COVID-19 and social distancing in the UK residential sector

Posted on by Trevor Youens

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic is significant and varied across the real estate industry. For organisations operating in the residential space there are a number of challenges. Businesses need to consider the safety and well-being of their employees, of customers they interact with face-to-face, plus the residents, leaseholders, agents, landlords, property managers or other stakeholders they serve in their day-to-day activities. And that’s not to mention efforts to ensure their business continues as close to normal as possible.

Given the current social distancing guidelines from the government, and with more and more companies putting work-from-home policies into action for their teams, those involved in managing residential property will naturally see an increase in their reliance on digital solutions, communication and interaction. Indeed, the residential sector has seen significant investment in technology in recent years, and organisations that have been driving innovation and putting proptech at the heart of their operations should now expect to rely on that software to help them reduce disruption and achieve a degree of business continuity.

Here are some areas to consider, and how your tech can help you as you try to navigate the obstacles and uncertainty the COVID-19 outbreak has introduced:

Customer service

In the midst of so much disruption, is it even possible to maintain expected levels of service without disruption for your customers? Thanks to the tech available today, the answer might actually be yes. It’s highly likely that you’re using digital platforms for mass email, SMS and other forms of direct message – and you’ll certainly be looking at how you can expand that to fill potential gaps. Going further, automation will be key. For example, you can put programmes in place to deliver initial replies to queries, either offering information or providing a first-response before a member of your team goes deeper. This sort of reassurance could prove invaluable in such an uncertain climate. Where software allows (and you should have various options here) you can also look to digitalise processes for your customers. Common options are payments, maintenance requests and document sharing/signing – all of which can be done, end-to-end, with no need for in-person or even telephone interaction.

Customer interaction

With additional focus placed on quickly and effectively responding to queries, it’s important you don’t forget the need to provide customers with a proactive, clear and consistent stream of messages, keeping them fully updated with the latest news and developments. Of course, key communications on the subject of COVID-19 will be front and centre, particularly for those in self-isolation – but so will be sharing information from the wider community and society of which your stakeholders are a part. Of course, this would be paramount were you to find yourself dealing with a case or cases of coronavirus directly. If you use a resident portal, push its capabilities and ensure your customers understand it’s the place to go for updates such as information on planned maintenance, new guidelines on use of common areas, measures being taken to protect residents in buildings, or even the impact of a local lockdown were it to reach that stage. Alternatively, or as well, use your software to push content out through other channels such as your website. Crucially, you should also utilise your solutions to record your broadcasts and interactions so you have complete records of conversations for audit and potential compliance purposes.

Remote working

SaaS is the standard option when it comes to modern software, and it’s not a new trend. The fact that companies and individuals are transitioning to work from home, and are able to do so in such great numbers so quickly, is testament to how far the industry has come in terms of cloud technology. This flexibility is essential, but it goes deeper. There has never been a more crucial time to be fully aware of the mobile capabilities within your solutions. Can everyone in your business log in remotely? Do you have portals you can utilise? Are there integrated apps you can lean on to make remote working even easier? Understanding your full digital offering, and ensuring staff are fully trained and capable to maximise it, may help keep you ahead of the game and achieve full business continuity as the next few months unfold.

Strategic decision-making

These are largely unprecedented times. Across all industries and sectors, businesses will be feeling the effects of the measures introduced to tackle coronavirus – and real estate is certainly going to be impacted. But, directors and managers can be somewhat reassured by the abundance of data and information available today, and with your tech you have the ways and means to undertake quick and accurate analysis to help ensure you remain agile. As you deem necessary, your software should allow you to monitor metrics in real-time or at whatever frequency suits your approach, giving you the opportunity to spot and address performance problems – whether operational, financial or both. This is always important, but certainly something you can leverage in the current climate to help you navigate the challenges ahead.

These are some general thoughts aimed at encouraging some deeper thinking around how software can be relied upon to help you maintain ‘business as usual’ in this wholly unusual period. The list is not exhaustive, and you should definitely consider and interrogate the full capabilities of your digital products in all areas of your company.

