Fall YASC News

Conference highlights from Anaheim

By Leah Etling on Oct 10, 2013 in News

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Kicking off Fall YASC 2013 at the Anaheim Hilton, Yardi Systems founder and CEO Anant Yardi delivered an insightful, engaging and humorous address to 1,450 Yardi clients about the future of technology and the habits of the multifamily industry’s newest renters – the Millennials.

Encapsulating the larger trends in the technology marketplace – mobility, social media, business intelligence and cloud computing – Mr. Yardi stressed that the emphasis for Yardi is a continued balance between innovation and customer service.

“We want to be known for technology innovation, as we have been for the last 30 years. But we want to maintain our customer focus, recognizing that there is a balancing act between innovation and customer service. Our focus is providing the right kind of service, and in that vein, we will be beefing up our customer service group even further,” Mr. Yardi said.

With a track record of 31 years developing technology solutions for property management, clients have come to depend on Yardi to be ahead of the curve on new devices, delivery systems and platforms.

Admitting that he doesn’t yet have a “phablet,” a larger smartphone or smaller tablet device, Mr. Yardi forecast that the current emphasis on mobility by consumers is only going to become more prevalent in the business environment. By 2017, 75 percent of technology purchases are expected to be tablets/phablets.

Yardi clients are able to use tablets and smartphones to lease commercial and multifamily properties with Yardi Leasing Pad, convey and execute maintenance work orders, and now, with the latest version of Voyager 7S, all of the industry’s leading property management software functionality is available on any device or browser.

“We love it. It’s awesome,” said one Yardi client from a Southern California-based multifamily firm who has already implemented the latest Voyager version. The ease of automatic updates, made possible by the cloud, have been one of the most positive aspects for their firm.

As cloud computing becomes the dominant storage and business systems preference for companies of all kinds, Yardi will move more than 600 clients to Voyager 7S by the end of 2013, Mr. Yardi said. The security and convenience of the cloud provides multiple advantages, including a streamlined implementation process.

The latest version of Voyager has been designed to display optimally on a smaller screen, so its ideal for mobile use. Other exciting new features include improved searchability, predictive search, smart data entry, smarter security and enhanced work flow capabilities.

Multifamily and the Millennials

It’s a brave new world for multifamily professionals as they rent to a new generation of renters – the Millennials. Mr. Yardi introduced the demographic with illuminating insight about their preferences and habits, including their reliance on online recommendations and reviews when making purchasing decisions.

“These young folks are open to change. When they see something bad about your property on Yelp, you shouldn’t assume they will take it for granted. They want to see what you have to say about it. If you have a sincere response, they will factor that in,” Mr. Yardi said.

Yardi offers multi-dimensional tools to help property managers manage their online reputations, social media presence and web-based marketing through the RentCafe platform, an end-to-end marketing and leasing solution.

With a focus on the online connections offered by sites like Facebook, Mr. Yardi noted that the nature of the very word “social” has changed. It no longer means a face-to-face interaction, and companies have less time than ever to attract a potential residents’ attention.

“Who are the Millennials? They are the people who are influencing all this change. If you can’t get their attention in 10 seconds, you may have lost them,” he said.

Business Intelligence

Always a priority for real estate companies that must deliver regular reports to owners, investors and shareholders, business intelligence is becoming more accessible and easier to use with Yardi’s latest  products.

“For the first time, with software and technology available today, business intelligence may become available to everybody,” Mr. Yardi said.

The latest Yardi Orion Business Intelligence is a powerful, flexible reporting tool. It includes easily customizable dashboards with all the crucial KPI’s, and combines the financial, operational, and ancillary data housed in your Yardi Voyager and Yardi Multifamily Suite products. A version for commercial and investment clients is also available.

Yardi eLearning

An exciting new option for training employees, Yardi eLearning was introduced this morning to an excited class of clients who had many excellent questions about the online-based training platform.

Yardi trainer Patty Evans and developer Yves Hajjar delivered a comprehensive overview of the software, which allows companies to set up their own personalized university and deliver courses of all kinds to their internal teams.

“Our courses are going to focus on the high turnover positions in your company. We want to assist you in that training,” said Evans, who noted that up to 90 classes are already available within the platform.

It’s also easy to upload your own internal classes or webinars, said Cindy Sheahan, National Trainer for Simpson Housing, which has been beta-testing the product since January and is extremely pleased with its capabilities. Simpson’s staff have especially appreciated the customization offerings of the system.

“Anything we have asked for or wished for, (Yardi) has made possible,” said Sheahan. “It’s a really easy system to use.”

