father-son team, Alliance provides comprehensive HOA and condominium management services along with commercial real estate management throughout South Florida. A longtime Yardi client, Alliance has always invested in technology and started with DOS-based Yardi Professional in the early 1990s. To meet new challenges in a changing industry and move its business forward, Alliance switched to the cloud-based Voyager platform in 2015. As a result, Alliance has gained automated workflows for tasks that previously required time-consuming manual processing, and accommodates a business model of “roving property management” with integrated online services and mobile tools. Winning in a tight market Alliance has a portfolio of 70 properties and 6,000 units in South Florida and only 13 employees. To succeed and be profitable in a competitive market with tight margins, the company must streamline and optimize internal processes, according to Leigh Hoffman, Alliance’s president and CEO (and father half of the father-son team). A key way Alliance achieves this is by leveraging Yardi’s leading-edge technology across its business. For a true end-to-end solution, Alliance has added products from the Yardi® Condo Suite to its Voyager platform. Integrated online services and simplified workflows for payments, procurement, invoice processing and more increase productivity and reduce costs for the company. When asked if Alliance’s investment in technology sets the company apart, Jason commented that the Voyager platform “100% helps us win business.” And according to Leigh, “We are more competitive and succeed because we’re offering options to our customers to do more things online, including payments.” Empowering a lean team This biggest line item in Alliance’s budget is employee costs....

Collaboration. Community. Social responsibility. These might not be the first words that come to mind when talking about most global businesses, but for the people who work in the offices that comprise Yardi Canada Ltd., they come up often. Now celebrating 20 years in Canada, we talked to leaders in each office and asked them what it means to be “Team Yardi.” Beginning in Toronto “When I first started collaborating with Yardi to help establish the company’s footprint in Canada, our business was a four-person operation,” said Peter Altobelli, general manager and vice president of sales at Yardi Canada Ltd. Based in Toronto, Altobelli set up Yardi’s first office in Canada in 1998 which has grown to a staff of 200. With a vision of working to create a market in Canada through educating the industry about technology, Altobelli worked with Yardi to hit on a winning strategy. Through helping to establish new standards and best practices for real estate management companies, Altobelli is dedicated to helping Yardi clients in Canada prepare for and take advantage of the quantum changes brought on by tech disruption and innovation. And while helping clients grow and thrive is a key focus of Yardi’s mission, supporting staff to grow in their roles with increased knowledge and move forward on their career paths is also vitally important. Altobelli said, “We support our staff with learning opportunities and challenge them to grow into roles and expand their careers.” Synchronized in Saskatchewan The second phase of expanding into the Canadian market was Yardi’s acquisition of Point2 Technologies in 2010. With headquarters in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Point2 developed, marketed and supported web-based marketing software for real estate as well as inventory management, with customers in over 120 countries. About the transition to Yardi,...

Online reputation management matters. How masterfully a company handles feedback can give it a huge advantage over the competition as prospects shop around for a new rental. ORA Power Ranking shifted through the online reputations of 75,000 rental properties. The following list represents the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) top 10 best-ranked managers by online reputation. The companies below received the highest ORA scores. For perspective, the national average is 60.39. Each of the companies below ranked 71.58 or higher, earning top marks for online reputation. Yardi client The Bozzuto Group once again took home the first place title. The Bozzuto Group has ranked number one in online ratings for four years. To maintain its ranking, Bozzuto increased its score by 2 percent from last year, improving from an ORA rating of 79.13 to 80.76. That 2 percent was needed to stay ahead of second place performer AvalonBay Communities, another Yardi client. With an ORA score of 80.17, it was a close call for the top two positions. In third place comes Gables Residential. This Yardi client received an ORA score of 76.98. This is a noteworthy, 4 percent improvement for the Atlanta-based company. MAA nips at the heels of Gables Residential with a score of 76.44. Its 3 percent improvement in the ORA score kept the organization in the top five. Rounding out the top five with a stellar performance comes Cortland Partners, a Yardi client. This underdog improved its ORA rating by a whopping 10 percent, reaching 75.20 this year. The following companies complete the top 10 rankings. 6. Camden Property Trust 7. RAM Partners (Yardi client) 8. Pegasus Residential (Yardi cient) 9. Aimco 10. Greystar (Yardi client) Congratulations to all of the NMHC Top 10 Managers, especially our valued Yardi...