And, don’t forget, you can check back on our dedicated page for the latest updates on the MRI Software response to the pandemic.

COVID-19 and multifamily: Potential impacts

Posted on by Brian Zrimsek

Clearly, COVID-19, aka the coronavirus, is top of mind these days. The World Health Organization has designated it as a pandemic, the number of infected individuals continues to grow, and decisions increase by the day. So, what might we expect for the multifamily real estate industry?

Before diving in, it is important to note that the degree of the impact will grow with the duration of the crisis. If things resolve in a matter of weeks, the impact will be much smaller, and we’ll likely avoid a prolonged dampening of economic activity.

Student and senior housing: Early impacts

As it stands, many colleges and universities have either cancelled classes or moved to a fully digital delivery method. Some are extending Spring Break. Some are cancelling the semester. It follows that if students are going home early, then the first segment of the market that will feel pressure is student and student-adjacent housing.

Impacts in the current period may arise from students or parents looking to break leases early as a result of unforeseen school closures. Leasing for future periods may also be impacted as students are no longer in close proximity, making traditional on-campus marketing programs less effective.

Student housing operators will need to be prepared for the eventual questions from current students as university schedules change, causing early move-outs. Digital marketing and leasing will become more important to connect with students for future semesters, driving all aspects of the lead-to-lease process into digital channels.

Senior housing has a different set of challenges to monitor and address, given that mortality rates of COVID-19 typically increase for people over 70. Expect to see changes in community programming and a focus on reducing gatherings of people, coupled with increased focus on cleanliness in common areas.

Conventional, market rate housing: Trickle-down impacts

For conventional, market rate apartments, we must look at likely impacts on current residents as well as potential impacts on future demand.

Risk aversion is greatly reducing large gatherings of people. Governmental guidelines, conference cancellations, sporting body reactions, political rally cancellations, and changing corporate travel policies will continue to drive negative impacts on local economies. Even a coronavirus conference was cancelled due to a local outbreak.

All major sports leagues in the US have suspended play. The NCAA’s flagship event, March Madness, is now cancelled. Broadway is closed. Sporting and event venues tend to be surrounded by a cottage industry of bars and restaurants that will surely feel a disproportionate impact. We can expect a number of business to close or to furlough staff as a result.

In addition to pre and post-game meals and entertainment, impacts will be felt across transit, parking, merchandise, and in-venue vendors. Immediate impacts in the hospitality and travel sector will yield a reduction of incomes, and possibly temporary or permanent loss of employment until we return to normal operations.

If we couple this impact with a survey conducted by the First National Bank of Omaha in 2019 that indicates that nearly half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and more than half do not have an emergency fund, it is likely that some residents will have a hard time making their rents. Landlords should be prepared to address these situations as they emerge and not be too quick to create vacancy.

Landlords who also manage retail spaces that are reliant on event-based traffic should be prepared to address tenancy issues on that front as well.

Multifamily housing: The impact of staying home

With commercial and educational organizations sending people home, the average number of people onsite at residential properties throughout the day is sure to increase. Much like senior housing impacts, we can expect a reduction in group events. We can also expect fewer users of common areas and amenities as people stay at home.

And that phrase, “stay at home,” may be a clue to resident attitudes as the summer leasing season approaches.

If the coronavirus crisis extends beyond April, we can expect lower demand for vacant units. We can expect more folks to stay in place as economic unrest will cause people to be cautious. Staying in place may be seen in the form of higher renewal rates, at prices capped by rent control measures in some markets, or more folks going month-to-month until they have clarity in their own personal situation.

As mentioned with student housing earlier, we can expect a greater focus on digital marketing to drive demand. Self-guided tours, the trendy topic at recent industry events, will become more pervasive as prospects seek to limit person-to-person engagement. We should also see an increase in 3-D tours, drone footage and other digital mediums to drive traffic. Operationally, online leasing and electronic payments, both widely available technologies, should see increased adoption.

