Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) has made this year's InformationWeek 500 - a list of the top technology innovators in the U.S. The listing recognizes an advanced Revenue Management System (RMS) developed and implemented in concert with the merger of Newmark Knight Frank and the former Grubb & Ellis to form NGKF.
The theme of this year's InformationWeek 500 is digital business, according to Rob Preston, InformationWeek's editor in chief. "It's a movement, rooted in data analytics, mobile computing, social networking and other customer-focused technologies that are turning companies and industries on their ear," Preston said. "Every enterprise is now a digital business — or needs to become one fast. The organizations in our ranking are leading the way."
"It's an honor to make the InformationWeek 500, particularly for an innovation that improves the working experience for each of our employees," said Michael Ippolito, NGKF chairman of Global Corporate Services. "This new Revenue Management System helps run our real estate business more efficiently by expediting the flow of revenue with minimal interruptions to operations.
"When we acquired (the former assets of) Grubb & Ellis, we took this an an opportunity to accelerate our integration timeline, while improving our internal processes, eliminating any duplicate work from overlapping systems and shortening our processing time. I'm most excited about how this improves our clients' experience." BGC Partners Inc. acquired Newmark Knight Frank in October 2011 and the assets of Grubb & Ellis Co. in April 2012, combining those entities to create the global commercial real estate powerhouse that is NGKF. Integrating the back-office revenue systems of the two groups was one of several creative initiatives during the integration process.
"The easier solution would have been to implement one of our existing accounting applications across the board," Ippolito said. "Instead, NGKF seized the opportunity to consolidate six systems into a single, new, cutting-edge platform built on best practices and the latest technology."

NGKF's in-house IT team worked closely with an outside vendor to develop and implement an RMS that would integrate revenue processing systems including salary recovery, billing and revenue tracking functions, while interacting with other systems such as payroll, accounting and forecasting tools, research and client database systems. The in-house team tested features at every step, cutting the project time by two-thirds.

The development team collaborated with NGKF's in-house experts to build a best-in-class tool customized for NGKF employees. The end result is a scalable solution that will allow future acquisitions to be integrated with little or no additional corporate costs.

InformationWeek identifies and honors the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual InformationWeek 500 listing, and also tracks the technology, strategies, investments, and administrative practices of some of the best-known organizations in the country. Past overall winners include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, PACCAR Inc., The Vanguard Group, CME Group, National Semiconductor, Con‐Way, and Principal Financial Group. Unique among corporate rankings, the InformationWeek 500 spotlights the power of innovation in information technology.
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