The relationship between investors and investment fund managers is changing, largely because the tech-savvy younger generation expects timely access to accurate information. Investment managers who meet the changing demands of clients can reap competitive advantages. Scott Tavolacci, Yardi’s regional director of investment management sales, explains why in a piece that first appeared in PERE magazine. The need for accurate reporting seems self-evident, but this realization was a long time coming. Two events in the United States were particularly influential. One was the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Designed to protect investors from fraudulent accounting practices, the legislation placed new emphasis on providing accurate data to both public and private players. After that, it often seemed that investors and investment managers could do little wrong. In hindsight, however, financial reporting remained surprisingly lax. Then in 2010, in response to the financial crisis and recession, the Dodd-Frank legislation triggered a new wave of regulations and forced investment advisors to reexamine their processes and information flows. Even aside from these requirements, investment managers want information that goes beyond a financial statement and which does not need to be entered into multiple software solutions. Fund managers who fail to heed that call, instead relying on outmoded reporting systems, put themselves at risk. In the past, many investment managers used customized proprietary systems to provide the necessary reporting and drive more-informed business decisions. They came to realize that these outdated tools were inadequate to meet the demands of today’s investors. Investment managers have been slow to embrace technology for a number of reasons. One of them is the complexity and the cost of transferring data to a new platform, which is largely due to the nature of real estate as an asset class. Tracking a single lease may involve hundreds of...