Yardi Canada

The first 20 years

By Lee Ann Stiff on May 31, 2018 in People

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, former chief operating office of Point2 and now vice president of programming for Yardi, Zach Scott said, “Transition is always tricky and requires trust; you need to know you are working to develop a new product that will deliver value. At first people were trying to figure out how they fit into the new structure at Yardi. It didn’t take long for the team to trust the company. We all realized that Yardi is a company with integrity and a culture of fairness. The charitable side to Yardi really became apparent in conversations we had with Anant Yardi. We were happy to realize we were getting involved with a company that cares about people.”

Reinforcing the Yardi mission “to take care of our clients, take care of our employees, stay focused and grow,” Scott commented that the goal of working well as a team with a focus on people has contributed to the success of Yardi offices everywhere. In Saskatoon, team performance is very collaborative and has just about tripled since Yardi’s acquisition, proof that the “people first” focus fosters success.

When asked about what excites him and his team about the future, Scott said, “We are in an incredible position where we have established products and incredible customer relationships — and now we’re investing in Smart Building and Smart Home technology and expanding into the energy space. This is an exciting new chapter for Yardi Canada and it will certainly have an impact on the industry.”

Energized in Vancouver

Yardi’s newest office in Vancouver has a small team of 20 people. “Our mantra for how we build products and apps is to focus on delivering value to our clients,” said Harish Raisinghani, general manager of Yardi’s Vancouver office. Raisinghani came to Yardi in 2016 with the acquisition of Pulse Energy, an energy engagement company that captures data to drive more responsible consumption. After two acquisitions, the company has grown and lessons have been learned.  Raisinghani commented, “We were a small scrappy startup looking to do good in the world by bringing in talented and strong leaders to drive meaningful change in the energy space.”

Working with Yardi, everything is coming together for the Pulse team. “With Yardi, not only do we have all the components of an ‘energy ecosystem’ within a single organization, but we also have an immense customer base to work with and deliver our solutions to in order to make a huge positive impact,” Raisinghani added.

Looking forward to the next 20 years

Across Canada — and all of its globally located offices — it’s clear that “Team Yardi” is working with passion to deliver value to clients while promoting a culture of collaboration for staff and a mission of giving back to the communities they work in. Learn more about Yardi’s single connected solutions for real estate management.