If we do see a drop in demand and an increase in renewal rates, there will be an unmistakable impact on pricing. This change in market dynamics will put revenue management systems and processes to the test. Largely having gained wide adoption in the last decade of continued growth, there have not been many cases of dealing with sagging demand and the impact on pricing.

Development: Supply chain impacts

In August of 2019, the NAA published an article titled “Apartment Completions Set to Spike in 2020,” which shared that there are more than 500,000 units under construction, with nearly 360k of them scheduled to deliver in 2020. It has yet to be seen if global supply chain disruption, as a result of this virus, will impact these deliveries. Materials as simple as an electrical outlet, often produced in China, could become a barrier to delivery if supply lines are disrupted. Developers should assess impacts of potential material shortages and adjust accordingly.

A disruption in delivery plans will put pressure on financing as well as planned operational benefits, creating the potential for a myriad of fiscal issues for developers, owners and operators.

Actual v budget: Expect variances

Most multifamily organizations cast their budget in the fall of 2019 and looked at 2020 as more of the same: strong demand, strong occupancy, strong pricing and a need for more capacity. A straw poll of MRI conference attendees put a potential recession in 2021 or beyond. While we may or may not have a formal recession, the impacts of this virus, if experienced for a protracted amount of time, could create recession-like conditions, undermining the assumptions used to build 2020 budgets. Reforecasting conversations will need to happen. Expectations will need to be reset and the inevitable conversations about expense reductions will likely take place.

Business continuity

Beyond the economic and fiscal dimensions of this crisis, multifamily organizations should update their business continuity plans (BCP), seek new ways to leverage technology since the BCP plan was last updated, and revisit policies in accordance with governmental guidance for health and safety.

American writer Denis Waitley once said, “Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.” Sage advice, given the current state of affairs and the uncertainty inherent in not having a clear idea of what lies ahead. Multifamily organizations should already be taking steps to assess changing conditions and plan accordingly.

Evacuation Roll Call – the roll call we all need

Posted on by Elizabeth Spencer

Accounting for people! It starts from the day we are born. The theatre nurse count our fingers and toes and enters the birth details into a medical registry. We are sent off to school, where our teacher completes roll-calls. We join the Scouts, Girl Guides, the Youth Group, Choir, football team, etc. and at every stage, people are counting our attendance or presence. But why is it necessary to do a head-count or roll call? What is the importance of accounting for people?

There are many reasons why roll calls are important and are so prevalent throughout society. Roll calls are used in places such as classrooms, and camps so that the caregivers of un-accounted for people can be asked to explain their child’s non-attendance. Most educational frameworks appreciate the fundamental principle that attending class is a prerequisite to learning – and so the roll-call is also used as a method of tracking attendance and using that data to identify gaps in a student’s learning standards.

The military and law enforcement are the kings of roll calls and, while their reasons may differ, typically uniform attire, weapons inspection, and task assignment are top of the list. Prisons, on the other hand, roll call to ensure no one is missing – or more to the point – no one has removed themselves from the comfy confines of their prison cell.

Dangerous workplace environments demand frequent roll calls. Think about the mining industry with its visual roll call of dog tags. They have dog-tags on display on an ‘in mine’ board. However, roll calls also invade other areas of our society, even into politics.

By the standing rules of the United States Senate, the quorum may be established by a roll call (quorum call) only and not by any other method, such as headcount. Any senator may demand a roll call at any moment to establish the quorum. Once the request is performed, the quorum is assumed to be present until a senator suggests otherwise. This practice enables the Senate to engage in debate and conduct less controversial business without requiring the physical presence of fifty-one senators in the chamber.

Role calls are essential because people, for multiple reasons, are unaccounted for every day. This brings me to ask the question: “Is there one roll call that all organisations should be able to manage effectively?”

Today, around the world, organisations are likely to face legal challenges from employees and other groups should their security, and health and safety policies and procedures are found not to be up to scratch. Organisations now face a more extensive range of threats, which increases the likelihood of a building or workplace evacuation.

