Maintaining a family-oriented company culture does mean limiting corporate growth. Westbrook Management of Milwaukee maintains the balance with Yardi Voyager. Westbrook Management supervises about 2,000 units, including 450 units of affordable housing. Anthony Franda joined Westbrook Management four years ago to serve as the Controller and CFO of the small organization. He quickly embraced the tight-knit office community. “It’s a small, family-owned organization. Because it’s small, we all wear a lot of hats. Everybody is valued,” says Franda (pictured, right). “I think having direct interaction with the owners allows me to see that I’m having an impact and that I’m valued and appreciated.” While the family-owned atmosphere was great for office culture, staying small wasn’t a long-term plan. Westbrook Management had the talent and will to grow. But Franda soon realized that an outdated software system limited the company’s capacity. Franda attended a National Apartment Association (NAA) conference in search of a solution to the outdated software. “We went to an NAA conference and saw everything that the industry was doing. Our system couldn’t handle anything, really, that the industry was moving towards. I realize that we had an antiquated system. Not only that, but the software company that we were with wasn’t investing in the product. They weren’t updating,” Franda says. “I realized that we were in the wrong system.” Westbrook Management thoroughly researched several software options before selecting Yardi Voyager. Franda explains, “Yardi is an industry leader and they invest a lot in new technologies. The one thing that I realized is that if you’re not constantly improving with all of the new technologies that are coming out, within a few years, you’re going to be antiquated. I needed to find a software company that is constantly improving their processes and investing...

Foundation for full-business real estate management platform features complete mobile capability and portfolio-wide business intelligence SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (June 4, 2014) – In less than a year, more than 1,000 companies have adopted Yardi Voyager® 7S, the latest and most advanced version of Yardi’s property management and accounting software. Yardi Voyager 7S works with all Internet browsers and is tablet compatible. Yardi Voyager 7S is fully integrated with many popular Yardi modules, including: Yardi Procure to Pay™ Yardi Orion™ Business Intelligence Yardi LeasingPad CRM™ and Yardi Commercial Leasing Pad™ RENTCafé™ and COMMERCIALCafé™ “The response to Voyager 7S and its companion modules has been very positive because they offer unprecedented functionality in a comprehensive and fully integrated suite of products,” said Terri Dowen, senior vice president of sales for Yardi. For most clients, the transition to Yardi Voyager 7S requires only a few days of training for their staff. “We have really enjoyed the increased efficiency we have experienced with Voyager 7S, including specific hotkey capabilities and auto-fill features,” said Rebecca Hill, chief financial officer for commercial and residential real estate developer Briarcliff Development Co. “The upgrade of our database to 7S was a seamless, literally overnight process.” “The navigation features are very efficient, so we instantly get property and resident information without going through a dozen steps. We also like the efficiency of customizable screens that restrict access to display types to users who need them,” said Larry Busgeon, controller for multifamily property manager Landmark Realty. “The system’s mobile capability and full integration with products such as RentCafe and Yardi Maintenance™ enhance both our resident service and staff efficiency. Residents can make payments online, including recurring ones, and our maintenance staff can manage work orders in the field without returning to the office.” “Landmark...

Steve Schutz would have come to the Fall 2013 Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference (YASC) no matter what – as a 12-year user of Yardi products, he recognizes the value of the event to educate and inform him about developments and solutions for the software he uses daily. “I do everything from training, document writing, help desk, troubleshooting, setting up properties, setting up menus, just about anything and everything,” said the Yardi Director for Trade Street Residential, an East Coast multifamily management firm. A free entry to the conference (valued at $995), $500 VISA gift card and VIP seating at the conference gala event managed to put a smile on his face and new baseball jersey in his closet. Steve’s name was drawn at random from hundreds of entry forms. Oh, and he learned a few cool things about the new Voyager 7S, too. Trade Street will upgrade to the new Voyager version in November. In addition to its device and browser agnosticism, two things that piqued Steve’s interest in 7S are its search capabilities – it features global and predictive search – and overall look. “The search functions are great. As the help desk person, I often get the phone call: ‘Where can I find this report?’ And now, users can type a key word in there and find it themselves,” he said. A veteran of five YASC events, his favorite parts of the conference include networking and the opportunity to work through trouble spots in the lab. “I’ve learned a lot, just being in the lab,” he noted. Schutz is based in Florida. He’s worked in residential, commercial, affordable and military property management for the last 12 years. That new baseball jersey, though, wasn’t for a Chicago Cubs player – he probably already...

The industry leader in property management software has released a new version of its flagship product that is browser and device agnostic, generating great excitement from clients and prospects industry-wide. Yardi Voyager 7S is here. There are multiple reasons clients are thrilled about the latest version of Voyager. Leasing professionals, property managers and executives can now use their property management software without access to Windows or even a PC. “You can run Voyager 7S on your iPad, you can run it on your Android tablet, you can run it on a MacBook, you can use Safari, and you can use Google Chrome. We’ve opened up the floodgates for all of our clients to be able to use any browser or OS they want,” said Ami Kearns, Product Manager, Voyager 7S. In addition to the exciting new cross-browser and mobile capability, the upgrade process to Voyager 7S is fast, seamless and easy. “Our clients have been shocked at how quickly the upgrade to Voyager 7S can be accomplished,” said Becky Sanvictores, Vice President, Client Services.  “End user training is recommended on the enhanced and modern UI, but the methodology for using Voyager 7S is still the same.” Enhancing the experience are newly designed and highly intuitive transaction screens. Product highlights for the new release, which is now available, include: Mobility. With the device and browser agnostic Voyager 7S, any user will be able to access the software from anywhere. A regional executive could review month-end reports on an iPad at the airport. A leasing agent could summarize current rental pricing and availability for a prospect on an Android tablet at a coffee shop. The possibilities are endless. Streamlined upgrade process. Requiring a simple schema update and end-user training, clients can be live within a week...