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Big data and real estate operations

  • October 13, 2014

Big data and real estate operations

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There’s no shortage of information available to the modern property professional, but only specialised technology can interpret that information and make it more accessible and meaningful to investors.

Traditional databases can track the formidable mountain of information available today, but it can be a challenge to effectively find meaning in that information. The term ‘big data’ was coined to describe how much raw information or raw data is available.

‘Business intelligence’ describes the meaning that emerges from analysing that raw data.

According to Gregory Fuhrman, Yardi investment management technology specialist, automation is the best way to convert big data into business intelligence that is easy to understand and is of practical benefit. He reveals that one of the great advantages of automation is that it allows staff to easily ascertain which metrics, or key performance indicators, are most important to them. For example, an asset manager is likely to be interested in property-level detail, such as space-by-space leasing activity, whereas an investor might be concerned with the occupancy percentage for the entire portfolio of investments.

Fuhrman says companies that haven’t adopted automation solutions can struggle with investor reporting, particularly now that the business world is characterised by elevated investor expectations of transparency and increased regulatory oversight. He adds that it’s easy for companies to get bogged down by manual data aggregation processes and spreadsheets that make reporting a lengthy and draining process.

Investment firms are finding that producing meaningful intelligence for their constituents is most efficiently done by avoiding the loading of data into multiple software programs.

“Some industry experts report that achieving automation is important for quickly closing accounting periods and producing financial statements and other reports required by the investor community,” Fuhrman says. “They are quick to point out that a software solution’s ability to produce professional, high-quality investor reporting is their principal priority.”

The trend in the industry is to provide information that is both useful and meaningful, not just ‘check the box’ reports to fulfil a contractual obligation.

“Creating these reports is extremely time-consuming without an automated solution in place,” Fuhrman says.

Yardi Systems provides cost-effective, high-performance software for investment management, asset management and asset operations for real estate investment organisations and their service providers. For more on Yardi, go to: www.yardi.com.au