Building occupancy is unpredictable and costs property owners and managers time and money. Without technology that delivers reliable analytics to make sense of trends, resources are likely wasted. That’s where smart tech and the Internet of Things (IoT) comes in. In the recent BOMA Buildings webinar, “Practical Ways to use Data Analytics and IoT to Manage Your Properties,” attendees learned how data analytics can be a powerful tool to improve building efficiency and reduce operational costs. The expert hosts delivered practical tips on how to use data to manage properties and: Save costs Increase visibility Improve efficiency and productivity Property management pain points The webinar attendees expressed greatest interest in learning about saving money and avoiding costs for the buildings they manage. When asked via poll to identify their biggest pain points, they chose repairs and maintenance as their primary concern (at almost 44%), followed by building tech (IoT) upgrades (37%). With regard to the importance of collecting data, 38% responded, “to learn how to make buildings more sustainable (smart lighting, HVAC),” followed by 33% saying it was important for “gaining insight into property enhancement needs (repairs, upgrades).” The majority (almost 67%) said they currently collect data from any sort of IoT-connected device from HVAC systems. 61% responded that they haven’t yet used data analytics from any IoT-connected devices to save time or avoid costs in any of their properties, while 38% said yes, they collect data for the purpose of saving money. Tips from IoT experts The webinar hosts focused on the key benefits of data including helping property managers create standards and processes, improve visibility and productivity and save costs. Tip 1: use data to create goals and processes Connected building tech delivers data across locations and enables you to compare analytics from equipment and systems in multiple locations. You can leverage the data gathered to create new standards and goals for underperforming buildings and make adjustments to improve processes and efficiency to meet those goals.   Tip 2: use data to avoid downtime Smart building tech gives you near real-time data so you can manage equipment alerts, make proactive maintenance plans and schedule necessary replacements to avoid downtime in your buildings. Keeping your buildings operating at peak efficiency with strategic maintenance not only extends equipment life but also keeps tenants comfortable and happy. Tip 3: use data to reallocate budget When it comes to spending, data will guide you in these key ways to make the right decisions for the best results: Evaluate: use of resources and equipment, occupancy patterns, changes in staff responsibilities Look: for energy and cost savings opportunities based on data gathered Implement: changes in your systems and processes to save costs Finding the right solution The industry has embraced a single technology platform solution as a best practice to consolidate your data for a single source of truth across your portfolio. You can maintain peak performance while improving tenant experience by automating preventive maintenance, property inspections and work order management. Ready to gain management level oversight of maintenance across your properties and connect tenants, technicians and vendors on a fully integrated platform that gives you actionable analytics? Learn more about Yardi Facility...

You’re likely familiar with the challenges of managing documents across your business, both for your staff and external users. A few of these challenges include maintaining consistent folder structures, managing security and permissions, integrating content and users, finding documents quickly and tracking multiple versions over time. You can overcome these challenges by storing and sharing content in a unified system that leverages SharePoint and the cloud. Even better is a solution that integrates with your property management platform for a single source of truth. Centralizing key documents and enterprise information in a secure, mobile-enabled system will help you increase communication and productivity across your business. Read on to learn five big benefits of a full-featured document storage platform.  Five features to look for in a document management solution 1: Searchability Finding documents using native SharePoint functions is even more effective when coupled with AI meta data tagging. Adding OCR (Optical Character Recognition) capabilities that convert images of text into a machine-readable text format will make your search for elusive documents even more powerful, giving you the ability to look for keywords within a document. 2: Findability Organization for your documents is key. Implement a taxonomy with a uniform structure that makes it supremely easy to locate documents. Automation will ensure consistency and maintenance of your folder structures. Just as going to a big box store at any location in any state will give you the same layout and experience, a taxonomy that consistently organizes your documents to ensure a familiar experience makes information easy to find. 3: Scalability Without a document management system, managing information across an organization is a laborious undertaking. With an automated solution, it’s easy to maintain taxonomy and security for your documents on a large scale. Automation organizes your documents within hours, and when integrated with Yardi Voyager, you can access documents from a single source of truth. 4: Integration With seamless integration of your document management system with your Voyager property management system and other Yardi platforms (including Yardi Elevate, CommercialCafe and VendorCafe) it’s easier for approved users inside and outside your organization to upload files. Security is managed in Voyager. Depending on the outside user, such as a vendor, when they upload documents they will not be aware that the files are stored in SharePoint behind the scenes. Inside your organization, users will be able to interact with the files in a SharePoint setting where they can leverage all of its features. 5: Compliance Laws and regulations are changing to require less paper and accept more digital documents. Maintaining compliance and security in this evolving digital environment is a necessity. Document management in SharePoint has many features for compliance including retention policies, workflows and the ability to integrate with third-party tools such as DocuSign to meet regulations. Ready for scalable enterprise content management that delivers a single source of truth across your business? Yardi has a solution that enables you to take advantage of all the great features listed above. Join a Yardi Document Management for SharePoint webinar or learn...

The Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA) of 2016 brings significant changes to HUD’s public housing program. After years of preparation and implementation processes, public housing agencies across the country are ready to change the way they complete many of their core processes. Yardi is also ready for HOTMA with updates to our PHA Suite in development, as well as a plan to provide hands-on assistance to our clients as we work through HUD’s new program mandates. Gabrielle Van Horn, director of client services for Yardi, recently led an online webinar for Yardi clients walking them through Yardi’s HOTMA strategy. The webinar’s agenda included an overview of HUD changes, notably: Finalization of the Public Housing Over-Income Rule: Section 103 (PIH 2023-3) Final Rule for Sections 102 and 104 HOTMA Implementation Revisions to all 50058 forms Housing Information Portal (HIP), which replaces IMS/PIC National Standard for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) Van Horn walked attendees through Yardi’s plan to accommodate these upcoming changes. She also provided a timeline for all Yardi PHA clients who will need to upgrade their software this year, in order to remain compliant with the new HUD rules. Important notes on preparation and training from Gabrielle’s presentation included: Prepare your Board of Commissioners: ACOPs and Admin Plans must be adjusted. These are not optional changes We recommend utilizing training from HUD, industry experts, and industry groups such as NAHRO and PHADA for regulatory guidance An in-person training will be offered at the Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference in San Diego, September 6th – 8th Additional training will be available via online learning and documentation for those unable to attend the conference “This is an all-hands-on-deck process for the PHA client support team over the next few months. We’ve got a plan to help all of our clients to get their software ready for new HUD requirements, and we are allocating resources from within to help make the process as smooth and timely as possible. We’re committed to helping our clients through this process,” said Gabrielle. As a leading provider of PHA software and services, Yardi has access to contacts at HUD to seek clarification and provide feedback on how new rules can be accommodated. Yardi, as well as other vendors, will soon have a private meeting with HUD to discuss particular challenges and to provide advice on implementation strategies. Public housing agencies who are current Yardi clients can log on to Client Central to see Gabrielle’s recorded webinar. Questions submitted during the session, along with answers from Yardi, are also available on Client...

Want to train your leasing agents to perform with fewer errors and more confidence? Research shows that learning something once isn’t enough. If you want your staff to retain long-term software skills, you need learning software that implements immersive learning and repetitive practice. But how do you implement those features without overwhelming staff? How to train staff for long-term skill retention The key lies in seamless integration. Related training is the newest feature in Yardi Aspire designed to help staff gain long-term skill retention. Available within several Yardi solutions including RentCafe CRM Flex, Yardi Procure to Pay and RentCafe Affordable Housing, related training embeds continuous learning directly into staff workflows, giving staff easy access to skill information where and when they need it most. With easy access to relevant training right before an employee performs a specific task, they can reduce potential costly errors and complete tasks with greater efficiency. Information fades over time, but with help from experiential learning, employees can actively refresh their memory, enhance their understanding and create a more meaningful learning experience — without the hassle. How does related training for Aspire work? A tab will appear on the right side of the screen when an employee uses any related training-compatible solution, like the ones previously mentioned. This tab will directly link them to Aspire training courses associated with the task they’re currently performing. Users can then choose from available training options, followed by a key concept review and short quiz. Once finished, they can continue learning in Aspire or return to their task with greater confidence. It’s that simple! Those who use the integrated Yardi Help tool can find the new related training feature in their Help window. From there, they can review course details and launch a recommended course from the Help screen. Training success starts here Educating your employees efficiently can be one of the most challenging aspects of running a real estate management company. Yardi Aspire is committed to helping you make it easy with innovative learning technology that educates and empowers. Ready to improve training efficiency? Here’s everything you need to support your developing...

