Do you want to streamline payables and purchasing, expedite approvals and eliminate paper? It’s not too good to be true. You can with a robust cloud-based procurement solution. Your industry peers are already experiencing success, and it’s simpler than you think. The recent Yardi Executive Briefing offered multifamily property specialists an inside look at the power of modern procurement software. Peter Altobelli, VP and general manager, Yardi Canada facilitated the session, “The New Age of Canadian Residential Real Estate” with clients Christine Williams, VP, national operations and administration at QuadReal Property Group and Brian Turpin, CIO of Greenwin Corp. Early tech adaption resulted in efficiency and agility Both QuadReal and Greenwin embraced technology long before the pandemic began. The organizations actively sought solutions that promoted efficiency, accuracy and sustainable growth. Williams laughed, “QuadReal is still fairly young but from the beginning, we embraced the digital workflow and got rid of our paper trail.” Turpin added, “Proptech is exploding with different technology. Everything is paperless and more efficient. I joke that even the light switches are under my domain because everything is connected to the internet.” Technology isn’t decorative. For both organizations, technology is a core part of the business that enables greater efficiency, transparency and collaboration. By embracing technology, their teams were better prepared to shift to remote work environments and online services. When many offices closed or reduced operating hours during the pandemic, QuadReal seamlessly achieved business continuity with Yardi Procure to Pay, automated vendor management, automated procurement (including a comprehensive marketplace), electronic invoice processing and outsourced vendor payments. “Yardi Procure to Pay offers us a better way to keep track of invoices and keep us on time with our payments to vendors,” said Williams. “The Yardi Payscan, community-initiated purchase orders and approval workflows were matched to internal authority levels. Centralized invoice processing teams would receive the digital invoices and match them to the purchase orders with a few added tolerances. They would then be en route for payment approval and vendors could be quickly paid with Yardi Bill Pay.” Greenwin, which had already adopted Procure to Pay, continued operations as usual. The automation of the entire procurement life cycle was driven by benefits seen in streamlining resident transactions. “The key piece is document management,” explained Turpin. “In tech, a lot of things we do don’t have a visible impact. But when you’re tearing down unused filing cabinets and renovating rooms to add desks, it’s a visible way to see how tech benefits the company.” Buy-in and adoption made easier Adoption is around 95% at Greenwin. For buy-in, Turpin and his team positioned technology as an empowerment for success. “Yardi created a custom onboarding video for us that we send to vendors,” he said. “They see that they don’t have to mail anything. We empower our suppliers to upload their invoices to VendorCafe, to see statements and automate their process. It has a trickle-down effect.” Yardi Marketplace, an online procurement platform, was perhaps one of the easiest buy-ins for Greenwin. The intuitive platform already fit into users’ daily lifestyle. “It’s a great example of the consumer world integrating with the enterprise world. Most people shop online and we can leverage that. From a user perspective, there was great adoption because it streamlines, prepopulates fields and automates processes,” explains Turpin. Williams agreed, “Our team shops on Marketplace. The PO goes through its workflow. It’s approved, all the coding is in there and the payment is out of the door. Our team can even create a list of favourites, so their most popular products are easy to find. They’ve learnt to love the simplicity.” Improved security through portal-based transactions Secure online portals help to decrease risk to clients and vendors. In the past, vendors sent invoices via email or the postal service. This resulted in a greater risk of phishing scams, lost postal mail and delays, as well as cheque...
