by REdirect Consulting

How to Maximize Your Yardi Investment: Strategies From the Experts

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Yardi is a leading provider of software solutions for the real estate industry. Since founder Anant Yardi created his first software solution for property businesses in the 1980s, the company’s tools have allowed real estate businesses, owners, investors, and property management firms to manage their entire operations through a single connected platform with comprehensive functionalities, including asset management, accounting and financials, client relationship management, and marketing.

Yardi solutions can give real estate businesses a competitive edge. They can also help you provide better customer service and a better investor and tenant experience; however, maximizing your investment is crucial if you want to enjoy the operational efficiency and profitability Yardi can offer.

This article will share some expert strategies to help real estate companies unlock Yardi’s full potential.

Understanding Yardi Property Management Software Capabilities

Yardi’s comprehensive suite of property management software includes several key tools designed specifically for the real estate industry:

  • Yardi Voyager is a property management and accounting system that manages the entire real estate life cycle. It includes tools such as business intelligence, applicant screening, and document management.
  • RENTCafé is a mobile solution designed to help companies deliver outstanding prospect and resident services.
  • Breeze is a cloud-based property management suite for owners and managers with fewer than 1,000 units.
  • Investment Suite is an end-to-end investment management platform designed to help investors make smarter decisions through smart analytics and intelligent performance measurement.
  • The Multifamily, Commercial, and Senior Living Suites are designed to help companies specializing in the respective areas of the real estate market.
  • Yardi even offers modules and tools for self-storage companies, affordable housing, student housing, and more.

Yardi’s core functionalities include lease management, accounting, reporting, tenant portals, and much more.

Before you can begin making the most of your Yardi investment, it is essential to understand what it can do for your company, how you currently use it, and what else you could be doing to maximize its potential.

Assessing Your Current Yardi Property Management Software Usage

Begin by conducting a complete Yardi system audit. A single connected platform can streamline your operations and provide a comprehensive view of your property management activities. Are you fully utilizing Yardi’s features? Do your employees have a good understanding of how Yardi works and what it is capable of? Identify gaps in your usage and use these gaps as areas for improvement.

Our experts recommend that you review your Yardi setup regularly to ensure it continues aligning with evolving business needs in the changeable real estate market.

Expert Strategies to Optimize Your Yardi Investment

There are numerous ways to optimize your use of Yardi systems to better serve your clients and investors, enhance your processes, and ensure that each asset in your portfolio is living up to its full potential. These strategies are broken down into four key areas of focus.

Customization

Yardi is a highly versatile and customizable platform that allows you to make it work for you. Therefore, take some time to tailor your dashboards, reports, and workflows to your operations. Ensure that you use the most appropriate modules and functionalities for your needs, identifying gaps.

Involve your entire team in this process and seek input from employees from different departments. For example, your Chief Financial Officer is likely to have a different perspective on ways to utilize Yardi than your marketing team, but both perspectives can be tremendously valuable.

Automation

Yardi offers an impressive suite of automation tools, allowing you to save time by automating manual processes such as data entry, automated payments, lease renewals, bank reconciliations, and more.

Automating these time-consuming tasks can free your team members to take on those tasks that machines cannot replicate. It can also save you money and improve the accuracy of your data, financial processes, and reporting.

Integrations

Yardi systems can be connected to other systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) tools and accounting software. This allows for more efficient operations and seamless and accurate data transfer with a fully integrated software stack.

During your implementation, your Yardi consultant will be able to advise you on the best ways to connect and integrate these systems.

Training and Support

Implementing new real estate software can be a complex process. It is vital to keep lines of communication open across your team and provide comprehensive training on using your Yardi product. Don’t forget to invest in ongoing staff training to ensure continued proficient use of Yardi, too.

Leveraging Advanced Yardi Solutions for Maximum ROI

Once you understand the basics of your Yardi system, you can begin diving into the platform’s more advanced features.

Yardi’s enhanced reporting and analytics capabilities allow you to make more informed and data-driven decisions. This functionality allows you to drill down into details such as individual asset performance. You can also view accounts payable and receivable, financial and general ledger analytics, tenancy schedules, and more.

The RENTCafé tool, complete with mobile access, enhances the tenant experience across your rental properties. With multichannel marketing, SEO, and SEM capabilities, as well as online leasing, rent payments, and maintenance requests, it has everything you need to make life easier for your workers, tenants, and prospects.

If you have an extensive portfolio, Yardi’s Investment Management tools are ideal for managing it. They streamline your accounting, automate the investment life cycle, manage risk, and get the best possible performance from each asset.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Managing your property business with Yardi software comes with tremendous benefits, but there are also some common pitfalls that we have noticed many of our clients have to navigate. Here are three of the most common that you will need to be aware of.

Overlooking Updates and Enhancements

Yardi regularly releases software updates and feature enhancements. Failing to download and utilize these enhancements means you are not getting the maximum benefit from your Yardi software. Running an old version of the software can also put your system at risk.

Check for updates regularly and implement them promptly.

Insufficient Training and User Adoption

If your employees do not understand how to use Yardi and how it benefits them, they will not maximize its functionalities. Robust training for all Yardi users, both at the implementation stage and on an ongoing basis, is essential.

Failing to Customize

One of Yardi systems’ greatest strengths is its customization capabilities. Therefore, if you fail to customize and adapt Yardi to your unique business needs and the needs of your users, investors, and clients, you will not be making the most of the tool.

Partner With REdirect to Make Yardi Work for You

REdirect understands the unique challenges of the real estate market and the needs of property firms. That’s why we offer a comprehensive Yardi support service, guiding you through every stage—from selecting the right Yardi system for your business to seamless implementation, go-live, and continuous support.

We have partnered with organizations across various sectors of the real estate market. With deep expertise, we tailor Yardi solutions to meet your specific needs, ensuring streamlined operations and enhanced performance.

Contact us today to learn how we can support your business with Yardi.



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