It’s the end of the year, and you are starting to feel sluggish. Scrolling social media endlessly or putting off tasks are everyday bad habits that society picks up in December. Why not start now with some New Years’ resolutions and download some productivity apps that can help get you out of that slump? We’ve done some research and found a few apps that can help. Here are four apps to increase productivity for the end of the year and the start of next year: 1. Todoist App (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome, Safari, Firefox). Todoist is a task management tool that promises to make complex to-do lists manageable. This app is for individuals, helping you track your tasks and ensure nothing gets forgotten. Key features of Todoist include task management, prioritizing tasks, project goals, and reports. Todoist offers a slick, cross-platform interface that makes it quick and easy to manage functions if you struggle to keep on top of your to-do list. 2. Trello App (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and web). Trello is like Todoist, except it is for collaborative teams. Tasks are added and organized on “to-do,” “going,” and “done” statuses, which helps teams keep track of progress. Tasks can be grouped into boards and cards, which contain multiple functions in themselves. Individual duties can be assigned to groups or team members with deadlines and checklists. Key features of Trello include project management, to-do lists, Trello boards, working with anyone, and instant messaging. Instant messaging makes it easy for teams to communicate and collaborate, especially in today’s world of working from home. 3, Zapier App (Windows, Mac, iOS, Andriod, and web). Zapier is a simple automation tool that can save teams vast amounts of time on repetitive tasks and switching between different apps. Zapier sends data between apps like Trello and Outlook, so emails are automatically sent out when anything changes in Trello. Add all these automations together, and your team will collectively spend much less time on menial tasks to focus on more critical ones. Key features of Zapier include the integration of apps, automation of tasks, and custom automation. Zapier is a very gentle introduction to business automation, but it can impact the day-to-day tasks that often slow down collaborative teams. 4. Forest (iOS and Android). This is more of a quirky app to keep you from scrolling social media all day. It is designed, so you stop spending so much time on your phone and/or tablet. Forest essentially gamifies downtime away from your mobile devices. When you want to focus, you plant a “tree,” and the more time you spend away from your smart device, the more it grows. Spend enough time away from your phone to produce an entire forest. The best perk of this app is that you can earn virtual coins by staying focused on your tasks and use them to grow real-life trees from the app. Forest key features include productivity, gamification, and growing actual trees. Forest not only increases a bit of fun into productivity but also helps you make the world a better place while improving your workflow. So far, Forest has planted over a million trees! We hope these apps have given you some inspiration so you can get your productivity game up. These are here to help productivity and not add stress to completing everything on your to-do...

Life for a college student today is much different than it was 20 years ago. Students expect to have the connectivity that they are accustomed to at home. As we dive into student housing tech, one priority is clear: college students demand a fast, reliable WiFi connection. As for Mom and Dad, parents will appreciate the security of electronic locks and cameras, especially when it is their children’s first time off to college. According to a recent article from the National Apartment Association (NAA), for student housing management companies, smart technology offers many advantages: It can alert authorities to danger fasterPeace of mind that no stranger or unauthorized visitor can pick up a key or keycard to get inside the buildingProtect staff by tracking movements in and out of apartmentsSave energy during summer and winter breaks with smart thermostats and alerting if there has been a window left openFree staff from security monitoring to do other tasksDetect leaks in fire and water lines or utility disruptions Security transformation Gone are the days of propping open doors with rocks or losing keys frequently and racking up fines. Smart locks at every entrance mean no more keys or even magnetic cards to carry. Codes are also on the way out since many will share with friends and roommates might not feel comfortable anymore. Bluetooth credentials are the new ways to open doors. Keys, fobs, and codes all can be copied but a Bluetooth credential cannot. Since student housing has a lot more likelihood of damage than your typical multifamily complex, cameras all around the building will also provide security and help staff to see if there was a drunken incident or a pet that is not allowed. Smart doorbells and window security in all units along with a video image of the main entrance intercom on the unit’s touchscreen will benefit for student residents to see who is at the door before admitting them. The window security will alert when a window has been opened and will benefit for winter and summer breaks. Smart locks also allow for contact tracing. “With COVID, once a student or other user reports becoming ill, Servitas LLC can trace his or her movements through the building and alert authorities and other recent users of the same doors and study rooms,” says the NAA article. Smart home shortcomings All the benefits of smart home technology come with some drawbacks as well. Can a building’s network withstand 100% of usage? Students come with myriad WiFi demands such as smartphones and tablets, laptops, TVs, gaming consoles, and more. Student housing property management companies are constantly having to upgrade and maintain bandwidth and equipment, and deal with resident complaints if anything goes down for more than a minute or two. For many years, most companies made eight- to 10-year Internet service agreements; “now I won’t do longer than five years,” says David Braden, Servitas senior VP of operations. Student housing provider Landmark decided a wise choice to handle in-unit tech was a hybrid smart-home hub for each housing unit.  The hub handles devices like unit and bedroom locks, door/window open notification, leak detector, thermostat, smart dimmable light switches and video visitor management. Residents can also customize with items like a smart speaker or smart outlets. Apps are managed through a touchscreen.  Saving time and money Comprehensive software platforms for leasing, rent pay and maintenance requests are saving student housing staff a lot of time and freeing up extra money for other expenses. Students can log into their accounts to sign leases, and select a perfect roommate with a questionnaire that asks compatibility questions. Chatbots are also becoming more common. Artificial intelligence has improved tremendously and can help those who do not take the time to read the marketing website. “In the first quarter of 2022 alone, the bots responded to 52,000 inquiries, saving the company more than 16,000 staff...

