Case study | Settio are futureproofed with MRI Sales and Lettings

Working from their base in Manchester, Settio manage property across the UK, working with international investors and providing excellent services for landlords, tenants, vendors, buyers, and developers. The team provide an end-to-end service, working with investors from the very start of the journey, from initial off-plan investment, through to lettings, management, and resale. Operating for just 3 years to date, the company has grown exponentially and has ambitious plans for the future.

Business Challenge

As a niche company providing an end-to-end service, Settio’s management software needs are unique. While they require a system to handle traditional day-to-day lettings management, such as instructing contractors and dealing with tenancies, they also require a system to facilitate their work with international clients. Global work requires specialist functionalities to manage the financial needs of non-resident landlords, as well as an online portal for clients to access their account when working across different time zones.

The team were using a platform favoured by many high-street agencies, which didn’t have the functionality to manage all the facets of Settio’s business, such as international taxation or multiple landlords investing in the same property, but most importantly it wasn’t flexible enough to allow for tailoring to suit future needs. With ambitions to expand the business into new sectors and specialities, it is important that the team is supported by a software package that can adapt to the company’s growth and future road map.

It’s also very important to the Settio team that they’re able to provide the smoothest service to clients as possible and that requires a good quality system to provide a robust foundation for the business’s operations.

Business solution

The team at Settio spoke with software groups and people working within large scale agencies in the industry to discuss what packages were on offer, in the hope of finding a software solution that could handle the many different facets of the business as well as integrate with their existing systems.

They were recommended MRI’s Sales and Lettings, and after considering other options including investing large amounts to build a completely bespoke system and working with numerous small off-the-shelf solutions that would require duplication of data input, the team have opted for MRI, as it has the functionality to handle all of the business’s operations and is flexible enough to be tailored to Settio’s specific needs.

Currently in the process of implementing the system, the team are already seeing how the system can benefit the business.

Tailored

Settio’s most important requirement for their system was flexibility and the capability for it to be tailored to the company’s needs. With MRI, products are created with that flexibility at its core, allowing the system to not only serve the team now, but in the future, too, providing a truly future-proof solution that grows with the business.

Connected

As a quickly growing company, Settio are expanding with new offices opening across the country. It’s more important than ever for teams to be able to access the management system remotely, whether working in a different office or working from home.

As well as the capability for remote working, the system also needs to be secure, as the company store large datasets and important client information. With MRI Sale and Lettings, Settio can be safe in the knowledge that their system is fully secured and accessible by team members from multiple locations and devices.

Client communication

As part of Settio’s mission to provide excellent service to their clients and tenants, the software solution will be used to interact with clients.

“Our current software is very limited in facilitating interaction with clients – it just sends a simple statement every month. With MRI Sales and Lettings, we can still do that but also encourage the use of the customer portal, as well as contact people on a broader basis without having to make individual calls and emails while maintaining our quality of service.” – Sam Fitz-Hugh, Co-Founder and UK Director, Settio.

Shared values

Part of the appeal for working with MRI was the shared values between the two businesses.

“We’re very innovative and very ambitious, we want to grow and take hold of certain parts of the market. The impression we got from the way MRI Sales and Lettings has been created and where it’s come from and the ideas behind it marry up well with our ethos and values.” – Sam Fitz-Hugh, Co-Founder and UK Director, Settio.

Support

As MRI customers, the team benefit from personalised and dedicated support, from operational questions regarding certain functionalities within the system, to how MRI products can support Settio in moving in a different direction.  

“All the fiddly questions we’ve had about quite specific things, a lot of it accounts related and more niche relating to our international client base, have a really solid answer behind them. We really appreciate the MRI team saying yes, we can do that and here’s how it will work and here’s how we can tailor the system to work for you.” – Sam Fitz-Hugh, Co-Founder and UK Director, Settio. 

Whatever direction Settio take their burgeoning business, they can be sure that MRI will be able to support and tailor products to help them achieve their goals.