Future of Procurement in Canada
QuadReal Improves, Automates Processes
In the last year, we’ve witnessed accelerated implementation of web-based property management software, automated services and paperless transactions. We now know technology is here to stay and more businesses will continue to leverage technology to help improve efficiency and continuity throughout the organization. In the Canadian real estate industry, this uptake in tech is particularly true in procurement and payment processing. If you are looking for a solution to take your organization to the next level of efficiency, an end-to-end procurement to payment software should be on your vendor list. Unlock potential value Christine Williams, vice president of national operations and administration for QuadReal Property Group, is one of many Yardi clients that are leveraging paperless solutions. “Our internal initiative is to always stay current with technology and processes. We want to empower our staff to get the job done in the fastest, most efficient and the most accurate way.” Getting invoices on the desk and scanning them is a new safety concern, as well as an inconvenient task that takes many hours from staff schedules. Rather than handling high-quality tasks, your staff is stuck sifting through stacks of paper. This is when you need a solution like a third party digital invoice services to take the burden from your team to off-site specialists who can scan and key your invoices. By outsourcing this work you free up time for your team while leadership maintains control of all invoice approvals. Cheque writing is another drain on your staff’s time and in-office hours. Paper cheques require printing, signing, postage fees and can cause potential delays. Implementing an electronic payment platform permits efficient vendor payments and data. Offering a truly paperless invoice process is key for ensuring successful business continuity. Williams says, “Historically, manual management processes have proven to be inefficient. We are big on automating workflows at QuadReal. Wherever we can put a user access control in place from a system perspective, we would rather have someone push an approve button than a piece of paper.” Simplify vendor management Maintaining open lines of communication with your vendors is important but staff can find themselves fielding dozens of calls and emails each day. A self-service online portal for vendors enables vendors to submit invoices, check payment statuses, manage POs and work orders when they are off or onsite. When vendors can manage their own accounts, there is less downstream burden for your staff. Williams continues, “If there is a vendor that is going to integrate ordering to purchase orders to invoice submissions and payments, they understand the market’s needs. Having that functionality takes multiple steps out of our process, making it easier for all stakeholders.” Gain control of MRO spend With the recent increase in tech adoption, some businesses are seeing a disparate supplier base across their organization leading to errors, inconsistencies and cost variables. Without a streamlined approach to your procurement spend, your team is constantly adjusting to moving targets. To take the guess work out of procurement management consider what online catalogues can offer and how your organization can benefit from tracking and centralizing all procurement decisions in a single database. Two other major wins of streamlining your processes is that your operations team feels empowered to make better decisions and it helps create consistent policies throughout your communities. Williams explains, “Minimizing manual steps makes our processes easier for our properties, staff and vendors, and we embrace tech innovation. From a site user perspective, all our team needs to do is log onto Marketplace, place their order, the system will generate a purchase order, that follows our predefined workflow to get all of the necessary approvals. From a management standpoint, we have access to the analytics, from which we gain greater visibility into our working capital and budget.” Go beyond business continuity As organizations prepare for our post-pandemic reality, integrated technology remains a key determinate in the ability to...
Simple, Streamlined Procurement
Yardi Marketplace & HD Supply Canada
Efficient, automated procurement and single-point supplier management are within reach. Through Yardi Marketplace, HD Supply Canada offers tools of the trade for multifamily, hospitality and healthcare property managers. It is a collaboration that empowers clients to work with greater simplicity, efficiency and savings. For Munawar Quraishi, general manager for HD Supply Canada Inc., teaming up with Yardi was a merging of interests. Both organizations emphasize caring for employees, clients and the community. Quraishi says, “Improving our people’s lives is at the core of everything we do. We know that having engaged, successful people within our business will drive the success of the organization.” He continues, “We look at the right balance of people, profit and processes.” To enhance its processes, HD Supply Canada sought a collaborator with similar perspectives on innovative technology. Together, Yardi and HD Supply Canada aim to advance the future of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) buying and distribution. HD Supply, Canadian market leaders HD Supply Canada is the leading supplier of MRO products for multifamily living, hotels and long-term retirement care in the nation. Its pick, pack and distribute business model offers next day shipment. Product availability constantly grows: currently, HD Supply Canada offers 14,000 SKUs. Within the next several years, the goal is to get over 100,000. The process includes consulting subject matter experts on new products so that clients can rest assured they’re getting high quality and value. “Our sales team engages with vendors and peers to research and give our customers the best solution,” says Quraishi. Getting quality products into the hands of clients has involved process innovation at HD Supply Canada. The supplier was determined to implement digital solutions that streamline processes for its staff and its clients. HD Supply Canada + Yardi Marketplace add value for clients “Yardi Marketplace helps us act as solution providers for our customers, not just transaction executors. Having one platform for orders, payment and analytics will give our customers a previously unattained degree of visibility and help improve their productivity,” explains Quraishi. Previous transactions occurred via fax, email, phone and website. This approach resulted in unnecessary time delays and errors. “Yardi’s integration takes away the ambiguity of purchase order development before it gets to us, whether that’s a price change, error or issue with the print catalogues,” says Quraishi. An online marketplace also allows property technicians to maximize their time by using a mobile-ready service to place orders while they’re in the field. Clients note that site-level productivity has improved once operating on Marketplace. Additionally, HD Supply Canada conducts enterprise resource planning (ERP) through Marketplace. This allows the customer to make better decisions around budget and pricing. “This technology was a big play for us: it allowed property owners to understand how they’re spending dollars, especially in a time like today with COVID-19 where budgets and working capital become more important,” Quraishi says. “Such budget and capital insights allow clients better visibility than they had in the past.” Pouring (not trickling) the savings to clients Improved efficiencies within HD Supply Canada have a resounding impact on clients. HD Supply Canada reports that Yardi Marketplace has facilitated fewer price discrepancies, fewer errors with purchase orders and better visibility into approvals and budgeting. The organization now picks, packs and ships without completing the approval process via disparate systems and methods. The streamlined approach expedites business at multiple levels. The future of technology in MRO buying + distribution Quraishi and his team collaborate with technology companies like Yardi to usher the distribution industry into the future. “We believe technology is the solution to help us grow and we will grow with it,” says Quraishi. “Our investment in technology allows us to enhance the customer experience. We believe our system will pull information quickly and provide superior data to our clients. Those resources will help customers understand what they are buying, standardize those purchases and realize cost savings in the...
Better P2P Process
Senior Living’s Silverado
Employing disconnected procurement processes eats up staff members’ valuable time, fritters away resources and creates opportunities for runaway spending. Managers of senior living communities need to direct their resources toward productive activities. So why not find a better way to purchase, approve and pay for goods and services? That was the purpose of a recent webinar moderated by Senior Living Foresight and featuring Yardi Procure to Pay manager Kim Hensley along with Carmin Tomassi, vice president controller for Silverado, an Irvine, Calif.-based assisted living, home care and hospice care provider. The traditional approach to purchasing goods and services involved manually scanning data and routing paper around for approvals. The lack of formal workflows and repeated manual tasks obscured budget visibility, duplicated payments, and created opportunities for duplicate payments and other errors. The sheer volume of invoices to be processed – up to 35,000 per year for a typical user of Yardi PayScan – made the process even more daunting. Silverado offers an example of a senior living community operator overcoming the flaws inherent in manual procurement processing. Tomassi recounted how Silverado reduced its payables reversed rate to 0.56%, versus the industry average of 1.8%, and its checks voided rate to 0.43%, versus 2.1% for the industry, by automating the process end to end with Yardi Procure to Pay. The system, he said, produced “a night-and-day difference from where we were just four years ago. Now we have one automated system paying all our bills. All approvals are electronic, we have vendors set up in workflows, and we have centralized a big chunk of the business function, with better results. It’s been real win for us.” Silverado uses Yardi Procure to Pay to move its purchase orders through the approval process electronically, with customized approval...
Electronic Invoicing
Benefits for real estate
Consider how much of your everyday business can be done without paperwork. If you want to fly, for example, you can do everything from booking your seat to gaining clearance to board the aircraft using just your cell phone. In contrast, many national and multinational real estate companies still generate, circulate and approve invoices using paper and manual routing. This highly inefficient process is costly, time-consuming and contrary to prevailing environmental sensibilities. A paper invoice can cost as much as € 4 to generate and route by air and ground transport. The cost of processing it can set the recipient back anywhere from € 15 to € 30 because he or she often has to rekey the information into his or her own database, then route it to multiple approvers. There can be dozens of touchpoints, each one of which consumes resources and presents opportunities for error. And that’s just one document. Multiply this sequence by the hundreds or thousands of vendors and partners some real estate firms deal with. This approach to invoice processing doesn’t just seem outdated with the potential to drag a business down – it is. Payables made easy Real estate companies’ profit margins might remain slender through the COVID-19 era. Besides that, tenants, investors, communities and regulators are imposing increasingly stringent environmental performance standards for businesses. These developments might inspire real estate companies in Europe to consider replacing the manual steps – and paper – in the accounts payable process with advanced software applications that scan invoices into electronic files, route them to approvers and pay suppliers with electronic funds transfer. This approach can sharply reduce costs as well as the material and energy required to create and move paper invoices to their various destinations. In fact, savings of...