For an industry where detail, timeliness and accurate metrics mean so much, the investment world still relies too heavily on manual processes and duplicate data entry from disparate systems. Entering data in multiple spreadsheets and relying on disparate systems is inefficient and can be error-prone, especially when sharing information between investment, investor and accounting software. However, technology is a driving factor behind the growth of automated investment management. Investors now expect on-demand service and self-service access to key metrics, capital transactions, important documents and reports. Beyond financials, investors are also asking for an analysis of an asset’s operating and ESG performance. Yardi’s Investment Suite creates better value for investors, increasing investor confidence. The Investment Manager product specifically improves communication between you and your investors, automates the subscription agreement process and provides easy access to performance metrics. The system is available wherever, whenever access is required. Improve communication Managing relationships with existing and prospective investors is vital to growing any investment business and raising capital. Yardi Investment Manager provides a platform that makes communicating with current and prospective investors more efficient, easier and error-free. For MG Properties Group, a single spreadsheet reported contained as many as 450 tabs. “Having the right technology gives you the ability to produce better net operating income, which in turn creates better value for the property and for your investors, as well,” said Joe Anfuso, CFO. With Yardi’s solutions, they are now delivering statements, capital calls, distribution notices and other information online and via mobile devices. “You increase investor confidence by giving them the information they can be confident is correct,” Anfuso said. Organizations benefit from a single connected tool that helps: Centralize communications with existing and prospective investorsManage capital call and distribution notices with investorsEasily send out correspondence, track activities and follow up tasks quicklyEnable better collaboration with new investment opportunities Increase transparency and accuracy Challenges arise when investment, investor and accounting data are maintained in separate systems. Disparate systems or maintaining spreadsheets outside a system increases the opportunity for errors and the time to produce reports and metrics for stakeholders. With an integrated solution, data from the investor to the asset is available, allowing for increased accuracy and visibility for stakeholders. This single source of truth approach is also beneficial when automating other investment functions like fundraising, as all the back-and-forth is contained within one system. Additionally, onboarding is streamlined to provide a quick and easy transition for investors into your platform. By easily compiling and communicating accurate information, Yardi Investment Manager strengthens investor relationships with superior service, as it did for Cohen Asset Management, allowing the company to maintain a lean organization. Scott McGinness, CFO, said, “To be able to log in to Investment Manager and see what trusts or entities a client has invested with, what actual investments those are in, and the returns they’re receiving have been incredible. I can’t put a price on it.”  “By being able to deliver information when it’s needed, we don’t have to follow up with the investor later, which is easier on both parties. We get a lot of compliments from investors about our service, and Investment Manager is a major reason for that,” McGinness added. Yardi Investment Manager is a single source of truth for investor and investment information. Access information easily In addition to investment and property metrics, Yardi Investment Manager makes it easy to publish reports, tax documents, subscription agreements and more to investors through an online branded portal. This allows your investors’ self-service access to information. Since the portal can take on your company’s personalized branding, it will offer a customized, highly professional experience for investors. They receive automatic alerts and notifications when new documents have been published and secure access to new investment opportunities in a virtual data room setting. Manage portfolios on the go Yardi Investment Manager provides access to investor and investment information on any device. It...

