ERP Software for Real Estate

Adopting ERP software can change the face of the real estate business.  New players in the real estate business are equipped with advanced technologies and leading the competitive market, while veteran companies are reluctant towards ERP systems. As a result, they are still crawling behind with old tech. Real estate businesses need to advance their strategies and utilize the best available technology to meet both social and economic challenges. 

This is where the need for management software arises. To manage and streamline the business processes involved in the real estate business, the implementation of a world-class ERP system becomes a necessity. 

The Need for an ERP in Real Estate

An ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software acts as a backbone for all your business processes. It unifies all your existing data points, streamlines operations, and provides complete visibility into your business 24/7. 

But not all ERP software is capable of effectively carrying out these processes, at least not in a cost-effective manner. Before you google the best ERP system for real estate, it is important to first understand your core competencies and requirements and how your unique business needs fit into the ERP system.   

Here a few pointers to consider while buying an ERP system:

• Reduce operational cost
• Holistic view of the business
• Data backed management decisions
• Seamless management of workforce

Core Features in an ERP System

Following features of ERP system for real estate helps you to understand how it help your business grow.

1. Single Platform for All Your Business Needs

You may be using different tools or software for different avenues of your business. You may think that having a variety of tools at your disposal may help and boost the productivity of your business, but chances are you will be burdened with information from sources without knowing how to compile it. Also, one has to understand each of these systems in-depth to get the best out of it.

Sounds like more work than productivity, doesn’t it? 

An ERP software acts as a single source of information, it collects data from all the necessary data points and present key insights about your business. With the help of real-time data, ERP’s are also capable of assisting you in making business decisions.

2. Cloud-Based ERP

Growing businesses require softwares that are scalable. Many companies are stuck with legacy on-premise softwares that halt growth. They need constant updations and maintenance increasing the IT budget to roof.  

Cloud-based ERPs are the future because they seamlessly transform your business processes to global standards. They eliminate the need to worry about updations or scalability and help you concentrate on your core business needs.

3. Real-Time Data

ERP acts as a centralized platform that can accommodate all the data and provide a steady stream of information across the organization. Departments will need access to real-time data to function in sync with other departments. Thus users have access to real-time information 24/7 which eliminates the possibility of redundancy.

4. Business Intelligence

ERP’s are capable of more than just collecting data and storing it in a central location. They can provide in-depth insights into your business through KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), dynamic reports, and intelligent dashboards.

5. Business Process Automation

Delays are not appreciated in any business because delays ultimately mean loss for the business. Through automation, ERP softwares are capable of integrating different business processes that improves the transparency between multiple departments. 

Real estate ERP software contains various verticals like financials, purchase, sales, leads, projects, engineering, etc that are integrated. 

It means if there is a new purchase in the company all the parties that are directly involved with the process get notified.

How ERP Benefits the Real Estate Business?

Let us discuss some of the core areas where ERP helps the real estate business.

• Supply chain management (SCM)

Real estate companies involve various entities like people, properties, processes, vendors and more who manage buying, selling, or rental requirements on a large-scale. For seamless operation, all these entities need to have a clear understanding of what is happening across the organization and an ERP system can ensure that. 

The ERP software can effectively manage and track all properties and assets through its SCM solution. Categorizing all these properties based on their nature, tracking the progress, and assigning a sales representative, etc can all be automated through an ERP system. 

A single cloud platform can solve various SCM issues like forecasting, planning, documentation, file Management, Sourcing, Procurement,  Purchase Orders & Vendor management.

• Data-Driven Decision Making

Companies with a focus on the future are collecting data and using it for analysis. ERP’s can compile data from various sources like - Tenants/ buyers, products (sensors), operational data ( internal company data), and Market data to drive corporate decisions. 

Real-time data can impact business processes and reduce business risks drastically by responding to business needs on time.

• Inventory Management & Logistics

Real estate companies often need control over their inventory. ERP’s can ensure efficiency by keeping track of inventory in real-time. Often real-estate companies have difficulty developing bulk inventory but ERP’s can automate the process and provide detailed information regarding the inventory. Inventory pricing is made easy through ERP’s as they can create price listings based on inventory categories.

NetSuite ERP for Real Estate

Oracle NetSuite offers a cloud ERP solution that is highly scalable and customizable. It can be used for operations like financial management, order management, fixed asset management, etc. Customized dashboards and role-specific views help users get a tailored view of what is happening within their respective departments.

1. Financial Management

• NetSuite offers automated retrieval and presentation of billing information from various sources like owners or tenants.
• Subscription management is made easy by generating recurring invoices and send through mail.
• Budget management - it is possible to create or copy budget features in Excel and import them through CSV.

2. Community Management

NetSuite offers tools to address tenant complaints and other maintenance requests. It can keep track of incoming tickets and assign it to agents to resolve the issue quickly.  

NetSuite automatically notifies all your dues and payments and ensure transparency. It is also possible to send out bulk reminders to all your tenants or involved parties.

3. Maintenance

NetSuite takes care of all your maintenance requirements. It can effectively carry out property management, units management, and utility management. NetSuite also tracks asset lifecycle and civil inventory management.

4. Customer Relationship Management

Gain a 360-degree view of your customers through NetSuite CRM. Track the entire customer lifecycle from lead generation to customer support. With NetSuite CRM it is easy to manage quotes, order management, commissions, sales forecasting, etc.

5. Reports and Analytics

NetSuite’s SuiteAnalytics feature helps business executives with dynamic dashboards and business-specific reports.  NetSuite reports are highly customizable and hence managers can build custom reports according to their needs.  The saved searches feature in NetSuite is an effective tool to generate custom views and reports.