Managing roll-call with OnEvac

In a real-life evacuation event, employees, visitors, and contractors are as likely to take flight from the situation of risk as they are to hang around waiting for the roll call to be completed. But if there is one roll-call event that is crucial to ensuring the safety of people and accounting for their presence – it is the post-evacuation roll call event.

OnEvac allows you to track cleared zones, enables people in your duty of care (employees, visitors, and contractors) to self-verify their safety via SMS, view requests for help, and monitor real-time evacuation progress. The data stored within OnEvac allows first responders, wardens, and safety marshals to have accurate information in an emergency; share critical messages, view real-time verification process, and manually verify the safety of everyone on-site.

OnEvac is a valuable tool that creates seamless evacuation events. You are given the full picture of what is happening in the building as well as up-to-date information of who has marked themselves as safe and who is still in the building.

See how OnEvac can make managing your roll-call more effective today.

 

How to maximize leases for your commercial properties

Posted on by Chris Vroman

Once your commercial property attracts the right kind of tenants, your next step is to move into one of the most important phases of the commercial lifecycle: abiding by the leases you signed.

Property and asset managers are challenged to execute against the lease terms and understand the impact of the lease information on the broader portfolio, which makes accessing and managing lease data a vital aspect of your business. Maximizing your commercial property leases by getting the right data to the right people in an efficient manner can go a long way in bolstering your portfolio.

Structure the information in the lease digitally

To gain actionable insights from leases, the first step is to digitize the information. If property managers and other users have difficulty accessing lease information, or if the data contains errors, then how can they perform their jobs properly? The lease drives daily activities, and so the data from the lease must flow to the correct users. You need to be able to extract clauses and other data points from the lease, exposing the lease information to appropriate members of the organization. Lease abstraction can be performed in a variety of ways, from using in-house teams to choosing to outsource this activity. Recently, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) for lease abstraction has delivered greater efficiency and accuracy for this process, and it enables users to easily link directly to source documents.

If there are any updates on the lease along the way, the last thing you want to do is staple an addendum to the lease and file it away. Often, cumbersome, manual processes are how companies attempt to guarantee that the right people will be notified. Keeping your lease information updated digitally and making sure everyone in your organization is pulling from a centralized database will mitigate the risk of errors down the line.

Mine information in your enterprise data

Making sure that easy access to lease data is available across your organization is only the first step of the process. Only 20% of enterprise data can be found in structured data like leases and contracts. How can your users get their hands on the other 80% of enterprise data – unstructured data in the form of images, audio files, word processing documents, and emails – that help them do their job?

Missing critical information found in unstructured data can cause problems in future operations, but with MRI @Work, your organization can move unstructured data into a central hub that all relevant users can access. Making unstructured data accessible can help you get the right information from both the lease and extemporaneous sources to the members of your organization who need it.

When structuring deals, the right data can shed some light on which decisions will benefit your portfolio the most. For example: If you are giving a tenant two months free rent, how does that impact the deal? If there is a co-tenancy in place and the main retailer shuts down, what is the impact on the other lessees?

Never forget a key term or miss a critical date

MRI @Work provides you with data visualization tools to keep your business efforts organized and focused in the right direction. Along with configurable reporting capabilities, these tools deliver personalized information to the end user in a way that shows only the data they need. With detailed dashboards, users can view accurate, at-a-glance information or dig deep into the data to find all the points they’ll need to do their jobs effectively.

Additionally, the automation found in MRI @Work reduces the role that human error plays in lease abstraction and data management, making it easier for the end user to trust the information that ends up on their desks.

Getting your enterprise data where it needs to go only benefits your commercial property business if that data is visible and actionable – can your team actually keep up with key terms and critical dates based on all the resources you’ve pulled together? Missing key terms can have a negative financial impact on your portfolio as well. Some forward-thinking organizations have begun to utilize AI to audit their existing lease data and have discovered significant under-billings and missing recoveries charges because of inaccurate or inaccessible data.

