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December 28, 2020 10:00AM

Implementing and Upgrading Yardi with Voyager Consulting Specialists

As a real estate investor, the software platform you use to manage all aspects of your business is the key to both business success and peace of mind. If your software platform isn’t reliable or doesn’t perform the functions you need, it’s more of a liability than an asset, costing you revenue, tenant retention, and valuable time.

However, implementing a new platform or business process/system can feel intimidating, especially if technology isn’t your specialty. Plus, undertaking an implementation on your own can cost revenue and valuable time that could best be spent in the areas of your business where you do excel. It’s not as simple as installing an app and hitting the ground running: you need to be sure your data is cleaned and ready, and that the system is optimized and functioning as expected. 

As we’ve mentioned in previous blogs, having a third-party consultant can be a great benefit to your real estate business, especially since consultants understand the ebbs and flows of PropTech and are abreast of new technologies. With that in mind, we’re sharing some insights into Yardi Voyager, including why you need it and how a Yardi Voyager consultant can help save you time and money. 

Why You Need to Implement Yardi Voyager

Yardi Voyager is a web-based, highly collaborative, user-friendly, and fully integrated software platform designed for real estate businesses of all sizes and types, including commercial, multifamily, military, affordable, and senior housing. Yardi Voyager fulfills many of your management needs, from managing operations to running analytics, executing leases, and managing services for investors, tenants, and residents. For many, it’s a one-stop shop as far as software platforms are concerned, taking care of your management tasks so you can concentrate on your business. Yardi Voyager can grow and change with your business, making it a valuable asset both now and into the future.

Working with Yardi Voyager consulting specialists, you can set up and properly connect the following key components of the platform to get you up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible:

  • Dashboards: Standard dashboards allow for quick snapshots of your investors, properties, and tenants based on your security group.
  • Filters: The flexibility of filters allows you to pull the data you need without the extra clutter. 
  • Attributes and Lookup Lists: Property, units, resident/tenant screens, etc. can all be customized with attributes and user-defined fields, allowing you to use analytics to pull data based on those customizations. For example, property attributes can include regions, so reporting can be pulled based on regions. 
  • Importing/Exporting Data: Allows for quick imports and exports using ETLs, which provides bulk data imports. To take one example, this is beneficial for acquisitions that require large amounts of data imported into the system.
  • Drill Down: Each screen contains hyperlinks for quick access to tenant records, ledgers, transactions, and more. 

Yardi Voyager Provides Analytical Reporting

Without a firm handle on what’s going on in your business, success is hard to come by. The costs can be numerous in both time and money, and often you’re leaving money on the table. That’s why Yardi Voyager’s analytic reporting capabilities are valuable for any real estate business. With these capabilities, you can review financial, commercial, and residential analytic reports, covering all aspects of your business so you have a clear picture of your operations from the simplest to the most complex.

Using Voyager consulting specialists to keep your software updated and properly upgraded can make these sometimes overwhelming and error-prone procedures one less thing you have to worry about. 

Currently, the vast majority of Yardi Voyager users are now operating version 7S. If you’re still operating with an earlier version, it’s time to upgrade to 7S. Why? Here are two important reasons:

  • 7S is now completely Software as a Service (SaaS), which means Yardi can host all of your hardware and infrastructure. Voyager is browser-agnostic and can be easily accessed from your phone, tablet, or desktop.
  • Due to this SaaS capability, Yardi can perform all patches and upgrades without your involvement, allowing your team to focus on other, more crucial tasks.

Since upgrading to 7S requires all of your information to be moved to the cloud, using a Yardi Voyager consultant can decrease errors and complications, particularly if this cloud navigation is outside of your team’s area of expertise, and especially since some of the menus used in version 6 are not compatible with version 7S, requiring an substantial amount of time spent by your team on this process alone. It’s worth your while to move to the cloud, as you will also get Yardi’s server support, as well as help with disaster recovery and more. 

Working With a Voyager Consultant After Your Implementation Ensures Your Software Remains Optimized

Once the huge task of a software implementation is completed, you might think the services of a consultant are no longer necessary. Wrong. Yardi Voyager consultants stay up to date on the latest updates, upgrades, and plugins. The software capabilities get stronger every year, so knowing when you need an upgrade and what the differences will be could help lighten the workload for your team. This is why an ongoing relationship with a Yardi Voyager consulting partner can pay off—literally—year after year after year. 

Examples: 

  • NY Plugin Upgrades: Each year, New York rules and regulations may change. Voyager consultants stay up to date on those changes and can make modifications in Voyager to ensure you are compliant. 
  • Ongoing Support: Voyager consultants provide ongoing support even after the implementation. We track trends in issues and provide recommendations on how better to tackle those issues. Solutions can range from plugin updates to additional training.  
  • Thorough Testing: Consultants perform detailed testing on the plugins to ensure they meet your needs and business model. We stay on top of the plugin releases and notes. Knowing whether a plugin upgrade is beneficial for the system or unnecessary is crucial.

Don’t risk the health of your Yardi Voyager software platform—and all the valuable data it manages—by attempting to self-perform implementations, updates, upgrades, and plugins. Instead, leave these important tasks to our Yardi Voyager consultants and spend your valuable time on the aspects of our business that you do best: customer growth and retention. Contact us today for more information on Yardi Voyager and our consulting services.