Gaining competitive advantages through portals: The next frontier in commercial real estate technology

Portal technology, widely embraced by the multifamily real estate industry, represents tremendous yet largely untapped potential for increasing occupancy, retaining tenants, improving efficiency, and saving money in the commercial real estate industry. Commercial companies that have property websites - and most do - are equipped to reap tremendous benefits from the dynamic link between websites and online Web services and the property management database. Portals—secure, seamless links between websites and central operating databases—give tenants, prospects, owners and vendors access to a wide array of services and dynamically generated information. Leveraged fully, they can help maximize occupancy and therefore generate return on investment for commercial real estate owners, fee revenue for property managers, and employee productivity for tenants leasing the space. And it's efficient: Redundant data entry is eliminated, and end users can manage website content without a programmer's assistance. Benefits of commercial portals include: * Marketing. Portals help owners and managers "sell" their space and win leases by showcasing differentiators on a website. For example, owners and operators can expose available space to the public or to selected brokers; availability information is drawn directly from the property management system, providing instant updates of availability and property information. Owners and property managers can advertise services available both in the building and the surrounding area. A prospective tenant can get a full view of the offering by taking a virtual tour and viewing in-building and local activities and services - then schedule an appointment through the portal. * Tenant services. Commercial real estate companies can use portals to attract - and retain - tenants by offering a variety of convenient service capabilities, including the ability to update phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and other contact information; make online service requests; view base rent, common area maintenance obligations and ledger information for the current month or any prior period. Information updates automatically change contact records, service requests appear on the maintenance dashboard, and requests made through the portal automatically update the property operating database. This eliminates double-entry of data and mistakes that can accompany rekeying, offering potentially large savings of time and resources for the property management staff. Payments may even be made online for leases that allow it; funds are auto-deposited to the bank and the operating GL and AR are updated. Portals can also eliminate the hassle of collecting sales data by giving retail tenants an "Input Sales Data" form. Tenants enter their information directly into the property management system, streamlining the billing process by automating percentage rent calculations and reconciliations. When combined with the property management system, portals deliver automated workflows and routines and store data, images and documents. Meanwhile, concierge services available through portals give owners and managers new revenue opportunities through such services as arranging parcel pickup and securing tickets to sporting events, and by hosting ads for in-building restaurant coupons, dry cleaning specials, and other services. Portals can be a useful and highly effective communication medium as well. They can deliver several varieties of messaging to employees, including informational (e.g., elevator and parking lot services), marketing (lobby events, retailer specials), and safety (an "emergency portal" that provides evacuation plans, shelter data and other important information.) * Vendor services. Vendors can use portals for fast, easy verification of their contact information. They can also apply for approved or preferred status and submit invoices, submit and check invoices, enter insurance certificates, W-9 forms, sign up for EFT payments, and submit other documents. These documents are automatically routed through the approval process, and a vendor record is created and flagged as preferred/approved. * Sustainability. Portals can support green initiatives by eliminating costly storage and distribution of property management documents. Lease-specific documents can be uploaded securely for access by authorized users. Third-party property managers can submit monthly management reports to the property owner, eliminating the paper-intensive aspects of preparing reports and shipping them to the owner. Portals distribute the emergency communications referenced above via download, not paper. It's an online world. In common with people everywhere, many commercial real estate tenants and employees have designated the Internet as their preferred medium for doing business. Owners and managers can seize this opportunity to gain positive attention through attractive marketing, competitive advantage through tenant satisfaction, deceased operating costs via automation, and efficiency through elimination of redundant data entry and dynamic interaction with a property management system, along with sustainability and streamlined vendor interaction. By holding so much potential for all stakeholders, portals stand as the next frontier in commercial real estate technology. Richard Malpica is the vice president and general manager, Eastern region for Yardi Systems, Inc., Glen Head, N.Y.