MRI @Work enables property and asset managers to utilize the important data found in leases faster and with more accuracy. By maximizing the lease, the end user can make more informed business decisions and act upon the information that serves as the lifeblood of the business. Learn more about MRI @Work in this webinar.

Attract commercial tenants with MRI @Work

Posted on by Chris Vroman

Finding the right commercial tenants to fill your property is a process that begins long before a lease is signed, and not every tenant you encounter will be a good fit for your portfolio. What kind of businesses are you trying to attract? What’s your strategy for the next five to ten years? What is the consequence of signing a delinquent tenant? All of these are questions that must be taken into consideration when choosing your commercial tenants, and as such, you’ll need technology to help you evaluate and make decisions along the way.

Curate your tenant mix to maximize performance

The properties your organization owns and operates can maximize success if you’re able to strategically determine the right tenant mix. Your commercial organization needs to sign tenants that will bring value to the overall profile of your property, and your portfolio requirements can change over time. For example, you might find yourself in need of local retailers to balance out your tenant mix one year, but then you might need more national, shared workspace tenants a year or two down the line.

Whether you manage office or retail space, MRI @Work provides the tools to collect, aggregate and report on data appropriately. This information can be used to evaluate prospects and negotiate the lease more effectively. Better data management can help you strategically choose the right tenants that fit with your portfolio strategy.

Make more informed decisions with visibility into your pipeline and prospects

As a leasing agent, you’re tasked with tracking applicants from lead to lease. The prospect to tenant conversion process is more complicated than simply filtering out applicants. Following tenants through each step of the lead to lease process means managing the necessary contacts and documents and making sure that the initial interactions you have with prospects encourage them to do business with you. These are the first and most crucial steps in establishing a solid landlord/tenant relationship.

MRI @Work enables you to streamline the prospect to tenant conversion process by giving you the tools to see clear through your prospect pipelines. Through comprehensive solutions that give you a firm grip over the data in your organization, you’ll be able to keep track of the deals and activities you’re undertaking, the leads and opportunities you’re pursuing, and the amount of space you have to match those opportunities.

Leverage comprehensive commercial management technology

MRI @Work provides you with a comprehensive set of tools that can transform the way you manage your commercial properties. With software that simplifies the prospect pipeline and improves data management, you’ll be able to understand the type of tenants that your property needs, manage the prospect to tenant conversion, and make better decisions that can boost your portfolio performance. Learn more about how MRI @Work can help you attract commercial tenants.

We’re ISO-27001 certified. Here’s why it was worth it

Posted on by Elizabeth Spencer

Are you a cloud-based service looking into getting ISO-27001 certification? Are you wondering about the process, the benefits, and whether it’s worth it?

There are a lot of articles about ISO-27001 written by security and compliance consultancy firms, but there’s not much out there about what it’s actually like from the perspective of an organisation going through the process.

This was something we thought was lacking when we were doing our research, so we thought – why don’t we share our first-hand account?

This blog post addresses some of the big questions we had before making a decision.

Why become ISO-27001 certified?

After completing our GDPR compliance requirements prior to its implementation in May 2018 we decided to pursue ISO-27001 certification.

We realised that in an ever-evolving security landscape, our customers were becoming more and more stringent in their procurement process. With major security breaches such as the Dropbox incident in 2016 (which led to the leaking of 68 million user passwords) and the iCloud leak of more than 500 private celebrity photos in 2014, organisations are much more aware of the security risks of using cloud-based services.

Prospective customers were beginning to ask us detailed and specific questions about our security management processes. One question that kept coming up was “Are you ISO 27001-certified?” We knew many of our competitors were attaining SOC 2, but direct customer feedback was telling us that ISO-27001 was more important for our particular service and market niche: we serve many international enterprises, and ISO is more globally applicable than SOC 2. This, of course, is something that your organisation needs to weigh up.

How long does it take to get ISO-27001 certified? 

We found it really difficult to find an answer to this online – and now it’s very clear why. It really does completely depend on your organisation. We had read everything from a couple of months to more than a year. It took us 18 months.