Talking Technology
With Bernie Devine of Yardi
Before smart buildings and smart cities can become a reality, the real estate sector must focus on smart processes – and that means automating property management services still tracked on paper. Technology has the potential to enhance transparency and trust between property owners, tenants and vendors, but many property companies are “still figuring out how to take a simple service request on a clipboard and track its progress,” says Bernie Devine, regional director of Asia Pacific for Yardi. Devine has worked at the intersection of property and technology for three decades, and for the last six years with Yardi. “When I first started in real estate, most people operated from spreadsheets or, worse, paper. Today, I’m still talking to clients who manage their workflows on pieces of paper and others who turn to the Yellow Pages for procurement,” he says. This isn’t just inefficient. “Without automated processes we don’t have data. And that’s the bottom line – because without data we can’t make informed decisions.” Yardi’s VendorCafe, for instance, centralises product and service vendor information into a single system of record, reducing paper, speeding up invoicing, automating the onboarding process for vendors and, ultimately, cutting costs. “An automated system means tenants can report a problem in a few clicks, have the request reviewed and resources allocated from a list of pre-qualified vendors,” Devine explains. “Our system addresses the entire lifecycle of procurement, from vendor selection and onboarding through to compliance and tracking warrantees. You don’t need an army of procurement people – you just need a portal that is easy for everyone to use. “The customer knows what’s going on each step of the way, and that gives them comfort, even when there are delays.” Vendors gain real-time visibility of purchase orders and work orders...
Streamlined Success
Electronic Invoicing for Senior Living
With seventeen communities—and more on the way—each submitting 100-200 invoices a month, Linda Adams was shuffling a lot of paper. As the Accounting Manager for Northbridge Companies, a New England-based senior living provider, much of her time used to be spent digging up receipts or tracking down paper records across various decentralized offices. “When I had questions, I had to call another office and ask them. They’d have to find the invoice, scan it, send it to me for review. It was very time consuming on both ends.” But now, solving a discrepancy is “easy, easy, easy,” thanks to Yardi PAYscan. In 2011, Northbridge adopted Yardi’s Procure to Pay vendor management and electronic invoicing platform to streamline invoicing across all properties. The new system allowed the accounting department to access invoices and check whether payments had cleared without having to pick up the phone to call another office. In other words, team members could self-serve, reducing internal dependencies and churn. But time savings wasn’t the only benefit of a new system. PAYscan eliminates copying, mailing, and storing paper—and minimizes touch points that can lead to lost invoices and data entry errors. “There’s no need for us to use up valuable office space with paper invoices anymore when it’s all right there electronically. Once the tax returns are done, we can throw the documents out,” Linda says. “I can go back and look at invoices from 2012, and it’s right there. Plus, I work from home a few days a week, and it really cuts down on all that lugging paper back and forth.” The Northbridge team appreciates PAYscan’s versatility, too. “You can make the approval process as intricate or as easy as you want, which I love,” said Linda. Customizable workflows, flexible payment options...