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” says Gino Gentile, VP of sales and customer service for senior living provider Providence Place of Pennsylvania. Providence Place needed integrated software to handle lead management at its five senior living properties. It became clear to Gentile that streamlining Providence Place’s operations on a centralized platform would help the company further enhance its marketing and sales performance. The solution was Yardi Senior CRM, part of the Yardi Senior Living Suite. Yardi Senior CRM enables senior living providers to increase occupancy and boost resident retention with mobile-friendly sales and marketing tools specially designed for senior living. With Yardi Senior CRM, senior living providers can enhance lead management and improve the marketing and sales process with customized dashboards and comprehensive reporting. Integration with the entire Yardi Senior Living Suite ensures data accuracy and lead tracking from initial point of contact through resident activity. According to Gentile, Providence Place has achieved substantial occupancy gains while using Yardi Senior CRM at all five of its senior living communities. Gentile elaborated that the addition of Yardi Senior CRM to the company’s Yardi Voyager platform has been a breakthrough, helping to increase sales. In addition to higher tour to close ratios and faster lead conversion, Gentile points to the software’s reminder features, customized dashboards and comprehensive reporting as essential to the company’s invigorated performance. Gentile said Yardi Senior CRM has helped the company achieve impressive occupancy gains — that have exceeded its goals — along with phenomenal sales growth. “Occupancy is up at all our communities.” Gentile added that the company’s improved resident retention is supported by the tools and solutions provided by its entire Yardi platform. Providence Place also received great implementation support from Yardi and was up and running quickly which...

Two weeks ago, staff members from the Yardi corporate marketing and human resources departments in Santa Barbara, Calif. spent a few hours helping local non-profit organization Direct Relief assemble Emergency Medical Backpacks for first responders in disaster zones. For the marketing department the project was a peer energy team effort. Marketing colleagues assemble in small groups for regular activities like team building, socializing, friendly competitions and volunteer outings. The backpack packing effort required the coworkers to travel just a few blocks to the non-profit’s current warehouse, where backpacks and supplies were ready for assembly. (Direct Relief is currently building a new headquarters and warehouse space less than a mile from the Yardi corporate office in Goleta.) “After having a very difficult few months in our community with wildfires and the tragic debris flow, this opportunity to work together with our teams putting together medical backpacks for first responders was extremely uplifting. It felt really good that we could join together and do something that will help save lives, perhaps during another disaster like we had just experienced,” said Lexi Beausoleil, marketing campaign specialist for multifamily. Emergency Medical Backpacks include diagnostic items like a stethoscope and thermometers, infection control supplies like masks and gloves, personal protection tools like a headlamp and safety goggles, and trauma care supplies like bandages and iodine. “These Emergency Medical Backpacks are highly functional and durable, with appropriate and sufficient contents to meet critical disaster-related health needs, as well as the personal protective needs of skilled health workers providing treatment,” a Direct Relief spokesperson explained. Input from experienced emergency responders and field physicians informs the supply list. They are designed to grab-and-go for medical response volunteers or local responders able to provide on-site medical care and support during unexpected disasters or...

After 184 years in business, Irish life assurance company Friends First knows how to provide high-quality service and meet emerging business challenges. Established in 1834 to provide life assurance to the Society of Friends (Quakers), Friends First now offers a wide range of life protection, investment and pension products to more than 281,000 customers. It is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Friends First, which has €4 billion ($4.93 billion) of assets under management as of December 2016, operates a number of complex property investment structures that split properties across different funds and receive data from multiple external sources. Seeking a New Foundation The challenge Friends First faced in 2015 was finding a single connected platform that could house financial and operational data from all of the investment structures and execute portfolio-wide accounting, management and performance reporting. The company found the solution it needed in Yardi Voyager. “Yardi Voyager is the foundation of Friends First’s interactions with property accounting, fund management, property management and external agents,” says Alan Pollard, senior investment specialist for Friends First. For example, performance reports generated from Yardi Voyager data allow the company’s property and fund managers to monitor and manage portfolio and fund performance. Automated accounting for complex split property ownerships and non-standard investment structures relieves Friends First staff of manual data entry and processing, significantly reducing risk. Another key benefit Friends First receives from Yardi Voyager is the ability to map the general ledger to another system’s account codes. “This allows us to extract the data from Yardi Voyager easily and post it to another system. It also simplifies reconciliations and audit trail tracking between systems,” Pollard says. The platform also gives Friends First new capabilities for system-based accruals, which accrue charges collected as a percentage of...