There were a few factors that stretched the process out for us:

  • We are a relatively small team, and we did not have a dedicated person working on this full-time, so our IT and Security departments were working on ISO over and above BAU.
  • We also decided to address and meet every control as outlined in Annex A of the standard, including things that were not necessarily risks for us. This was a decision to be completely thorough and follow best practice. Some organisations might not choose to do this.

ISO 27001 is very resource hungry on your teams, and when you are trying to focus on growth, ISO can seem like a distraction. But it is not. It is an essential part of our DNA and creates opportunities for growth in your people, your culture, and your customer footprint.

– Darren Whitaker-Barnett, CEO

Is ISO-27001 certification worth the time, energy and cost?

For us, becoming ISO 27001-certified was absolutely worth it. Even despite the fact that we had contracts that were contingent upon our eventual certification, this was a sound business decision for so many reasons.

This process has been great for building customer confidence. And it lowers the barriers to sale when we are interacting with potential customers. For many of them, it’s a must. And for the others, it’s a huge bonus.

– Andrew Thompson, Chief Security Officer

Business benefits for us include…

  • Having a solid foundation to pursue other security certifications or attestations, such as SOC 2
  • Establishing a strong security culture throughout our organisation
  • Living and breathing our vision to become the most trusted people presence management system in the market
  • Further establishing our brand as the top choice for enterprise-level organisations
  • Potential cost savings in the long run that come from having a sound information security management system

Being ISO 27001-certified allows us to speak confidently about our security practices because we know we’re following international best practice. That’s the best value you can possibly offer from a security perspective.

– Tom Peck, Chief Technology Officer

What is the ISO-27001 certification process like?

We engaged Axenic, a security consultancy agency, to assess our current state of security, conduct internal audits and assist us on the path to certification (getting us ready for external audit and assessment – which was ultimately conducted by a third party auditor from BSI).

It was the right decision to engage a security and compliance consultant. We couldn’t have done this without Lisa [from Axenic].

– Tom Peck, Chief Technology Officer

Firstly, Axenic conducted a gap analysis using the Framework in conjunction with Annex A of ISO/IEC 27001 to create a Current Profile. As we mentioned earlier, we decided to implement everything in Annex A – even things that were not risks to our business/security processes – this was a business decision to follow best practice.

After this, we conducted a risk assessment. This report identified which controls were there and did not need improvement, which controls were already there but did need improvement, and which controls needed to be implemented from scratch. These are “risks” and are categorised as either low, moderate or critical.

Originally, we identified 35 risks. We achieved certification with only 7 areas of concern (though none enough to be a nonconformity).

The process was not complicated, but we certainly had no idea how extensive or time-consuming it would be.

– Andrew Thompson, Chief Security Officer

What kind of ongoing maintenance does it require to keep ISO-27001 certification?

ISO-27001 requires consistent management and maintenance. We’ve seen it said that ISO is a lifestyle, and that’s definitely true!

Retention of ISO 27001 certification includes…

  • An annual surveillance audit makes sure you’re on track to managing all outstanding areas of concern
  • A 3-yearly major re-audit will determine your eligibility to retain certification
  • There will be other reports and documentation that requires even more regular review, bi-monthly etc.

Should you get ISO-27001 certified? 

Consider ISO-27001…

  • If you want to serve customers in countries like Japan and India, it’s a legal requirement.
  • If your customer base includes international organisations, ISO-27001 is more widely applicable globally than SOC 2.
  • If your customers include large enterprises, it is good practice, and it removes a barrier when trying to get new customers over the line.

However…

  • If you’re a small company (say, smaller than 20 people), consider that there are many roles that are required of staff over and above BAU, so a small team may not feasibly be able to complete or maintain ISO-27001.
  • If you only service small businesses (who generally are less discerning than larger organisations) ISO-27001 certification is possibly not necessary.

ISO certification has created a ‘security first’ mentality in our office culture; this is an absolute must-have when dealing with customer information.