Paperless Perks
LumaCorp loves Procure to Pay
Are you feeling energized for 2018? It’s a new year, bringing fresh challenges and opportunities. And while every January can inspire a list of resolutions, for every real estate business one goal is likely to top the list year after year: reduce costs. When it comes to lowering operational expenses, going paperless for as many tasks as possible is smart. And here’s some great news: it’s easier to do than you might think, and the benefits are big. For Dallas-based apartment manager LumaCorp, centralizing and automating procurement and payables processing on its mobile Yardi property management platform using Yardi Procure to Pay has not only reduced costs for the company, but also saves its staff valuable time (in addition to sparing more than a few trees). And in just three months, by eliminating the cost of transporting invoices by courier, Procure to Pay paid for itself. Better Buying and Bigger Discounts LumaCorp manages 24 apartment communities with more than 6,000 units. According to Larry Orth, LumaCorp’s controller, the company’s maintenance, repair and operating supply costs fell by 4 percent the first year after adopting Yardi Procure to Pay, an end-to-end, paperless procurement and invoice processing system that’s part of the Yardi Multifamily Suite full-business platform. Orth said, “For me, the great thing about it is the time efficiency, both at the properties and in the accounting department. We are a full service Procure to Pay client, so the processing is handled by Yardi, which takes a lot off our onsite people’s hands. All told, Procure to Pay has reduced by up to 40 percent the time our team spends on the payables process. And it’s a paperless system, which obviously also benefits the environment.” LumaCorp has also gained savings from the negotiated pricing across...
Procurement Payoff
Saving Time + Money
Cutting costs never loses appeal, even in a robust industry and a thriving economy. Inescapable expenses such as insurance and taxes, along with competitive pressures, have forced property owners to become increasingly creative in finding opportunities to cut costs and work more efficiently. Processing payments for the various products and services that keep properties running smoothly is one of those inevitable expenses. This historically has been a manually intensive and paper-heavy process. Routing one paper vendor invoice through payment can take as long as 30 days and cost up to $35 dollars, according to data compiled by Yardi. With potentially thousands of invoices coming in every month, those costs add up fast for property owners and managers. A recent analysis examined 25 million invoices that about 1 million vendors submitted for processing by Yardi Procure to Pay on behalf of more than 1,000 real estate businesses. The study offered insight into ways that companies handling small and large volumes of invoices can streamline the process and reduce costs and staff burdens. The Yardi Procure to Pay study found that businesses submitting five or more invoices per month, which account for just 7% of vendors but 75% of invoices, often require accounts payable or property teams that spend significant amounts of time scanning, keying and verifying these large invoice volumes. Even vendors submitting a low volume of invoices—four or fewer per month—can spend an inordinate amount of time on invoices, often repeatedly calling client properties for status checks or sending duplicate invoices until they are paid. All this activity takes up significant time and effort from accounting departments and property-level staff. Streamlined Approvals Fortunately, the procure-to-pay process has become dramatically more efficient in terms of labor and expense in recent years. Many real estate...
Creating Continuity
Disaster Preparation Checklist
Assessing risk and planning ahead can help property managers and owners safeguard their assets, employees and tenants in the event of a disaster. Yardi® clients have an invaluable resource for creating and executing business continuity strategies—the procurement solution known as Yardi Marketplace™. Yardi Marketplace is a source for more than 1 million discounted MRO products and building supplies, including items for disaster preparation and recovery. Yardi Marketplace is part of Yardi Procure to Pay™, a centralized procurement, invoice processing and vendor management platform. “Yardi recognizes the importance our clients place on having appropriate solutions in place. Adequate disaster preparation includes having access to sufficient types and quantities of supplies before, during and after an event. We can help source those items quickly at competitive pricing,” said Tom Jennings, senior operations manager for Yardi Marketplace. The Yardi Marketplace team helps tailor emergency supplies and services to a client’s disaster and emergency planning program. After identifying potential threats at the local, regional and portfolio levels and establishing response plans, clients can stock the appropriate equipment and supplies from an online catalog. A pre-approved personal shopping list makes purchasing the items fast and easy. Along with protecting assets and minimizing liability, adequate emergency planning is also critically important to attracting and retaining tenants. Property managers can complement Yardi Marketplace’s resources with a handbook produced by BOMA International. “Emergency Preparedness Guidebook: The Property Professional’s Resource for Developing Emergency Plans for Natural and Human-Based Threats” highlights the importance of emergency preparedness throughout the leasing process. The guide, which covers emergency, evacuation and recovery plans, may be purchased at http://store.boma.org/products/emergency-preparedness-guidebook. A list of “50 Items Every Emergency Tool Kit Should Have” is available here. The guide includes a checklist for disaster management that includes: Procedures for reporting an emergency Instructions...