Content marketing: The new SEO?

Expanded offerings on the Smart Marketing course track have resulted in interesting sessions focusing on how to improve and maximize the impact of your online marketing efforts. With search algorithms constantly changing, it can be a challenge to figure out how to maximize your marketing budget and staffing resources.

Esther Bonardi, industry principal for Yardi’s RentCafé solution,  suggests that content is now more important than SEO. Blogs, microblogs, and social media sites all depend on fresh and relevant content to attract viewership and build brand loyalty. Give your residents information about their neighborhood, introduce them to local businesses and activities, and they will notice and appreciate you, she suggests.

“You will really improve your search results if you start following this path,” Bonardi said. Who should create the content? Consider a corporate team member, property site staff member, guest blogger or combination of both. But be sure to review a test post or two for writing quality and relevance before finalizing the assignment.

Yardi Resident Screening

When new residents apply, the ability to quickly vet their credit and criminal backgrounds with confidence is essential to the move-in process. Diving into the capacity of Yardi Resident Screening to assess a prospective resident, Patrick Hennessey explained how the product harnesses the power of electronic databases and manual record review to deliver the fastest results possible.

Though criminal record database access differs by state, in most cases its possible to get a recommended yay or nay on a prospective resident instantly. If there’s a need to filter results to make sure the right applicant is being screened, Yardi’s Resident Screening assessment team can filter through results in less than an hour.

The customizable product allows multifamily firms to choose which infractions or credit scores are acceptable for their ideal resident pool. Fully integrated with Yardi Voyager, results will be paired with the resident’s record to provide additional insight for business intelligence.

Tying the screening of new households back to Mr. Yardi’s remarks on Wednesday, Millennials forming households for the first time may not always have credit scores to help determine their fitness as renters. Resident Screening now  offers VantageScore credit scores for clients who prefer a three-digit credit score to factor into their screening process.

Feedback from clients

In addition to attending sessions, answering questions and reporting on the events of the day at #YASCLA, we’ve been talking to clients from a variety of verticals about the aspects of YASC that are most important to them. Here’s a quick summary of their responses so far:

-The chance to interact one-on-one and solve particular problems or issues with a product or service in the computer lab.

-Meeting and engaging, as well as providing feedback, to Yardi sales staff and developers.

-A training opportunity for new staff members who aren’t as familiar with Yardi.

-Interaction with other clients from my industry that I don’t see anywhere other than here.

-Learning about in-depth ways to use Voyager that I wasn’t already familiar with.

-Finding out about new products.

-The food is amazing, best I’ve had at any conference.

-I really enjoy interacting with the Yardi staff. They’re all good people and go the extra mile to help me solve problems.

-My family is enjoying Disneyland while I am working!

Client stories to come

In the process of interviewing clients at YASC for future in-depth articles here on The Balance Sheet, we’ve collected some great anecdotes. We’ll be sharing their stories here on the blog soon, but here’s a sneak preview of things to come:

Michael Johnson from ALCO talked to us about how important it is for the Southern affordable and multifamily housing firm to have an integrated solution for accounting, resident records, lease tracking, compliance, marketing and more.

Jane Griffith from Tarragon Property Services/Invesco shared the challenges of marketing a brand new micro-unit building in Seattle, and excitedly described how the capabilities of RentCafé have been essential for comprehensive marketing, online leasing and resident portal services.

Yonah Bergstrom of New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority described the amazing variety of tenants that his agency is able to manage using Yardi, and explained how the Yardi Voyager database helped him quickly and efficiently notify building owners when the MTA was facing a transit worker strike.

Stuart Appley of Shorenstein, a new Yardi commercial and investment client, told us how excited his company is about potentially using the new Commercial Leasing Pad, which could help leasing agents show and rent flagship assets like the Twitter building in San Francisco, no desktop required.

All of our Yardi clients have unique and interesting stories to share, and each of your experiences helps us improve and enhance our products. Thank you for sharing with us!

Social Learning Lounge

A new offering at YASC this year is the Social Learning Lounge on the 4th floor. Come by to chat with Yardi staff who can answer questions about social media, reputation management, search and blogs. A number of attendees have already dropped in to ask about differences between social media platforms and how they can optimize their business pages on each.

We welcome your questions and comments, and thank you for attending #YASCLA!

Photo Gallery

Thanks to Gabe Nordyke for the images contained in the photo gallery below, featuring images from around and about the conference. Congratulations to all of the prize winners from Thursday’s giveaway luncheon!