YASC San Diego

Record turnout for event

By Leah Etling on Sep 12, 2018 in News

Yardi president and founder Anant Yardi welcomed 2,500 clients to the Hilton San Diego Bayfront on Wednesday for the largest Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference (YASC) ever.

“2500 is just such an incredible number. I recall when we had around 150 to 200 clients at our first YASC,” Mr. Yardi said. “We truly hope this conference is enjoyable and educational for you.”

Yardi clients around the world can attend YASC events to gain product knowledge in training classes, troubleshoot issues with their current Yardi software, view product demos, network and much more. The two U.S. events take place each fall on the West Coast and spring on the East Coast.

Mr. Yardi talked to the general session audience about the company’s overall road map for product development, which includes the newly released Yardi Elevate suite. Introduced at YASC DC in May, Elevate incorporates big data, machine learning and AI to offer predictive insights and is very popular with its beta users.

“Our clients are very enamored already by Elevate. I think it’s going to do wonderful things for you,” Mr. Yardi said. While Elevate may be the wave of the future, in the present Yardi clients are continually working to gain new efficiencies for their business, whether that involves collecting rents, paying vendors, or marketing their properties.

A video featuring 22-year Yardi client Marquette Management of Chicago and its use of the RentCafe Reach marketing platform was shown during the session and prompted Mr. Yardi to reflect on how far the company has come. When Marquette came on board in 1996, they purchased Yardi’s first generation Enterprise platform.

“I was the principal programmer on Enterprise. Isn’t that something how time has gone by,” Mr. Yardi said. Today, most Yardi clients across all real estate verticals have upgraded to Voyager 7S, the company’s highly regarded accounting and property management platform. Additionally, around 98 percent of clients host their data on the Yardi Cloud, which offers exceptional security protocols and staff support.

For the next two to three years, Yardi’s core Voyager platform is expected to be maintained as is, with a focus on small improvements for stability and reliability. With that stability comes the further development of Yardi’s ancillary services, including collecting and processing rent payments, handling work orders, ordering parts and supplies, hiring and paying vendors, and much more.

Yardi senior vice president of client services John Pendergast and vice president of CSD Akshai Rao delivered detailed presentations on the lifecycle of rent payments and the process of submitting and fulfilling maintenance orders. Both can be made significantly easier with use of Yardi’s fully integrated platform. Yardi Payment Processing and the Yardi Procure to Pay suite are being adopted on a widespread basis by clients who wish to be more efficient while continuing to grow.

Mr. Yardi noted that more than half of Yardi clients have been with the company for more than 10 years.

“Helping our clients improve and scale their businesses is central to everything we do,” he stated. Even as technology continues its never-ending cycle of change, that intent remains the same.

Follow the YASC event on social media using the hashtag #YASC2018. You can follow Yardi on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.