Perfect Procurement
The power of Yardi Marketplace
If you’re looking for ways to make procurement for your real estate interests faster, easier and less expensive, read on to find out how Yardi and The Home Depot can help. At the National Apartment Association’s Education Conference (#NAAEduConf) this week, attendees to the Las Vegas event can learn how to take their procurement process to the next level. If you are looking for creative ways to better your business, this is one you don’t want to miss. Yardi Marketplace provides a powerful suite of services for owners and operators. We recently had the opportunity to chat with The Home Depot’s Scott Matthews, Director, Strategic Accounts for the home improvement retailer. Read on to get more insight from Scott into how The Home Depot partners with Yardi on a competitive procurement solution. Last year, The Home Depot and Yardi announced an exciting new partnership. How would you describe The Home Depot’s vital role within Yardi Marketplace? Matthews: One of the many great things about The Home Depot and Yardi Marketplace relationship is that customers have full access to all of the products that The Home Depot offers. All participating customers have the ability to access The Home Depot products by using Yardi Marketplace. Full-service Yardi clients have the ability to access The Home Depot catalog through Yardi Marketplace, while enjoying the full Procure-to-Pay experience. In both cases, customers can still purchase directly at the store if needed or order through Yardi Marketplace for free in-store pickup or free delivery. The Yardi Marketplace is a free program for all participating customers. How do you find the average property manager or maintenance supervisor uses The Home Depot for procurement, and are they missing any chances to shop smarter? Matthews: Property managers using The Home Depot for...
Media Spotlight
Yardi Procure to Pay
Yardi’s Procure to Pay platform was recently featured on “Corporate Review,” hosted by Donald Trump Jr. with airings on the Bloomberg channel and Fox Business Network. The focus of the piece, conducted in an interview format with Brad Setser, Yardi’s Vice President of Marketing, and Akshai Rao, Business Development Manager for Procure to Pay, is the myriad business efficiencies that can be created thanks to the Procure to Pay product. “If you can centralize your purchasing on an online Procure to Pay system, there are several things you will be able to do,” Setser explained. “You will be able to leverage volume pricing much more easily than if all of your (property) sites are doing different things. Number two, you will be able to deliver and enforce policies and procedures across your entire portfolio, which is very difficult to do when your sites are doing their own thing. Third, with all of that spend data in one place you can conduct spend analytics and spend management. Lastly, if the Procure to Pay system is properly integrated with an invoice processing system, you can have a true paperless process from beginning to end.” Yardi clients Arcadia Management Group (Gary Shaw) and Post Properties (Janet Ham) describe their positive experiences using the product as part of the presentation. Watch the complete video...
Procurement Trends
With Nick Davis, SiteStuff
Real estate procurement may not be the most glamorous aspect of the business, but it’s an essential ingredient of well-run properties and managing it well is essential to seamless budget planning for any property management firm. Yardi Systems subsidiary SiteStuff, based in Austin, Texas and headed up by Vice President and General Manager Nick Davis, is the one-stop shop for over 6,000 properties that are purchasing all of their maintenance, repair and operations supplies – and are benefitting from the convenience of receiving just one invoice, rather than negotiating and financially settling with multiple vendors. We talked to Nick about forthcoming developments in the procurement arena. What’s the latest procurement trend? What we are finding more and more nowadays is the executives and managers desire to get ahead of the spend, to have visibility into the spend, to see what they’re buying, how frequently they’re buying it, and why they’re buying it. Whereas in the old days a product manager might have walked down to the local hardware store and bought a case of light bulbs, nowadays a purchase order will be raised, that purchase order will be checked against a budget and then approved, and the products will be purchased against the contracted price. The trend is to analyze the spend, compare it to budgets, and cut out what we call “maverick spend,” which is spending outside of agreed contracts, and to generally provide a more efficient process that includes budget checking and approvals, purchasing at contracted prices and invoice presentment and payment all in one seamless efficient platform. Can you give us an update on Procure-to-Pay? Our clients have come to us and said: We would like the Procurement process and the Payment process to be one combined process on a single...
