The V&A Waterfront partners with MRI Software with a shared vision for innovation

In an unpredictable post-pandemic landscape, South African property leaders are doubling down on efficiency, and technology is leading the way. With rising costs, power instability, and service delivery concerns, smart property management has never been more important.

That’s why the V&A Waterfront, one of the country’s most iconic and innovative mixed-use developments, chose to partner with MRI Software to modernise its systems and future-proof operations.

The V&A Waterfront first adopted MRI’s Property Management X (PMX) solution in 2021 for its residential assets. Seeing the results, the team expanded the rollout in 2023 to include its commercial, retail, hospitality, marine, and industrial portfolios.

“Our previous software was predominantly a finance and accounting system which we had been operating in for close on twenty years,” says Amanda Dilima, Strategic Projects Manager for the V&A Waterfront.

“It was tired and difficult to upgrade. It was also limited in terms of licenses with our different departments creating their own periphery systems which became cumbersome when trying to consolidate data from various sources.”

Finding a system that reflects the business

What the V&A team wanted was a property-first platform: something robust enough for finance, but flexible enough to work across departments, at scale.

“We wanted a new operating system that leads with what we do – real estate. We needed great financial reporting functionalities, and it was important that the operating system had a track record with similar sized developments. We also required accessibility for all within our organisation, to easily source the information needed to make informed business decisions,” Amanda explains.

The rollout, which took around 18 months, involved carefully replacing legacy infrastructure while preserving key accounting functions.

Making insights visible and actionable across the organisation

Midway through the PMX rollout, the V&A Waterfront added Agora Insights, MRI’s business intelligence tool, to the mix. This solution gathers data from across systems to present meaningful insights using AI – complete with user-friendly dashboards and visual reporting.

“The V&A Waterfront’s data now sits in a secure, clean system with a proper set of processes that ensures real-time information,” says Mark Bird, Director of Global Professional Services (EMEA) for MRI Software.

“Their team can access and analyse data efficiently, allowing them to work smarter and better. A business needs to trust its data and to spot trends. There is no point having an operating system with thousands of records unless you can find value in the information.”

Redefining how tech supports the tenant journey

Implementing PropTech is a journey. Amanda shares that the process involved careful planning and a broader mindset change.

“We required a new mindset on how we wanted our business to be configured from a digital perspective going forward and we had to strategise on how best to go about the integration into our overall digital ecosystems.”

“It is crucial for a business to scrutinise the ‘why’. For the V&A Waterfront, it is important that we are of high-quality customer service to our tenants and by using MRI Software’s products, we can garner insights that would take much longer to extract if done manually. Our new operating system reduces human error by minimising repetitive tasks and it frees up capacity to allocate to where it matters the most, driving digitisation from a customer experience point of view and to continuously enhance CX for our tenants.”

One source of truth for the way forward

With the full implementation of PMX and Agora Insights, the V&A Waterfront now operates with real-time data and better tools for decision-making.

“The efficiency of being able to access information from one source is a big win for us. This is the fundamental difference between where we have come from and where we are going as a business. With MRI Software’s global track record, we were confident in our partnership, and we see this as the way forward for the V&A Waterfront.”

Discover more about MRI Software solutions.