One of the major challenges in investment management is providing visibility to investors. Driving transparency between owners and investors leads to increased investor confidence, reduced risk and a healthier relationship for all parties involved. Communicating with investors and allowing them access to reports and data is critical when it has become evident that in-person meetings will be less and less common.  Technology platforms streamline day-to-day tasks and provide greater efficiency to reduce the risk for human error. Chris Barbier, Yardi industry principal, explained this premise on a REF Club podcast. For example, you could simply enter a number wrong into a formula. An employee who operates the spreadsheet could leave the business, and interpreting data could become a strenuous task. Numbers have to be auditable. There has to be integrity to the data as it rolls up the ownership structure, as Barbier explained. “As an investor, you get the confidence of knowing there is a platform behind a number and that it’s not just being calculated manually in a spreadsheet,” he said. Transparency is also vital for members of the organization beyond the accounting department. “Folks in investor relations, portfolio management, asset management, fund management, they may be the consumers of the accounting information but may not have direct access to the accounting system,” Barbier said. These roles speak directly with investors. Internal departments’ visibility can help them pull up data faster, answer questions, provide details, and broaden the overall transparency between the company and its investors. The pandemic highlighted communication as a value proposition with stakeholders even further. Tech solutions have improved collaboration and communication between teams internally, making remote work more successful than most organizations anticipated. But these tech platforms have also allowed for business continuity in which investors still felt connected to the organization. They were still receiving distribution checks or payments in a timely fashion and never lost visibility into the financial status of a company during a very uncertain year. Investors justifiably had more fear or concern about their portfolio over the past year. Yardi addresses those questions with their investment management solutions. Investors are often asking, “do I have that in my portfolio?” as Barbier explained. “Is that impacting my return? How is that impacting my investment?” Barbier said these were the common questions from investors. “We’ve done a lot in the investor communication side in the past year because we’ve seen clients want to adopt the technologies. COVID accelerated that, but some clients were already going in that direction,” he added. Tech platforms such as Yardi’s investment solutions are a driver for growth and operational performance. Organizations can scale, build value and gain investors without adding staff or additional costs for multiple solutions due to the added efficiency of a single connected platform. Additionally, as Barbier explained, tech provides a new level of asset oversight and risk management, with better access to asset-operational data. “New tools provide that visibility, so [you have] more proactive discussions and less reactive. That starts to gain some efficiencies over time in terms of getting ahead of things that come up at the operational level,” he said. Allowing clients to find ways to squeeze additional value and return yield from the assets. Investors want to have the ability to answer their questions and find the data they’re looking for when they want it. “They’re checking in, at least monthly, to see their positions, their information and where they are with their investments,” Barbier said. But the key is that investors are more involved and more knowledgeable about their standing now than when clients were passively sending information out to investors via email or other avenues. Tech platforms provide that window for self-service that investors seek.  “We’ve seen a trend for a few years now in the U.S. where many investment managers are moving from best of breed to a single integrated solution,” Barbier said. Owning the data...

The last two-plus years have changed the senior living industry, presenting unforeseen challenges for providers. Mainly, they’re tasked with finding effective systems and strategies to meet the needs of residents, families and staff as the industry navigates a new normal. So which solutions are important, now more than ever? For providers and other healthcare leaders, implementing a software solution may have the greatest impact. According to research like this piece from Ziegler, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of tech-enabled solutions across the healthcare industry like never before. Implementing the right software solution is key in streamlining operations, increasing resident satisfaction, delivering quality care and the list goes on. But not just any software solution is beneficial. To meet the needs of their communities, providers need a full suite of integrated tools that are mobile, intuitive and efficient. Benefits of integrated software When selecting senior living software, it’s important to know the difference between disparate and integrated systems. With disparate tools, you’re operating communities from several platforms that don’t necessarily speak to each other. That leads to time wasted navigating multiple systems, challenges in bringing staff up to speed, the risk of pulling inaccurate data and more. Ziegler’s white paper notes the importance of choosing a single connected solution to stay ahead of the curve. With an integrated system, every facet of your business is united in one place. That offers ease of use for staff, reduced costs and time savings — all leading to streamlined operations and enhanced care. That’s where the Yardi Senior Living Suite comes in. As an integrated system that eliminates the gap between senior living property management and clinical services, the Senior Living Suite gives providers everything they need to manage their communities. The key differentiator? The union of property management, finance, marketing, business intelligence and resident care on a single platform. At a glance, here are five ways the Yardi Senior Living Suite sets your communities apart: Combine property management, finance and business oversight for improved efficiency, reduced costs and responsive resident services with a comprehensive management tool, Yardi Voyager Senior HousingKeep residents and families connected through a secure online portal, RentCafe Senior LivingMake smarter, faster decisions with actionable information for your entire portfolio through Yardi Senior IQ, a business intelligence solution for senior livingKeep health records error free, limit liability and empower staff to deliver the best resident care with Yardi EHR, a full-service electronic health record solution  Attract new residents, nurture your leads and increase resident retention with RentCafe Senior CRM, a mobile-friendly sales and marketing solution Learn more about Yardi software for senior living There’s no denying the importance of software solutions for businesses — especially those that provide interconnected tools. This holds true for the senior living industry, both through the pandemic and beyond. Still curious about how a single connected solution can transform your business and care services? Explore the Yardi Senior Living Suite and reach out to book a demo with our...