Yardi users may have noticed a nice surprise when logging into Yardi Client Central recently. As of March 1st, all Yardi training webinars for current clients are FREE to attend. There are dozens of webinar sessions scheduled on Client Central, and new webinars are added frequently. Yardi users can sign up to learn everything from account trees to SQL scripting, and much more. “Webinars are a convenient way for Yardi users to master our software because they don’t require travel or time out of the office. Eliminating registration fees is a great way to strengthen our relationship with our clients by adding a lot of value to our training program at no cost,” said Patty Evans, director of eLearning and corporate training for Yardi. Yardi users can expect a polished, seamless training experience with Yardi webinars. Sessions use online technology to present information to viewers. Presenters teach course material to a select group of attendees in a virtual classroom setting. Webinars listed on Client Central can be filtered by specific property management topics. Examples include online leasing, payment processing, maintenance workflows for mobile devices, procurement of goods, accounting and finance analytics. The Yardi training team will continue to offer in-person courses taught in many Yardi offices around the world. Those courses teach more complex topics that often require multiple days of classroom sessions. “The most tangible benefits of webinars, as opposed to classroom courses, are ease of access and low cost. They are a great way for a Yardi user to learn specific features of Yardi software. Free, unlimited access to this content is a real win for our clients,” said Evans. If you are a current Yardi client, log on to Client Central, see the list of webinars, and get signed up to...

The Asian Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles (ANREV), in partnership with the European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles (INREV) and the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) recently released its annual Fund Manager Survey results. The report identifies top 10 real estate fund managers lists globally and by geographic region based on total assets under management (AUM). ANREV is the Asian association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles. ANREV is Asia Pacific’s leading platform for the sharing of knowledge on the non-listed real estate funds sector. Its goal is to improve transparency, professionalism and best practices across the industry, making non-listed real estate funds more accessible and attractive to investors. More information is available at anrev.org. The 2018 survey included 162 fund managers representing a total AUM of US$2.8 trillion at the end of 2017, an 11.8% growth over the previous 12 months. Yardi is proud that 50 percent of the top 10 managers listed today use Yardi software. Yardi clients also account for half of the top fund managers found on each of the North American AUM, European AUM and Asia Pacific AUM lists. “The ANREV/INREV/NCREIF survey provides a valuable annual industry yardstick for global real estate investment,” said Robert Teel, senior vice president of global solutions for Yardi. “We’re delighted that the 2018 survey demonstrates our clients’ trust in Yardi to provide a complete investment management solution for real estate asset and fund management, which enables in-depth insight into portfolio performance and accurate, timely investment reporting.” The survey also revealed that pension funds are the most significant source of capital for real estate across all regions, with sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies also being significant sources of capital. Organization members can access...

The semi-annual Yardi Advanced Solutions Conferences (YASC) take place on the West and East Coasts, providing clients with the opportunity to attend an event close to home. Each conference offers specialized courses on product features, networking opportunities, and one-on-one consultations with Yardi representatives. At YASC in Washington, D.C., Yardi sat down with Mariana Estrada, VP of Operations at Roscoe Properties. The company has had the opportunity to explore several products since joining the Yardi network in 2008. Estrada updated Yardi on her experiences with the software. Estrada began with Yardi Procure to Pay (P2P), a centralized platform that offers complete spend visibility, streamlined invoice processing, centralized MRO purchasing and vendor onboarding.  “The concept of P2P is exactly what we believe in – a paperless, time-saving option. We have a decentralized payables process so our onsite teams are responsible for processing payables and expense management at the site level. The time they used to spend filing and processing paper invoices is now time they can spend serving current residents and attracting new residents,” says Estrada. “And now with the Marketplace, we’re gaining even more time savings and streamlining our purchasing process even further. We just implemented one of our major vendors and Yardi was able to create an online catalog for us.” Yardi Marketplace furnishes access to more than 1 million MRO products and building materials. The program also delivers the best available discounts from nationally recognized suppliers. “The Marketplace has an Amazon-like interface everyone knows how to use,” Estrada explains, “so there are virtually no issues with training our maintenance and site teams. A few mouse clicks and the PO is created and the order placed. Since the users don’t need to re-populate line item details, they are able to move invoices through the processing...

Each month, Yardi hosts the critically acclaimed Yardi eLearning ® User Forum. These interactive webinars give users valuable insights into product functionality, updates, and troubleshooting. Engaging. Practical. Smart. Each webinar focuses on topics selected by Yardi users, guaranteeing insights that are relevant and practical.  Sample Webinar Topics Include: Drive Student Focus to Training that Matters How to Partner with Your Yardi Voyager Account Manager Make a Great First Impression & Keep It Fresh All Year eLearning Fair Housing Release and Focus Group Hot to Get Management in Your Training Program Facilitators model User Forums after realistic conversations with clients. Co-hosts role-play as tech support specialists and clients. This arrangement creates a fun and informative atmosphere for attendees. Amy McKelvy, Software Implementation Coordinator at Holland Partner Group, attended her first User Forum this year. “The forum I attended was at the end of the second day, so the atmosphere was upbeat and exciting,” she begins. “Forums can be hit or miss, I’ve learned, and some clients use the forum to air grievances, but this one was not that at all. I think Patty [Evans] set the right tone at the start, and led to a very successful sharing time.” Sharing is one key to eLearning User Forum success. Rather than simply lecturing on these topics, facilitators showcase examples from Yardi clients’ eLearning Universities to illustrate each idea. Attendees receive real-life strategies from peers. This client-to-client interaction fosters a sense of community and networking among the Yardi eLearning training community. “I love to provide help and ideas as well as feedback to the eLearning team and other clients. The forum is a perfect opportunity to not only give help, but get other ideas as well,” says McKelvy. Solutions for the Real World In each meeting, facilitators...

As part of a plan to scale its operations, Tricon American Homes wanted to replace several business systems with a single, integrated source of data whose automation and efficiency would let it grow its portfolio without adding overhead costs. The single-family rental home owner and management company executed this plan by implementing a single solution stack anchored by the Yardi Voyager® Residential property management and accounting platform and supplemented by the Yardi Marketing Suite™ and the Yardi Multifamily Suite™. Tricon’s competitive strategy takes hold the moment a prospective resident discovers a Tricon property through RentCafe™, Yardi’s full online leasing and resident services solution. He or she can see the property’s marketing website, view floor plans and complete the application online, including screening. RentCafe and the Yardi Marketing Suite reduce the application process to mere minutes, rather than the hours or days it takes when disconnected systems are involved, and prospect information is automatically entered into Yardi Voyager. Tricon also improved resident service by allowing online activities such as maintenance requests and payments through RentCafe’s resident portal. Additional Yardi Multifamily Suite products streamline other key business operations for Tricon. For example, Yardi Fixed Assets™ enables physical and financial monitoring of the company’s major property assets through their complete lifecycle, from purchase order to final disposition. Yardi Inspection™ lets the company schedule and perform unit and property inspections. Implementing Yardi Voyager and the full business suite of products has allowed Tricon to keep its business “clean,” meaning there’s a clear audit trail and the marketing and application process is user-friendly. Inefficient interfaces among systems have also been eliminated, electronic payments have been enabled, the procurement process has been centralized and maintenance schedules across the company have been streamlined. “We are pleased that Tricon has selected Yardi...