Yardi Oxnard teamed up with Casa Pacifica Centers for Children and Families to bring hope to local, at-risk youth. About the Non-Profit Casa Pacifica helps children overcome a broad spectrum of difficult circumstances, from abuse and neglect to complex emotional, behavioral, and family issues. Services are offered to more than 4,000 children from Ventura County, Santa Barbara County, Kern County, San Luis Obispo County and surrounding regions. The non-profit organization is located on a rural 24-acre campus, providing a serene getaway for recovery from severe emotional, social, behavioral, and mental health challenges. Over 90 percent of the children served by the nonprofit also have alcohol and drug issue that contributed to their placement in Casa Pacifica. Casa Pacifica youth programs include but are not limited to: Short Term Adolescent Treatment and Therapy – for anxiety disorders, trauma and PTSD, Illicit substance use, self-harm behaviors, co-occurring disorders, depressive and bi-polar disorders. Foster Care – placement for more than 1,500 children in need throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The organization provides the required 52-hour training program for parents as well as 24/7 emergency support. Casa Pacifica’s Non-Public Special Education School – a WASC accredited, diploma-granting institution for youth in grades 1 – 12 who are dealing with mental health and developmental issues. Transitional Youth Services – for young adults transitioning from Casa Pacifica services into adulthood. These vital services help young adults continue to prepare for the responsibilities of adulthood—including housing and employment assistance–beyond the care and guidance received through Casa Pacifica. Yardi + Casa Pacifica Yardi Oxnard has established a relationship with Casa Pacifica through the company’s local non-profit grant committee. “We asked for 3-5 volunteers to be a part of the non-profit committee. Employees submitted up to two non-profit organizations they would like to...

For every property management company, success often hinges on selecting — and keeping — quality residents. “With screening technology, we no longer lose our best applicants to the competition due to lagging on approvals or digging through paperwork, and we have reduced our vacancy rate from 13 percent to under 3 percent,” says Jason Roblin, CEO of Canadian-based Vionell Holdings Partnership (VHP). Having tools to not only ensure that operations including leasing run smoothly, but also to make its customers happy, was a big incentive for the company to put the right technology in place. Meeting the challenges of growth Now in its second year as a Yardi client, Vionell Holdings Partnership is a multifamily and condominium property management firm with operations in Brandon and Thompson, Manitoba. The company specializes in leasing, maintenance, budgeting and financial reporting services for its clients. With 1,250 multifamily and 1,500 condo units in its portfolio (along with 100,000 commercial square feet), VHP’s business continues to grow. The thriving company is adding to its Yardi software platform to achieve seamless processes across its business including better reporting and online services for customers that engage more applicants and improve resident retention. VHP uses the Yardi Voyager property management and accounting platform, Yardi Resident Screening, and RentCafe for online marketing, leasing and resident services. Soon, the company will start using Yardi Payment Processing to accept convenient online payments that residents have come to expect for fast deposits that maximize cash flow. Using tech to make customers happy Answering applicant phone calls and processing paper applications with manual background and credit screening was time consuming and exposed VHP to missing out on its best prospects. With Yardi Resident Screening as part of its Voyager leasing workflow, VHP’s applicants are screened and qualified...

Yardi CSD Week is an opportunity for customer service specialists to receive recognition for their hard work, creativity, and innovation. These everyday heroes work directly with clients to solve problems and return business software to optimal operation. Peers and managers recently honored Richard Runswick with the Creative Problem Solver award. We caught up with Runswick recently to learn more about his problem solving ingenuity. Runswick has been encouraged to think critically and creatively all of his life, beginning in grade school. “My parents always encouraged me to excel in school, and I made education a priority,” he said. “I was lucky to grow up in a great school district, where I had teachers that cared about my education and pushed me to succeed.” Runswick joined Yardi after graduating from UCSB in 2012. As an adult, Runswick draws inspiration from his wife Tina Runswick, a Systems Analyst at Yardi. “Her artistic and creative nature have always left me in awe,” he said. Around the Yardi office, Runswick puts those influences to work. He and his teammates must often tackle complex tasks that require unconventional solutions. Whether working solo or as part of an interdepartmental team, Runswick enjoys the challenge. During a Genesis 2 upgrade, for example, several clients experienced intermittent errors that logged them out of the system. Runswick quickly coordinated efforts with the System Reliability Engineers, Systems Analysts, and Development to find a solution. After diving into a series of seemingly unrelated factors, the team identified the error and promptly deployed the solution to Yardi clients. James Austin, Senior Team Lead with CSD, has seen Runswick work through several challenging assignments. “There are many things that help make Richard Runswick an excellent problem solver. It isn’t enough for Richard to simply solve a problem. He also wants to know why...