– Darren Whitaker-Barnett, CEO

Our advice to any organisation going through the certification process:

Make sure you’ve got the resources to get through it because it’s not something you can go into half-heartedly. For example, sometimes it will make sense to bring in external experts.

Make sure you’ve brought everyone in the company along on the journey. This requires a big culture shift, so make sure everyone understands why this is important and what the process is like.

Make sure you have enough people to fill the roles required by the standard. We have a relatively small leadership team so with all the roles necessary it might not have been possible to do it if the team were any smaller.

You need someone to really own and drive this process internally. For us, this was our CEO – he was committed to this and really gave it everything. It had his full attention over and above everything else.

Disclaimer:

We are not security or compliance consultancy. Everything outlined in this article is purely our own experience or opinion. Every organisation considering ISO-27001 should undertake their own research and gain professional advice before making a decision.

About MRI OnLocation

MRI OnLocation provides people presence management software that monitors the safe and secure movement of people through buildings and work sites. Our powerful, cloud-based solution unites visitor, contractor, employee, and emergency management, enabling organisations to secure their facilities and ensure the safety of every person on-site. Armed with a rich, unified source of people presence information, our users are empowered to make more strategic, data-driven decisions that mitigate risk, reduce overhead costs, and streamline operations. Compliant with ISO:27001 2013 for Information Security Management. MRI OnLocation serves organisations in 42 countries around the world and manages over 60 million secure movements through thousands of locations each year. For more information, visit MRI OnLocation.

Celebrating the future of PropTech at Ascend London 2020

Posted on by

Software learning, industry insight and business networking were the headline attractions at MRI Ascend London 2020 – our premier, two-day European user event. More than 550 delegates, Partners and industry professionals came together in central London to discuss the latest trends and topics affecting the property industry, as well as explore the newest developments and enhancements to MRI’s comprehensive suite of real estate software solutions.

To launch the event, attendees were introduced to MRI Living and MRI @Work – solution concepts that bring together and leverage the power of existing MRI applications and offer deeper capabilities and greater flexibility to clients.

MRI Living provides an end-to-end, integrated tech stack for all aspects of the residential market across estate agencies, block management, the private rented sector, Build-to-Rent and Housing Associations. It includes back-office property management and accounting systems to help streamline operations for landlords and owners, linked to front-end lettings and portal technology that connects resident communities and enhances customer service.

MRI @Work is a suite of solutions for the commercial sector, covering property management, financials, investment management and tenant relations. It features MRI Lease Intelligence, an AI-powered lease abstraction and analysis tool that enables clients to save time, improve data quality and gain unrivalled portfolio insight.

Some 60 breakout sessions also showcased the latest functionality updates across our product set, and offered in-depth hints, tips and best practices on how users can optimise their systems and achieve even greater efficiencies, additional cost-savings and regulatory compliance. In each of the product areas, regional leaders also showed how MRI’s innovative Platform X is driving technological development and introducing an ever-growing set of shared services and common components.

Celebrating client achievement

Not only does the Ascend users conference give us a chance to share the latest updates at MRI – but 2020 saw the launch of the MRI Innovation Awards in Europe to recognise clients and Partners for their successes. Award recipients were announced at an evening drinks reception to close Day One, and we want to say a huge well done and congratulations to those who were recognised – your honours are well deserved. Here are the winners:

Ambassador of the Year:
Cecilia Crump, South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
Nathan Spitzer, Alliance Managing Agents

Flexibility Award:
Legal & General Investment Management
Knight Frank

Community Award:
Grosvenor Estate

Project of the Year:
The Arch Co and Network Rail

Partner of the Year:
Fixflo

Flexibility Award
Jonathan Avery, Legal & General Investment Management, receives an award from MRI Software CEO Patrick J. Ghilani.
Reaching new heights today, and long into the future

MRI Ascend London 2020 came hot on the heels of MRI Ascend Anaheim, our hugely successful North American client event in California in October, which featured the launch of a number of new products and solutions including MRI Secure Sign, MRI Payments and MRI Lead Management. The APAC installment takes place in Sydney on 13-15 May, followed by Ascend in Johannesburg on 10 June. We’ll be back in London next year – so thanks to all that joined us and we’ll see you in 2021!

