Investor portals support business transparency

Investor portals support business transparencyIn the private equity real estate universe, the most effective way to achieve transparency is through the efficient delivery of business intelligence, says Terry Gowan, director of Yardi.The adoption of investor portals in the real estate sector is on the rise, as investors demand higher levels of transparency and institutions look for new ways to automate information delivery and cut the costs and labour associated with manual reporting.”These portals are typically hosted by a third party, because they require exceptional data security, but they look like another page on a company’s website so investors gain a seamless experience, while the institution controls the information made available,” Gowan, Yardi’s director in Australia and New Zealand, explains.Producing meaningful business intelligence for investors can be done more efficiently by avoiding loading data into multiple software platforms in favour of automation, which closes accounting periods quickly and produces financial statements that are both attractive and informative.”The look and feel of investor reports is critical,” says Leon Halperin, chief financial officer of Los Angeles-based real estate investment company Post Investment Group. “We touch these investors once a quarter and what they receive needs to look great, but also be thoughtful, insightful and useful. Most importantly, we want to be able to update these reports without having to contact our software vendor.”Cortland Fund Services, an independent third-party fund administration provider headquartered in Chicago, uses an investor portal for capital calls, distribution notices and any other document required to fulfill its obligation to clients.”Each investor maintains a unique login ID and password to access the portal. We can also track login activity, which ensures that we know whether or not the investors have opened up, and will fund their capital call notice,” says Cortland’s managing director, Greg Myers.Gowan says many companies continue to hire more people to service a portfolio without recognising the need for fundamental change in their back office operations. “An investor portal can help streamline effort by determining the information required by investors and deliver a highly professional report that keeps them coming back with more capital,” he says.”Company executives and investors are looking for easy-to-understand, graphic-rich interfaces with meaningful information that communicate returns, business intelligence and current balances. The most successful front office toolsets seamlessly integrate transaction and operations data without duplicate input,” Gowan concludes.For more information about Yardi, visit www.yardi.com/anz