Commercial property landlords are operating within an increasingly competitive market. Working habits are changing, and tenants are increasingly tempted to seek out short-term, flexible workspaces.
However, just as the need has arrived for landlords to compete with this new wave of market competition, so too has the necessity for technological innovation in the commercial property industry.
At a time when the rulebook of commercial property is being rewritten, the best landlords are actively working to maximise efficiency, cut waste, and extract the highest possible income from their commercial portfolios. This is how they’re doing it.
All of the everyday administrative processes that landlords are obliged to complete can now be automated. And if any duties are delegated to a property manager, the same applies to them, too. Activities that would typically take hours of dedicated time each week can now be done in an instant, handled by intelligent technology.
It’s now possible to automate everything from invoicing and sending arrears notifications to paying expenses all wrapped up with smart matching reconciliations (your accountants will love you!)
Not only does this act to reduce admin time by up to 75%, but it also removes the risk of human error and, thanks to live notifications, ensures that no key events, tasks, or dates are missed.
Automation means landlords and managers can work smarter, not harder, getting more done in less time, extracting maximum value from a portfolio.
Communicating with tenants and addressing maintenance issues can, even with a modest portfolio, be time-consuming and frustrating. That’s why landlords and property managers are now adopting solutions for both.
Landlords and managers are successfully streamlining their communication with tenants by offering them a Tenant App – it’s all part of engaging all of the key stakeholders of their portfolio.
A tenant-facing app acts to make communication faster and easier and give tenants that all-important sense of control over their workspace.
If, for example, there is an issue with the staff toilets (these things happen), the office manager can simply jump onto the app, report the issue, and then swiftly arrange for the required work to be carried out. Gone is the hassle of multiple phone calls, voicemails and emails, all to get a simple task completed.
Landlords and managers are also using a tenant app to keep tenants up-to-date with all activity within the property and to chase rent arrears. Outside of the app, automation of emails is being used to create, schedule, and send the appropriate correspondence at the necessary time.
By streamlining their operations, communication and maintenance tasks, commercial landlords are saving time and energy to grow their property portfolio, not their workload.
The cloud is a wonderful place. Cloud software allows landlords the ability to access their portfolio, and all of their key information, from anywhere and at all times, on both desktop and mobile devices.
The cloud also means that software platforms can, unlike desktop-based solutions, be constantly improved and updated over time. This means that evolving laws and regulations, such as GDPR, are always complied by, and new innovations can be integrated instantly.
However, perhaps the most exciting asset of the cloud is the fact that it allows landlords to build their own tech stack, tailored exactly to their needs.
Whereas legacy solutions provide a homogeneous, one-size-fits-all piece of software, the cloud makes it possible for services and products to be hand-picked based on current business needs.
By using a cloud-based platform that allows for a tech stack, it is possible to select what solution fits your needs right now, knowing you can easily expand and grow your stack in the future.
The cloud is accessible, secure, and available 24/7. Landlords are using it to get things done more quickly and avoid wasting money by paying for services they do not need.
It is important that landlords take action to maintain maximum occupancy and avoid losing tenants to competitors. A key part of this process is lease management.
That’s why landlords are now managing their tenancy portfolios more closely than ever. Whereas once it was the norm to wait until a tenancy period nears its end before enquiring with the tenant about renewing it, today’s world demands this conversation happen much earlier.
By leaving it too late, commercial landlords run the risk of their tenants being poached by rivals, many of whom have started offering incentives, financial or otherwise, to tempt tenants to move.
To combat this, landlords should schedule notifications well in advance of tenancy end dates to maximise opportunities.
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