 

— Thanks to our Ascend London Partner sponsors —

 

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Bring your commercial property business back to what matters with MRI @Work

Posted on by Chris Vroman

Commercial property owners, operators and investors each face their own set of day-to-day challenges and long-term obstacles. But no matter how wide-ranging their difficulties might be, they all share one crucial commonality: their ability to overcome their challenges is based entirely on how they develop and manage their leases.

By seeking to balance occupancy and revenue while minimizing risk, commercial owners are trying to maintain the landlord/tenant relationship whose terms and conditions are spelled out in the leases they both signed. Commercial operators need to be able to access data from leases quickly and effectively so that the right people can have all information they need to make decisions. Data must be made transparent, everyday tasks need to be completed in an efficient manner, and information should flow freely throughout the business. All of this comes back to the lease.

MRI @Work is the comprehensive and flexible suite of commercial and financial solutions that address the way businesses interact with the leases they hold. It enables owners, operators, and investors to boost occupancy, mitigate risk, and maximize performance through each stage of the commercial and investment lifecycles.

1) Attract great tenants

Having visibility into both your pipeline and your prospects is important when it comes to making the best decisions possible. Finding great tenants is about more than just filling spaces – you’ve also got to think about what mix of tenants would be best for your commercial property.

By using the tools found in MRI @Work, you can track and manage contacts, opportunities, and documents that help you find the most productive tenants for your property. With the ability to visualize your entire portfolio and perform the proper assessments, you can take a huge step in mitigating risk before you’ve even put pen to paper. And even when you’re finally ready to do just that, the prospect to tenant conversion will be streamlined in a way that maximizes both your occupancy and your profitability.

2) Maximize the lease

As mentioned earlier, the importance of the lease cannot be understated. As the foundation of the negotiation process, it’s designed to mitigate risk for all parties involved by establishing the roles and responsibilities. The lease clearly outlines the financial nature of the landlord/tenant relationship, making it far too important to overlook as time goes on.

MRI’s solutions help you take your leases off the page and into a database, giving you the means to pull actionable insights from the lease and to share the right data with the right people in your business. When your leases are entered into a digital database, your property managers and asset managers can more easily uncover essential lease terms and clauses, helping them make better business decisions.

3) Run smoothly

With the right technology in place, you’ll have the means to simplify day-to-day property operations and make sure your processes live up to the lease agreement. Facilitating tenant billing, effectively communicating with tenants and streamlining facilities management all become easier than ever with the right processes and automation in place.

MRI @Work offers full visibility into your property operations with a single platform, allowing commercial property managers to evaluate risk from bad debt, manage disputes and process billing and deposits with the confidence that the payment history is being logged. With the ability to automate revenue-generating and back-office tasks, you’ll have more time for high value activities. By tracking daily operations and finances to the larger budget, you can identify variations that could derail your projections. Finally, with proactive vendor management and preventative maintenance tools, you’ll ensure that your property is kept in top condition.

4) Know the score

MRI @Work helps you keep track of your business’s health so that you can be better positioned to reach your goals and maximize profitability. With integrated financial and accounting operations, you can streamline your procure-to-pay process, boost your debt management efficiencies, and manage fixed assets.

With an actionable dashboard that is tailored to your needs, you can get insights specific to your role to help you stay ahead of the curve and easily identify inefficiencies. By having the ability to capture operational and occupancy data for investment reporting, you can make data transparent from tenants to investors.

Commercial property management software shouldn’t just help you meet the challenges you face today; it should prepare you for the challenges you may face tomorrow or farther out into the future. MRI @Work is designed specifically to help you answer the question, “What’s next?” with greater accuracy, efficiency, and transparency. Learn more about how MRI @Work helps you own, operate, and occupy at every step of the commercial and investment lifecycles.