Imagine this…you have a broken hand and walk into a doctor’s office. The doctor comes into the room and begins his exam by inspecting your foot. He then moves to your knee, head, elbow, eyes and ears. The entire time you keep mentioning, but doc, my hand is broken. Don’t worry, he says, we’ll get to that but I’m just a generalist so I have to give you a thorough exam before I can diagnose your issue. To which you reply, but my hand is broken!
If you can paint a picture of the pain and frustration this type of situation would entail, then you can imagine the similar consequences of choosing a general “catch all” solution for your lease automation solution. The phrase “you can’t please them all” certainly comes to mind, especially when it comes to the specialized needs of a complex and diverse Commercial Real Estate portfolio. Still not convinced? Keep reading to find out how generic software can waste your time and money and can even end up costing you more in the long run.
Overlooked, Miss-Filed or Inaccessible Data
When it comes to lease automation software, generic solutions designed with the one-size-fits-all mentality, or worse yet, generic project management software, can leave property managers scrambling to find important details. Instead of the ability to click on a specific tab and have the information you need at your fingertips, many inexpensive or general solutions require in-depth searches to be performed in the database to find minute details of individual properties.
When distributing leases to potential tenants, the lack of a custom-tailored solution can also lead to misplaced values in key fields such as square footage, property inclusions or important occupancy terms. This can trigger the need for significant revisions, or even mistakes in executed leases, both of which can equal lost time and revenue for busy property managers.
Non-Intuitive Interface
On the topic of wasting time and resources, in addition to being difficult to find the needed information the lack of a product designed specifically with CRE professionals in mind can also mean difficulties in getting information into the system to begin with. Many generic lease automation solutions require significant set up on the part of administrators and property managers. The lack of CRE specific fields can mean spending time mapping data and labeling tabs and categories. Before you know it, you or your staff have built out your very own solution out of inferior technology, that still doesn’t perform up to your expectations.
Not So Simple Really
While general lease automation software may promise a simpler user interface, as we’ve shown above, easy doesn’t always equal best. Non-customized fields, slower return times on information, lack of clear categories, modules and manual data entry can all create the potential for errors and lost time in the process. Add in the fact that in order to spare a few dollars that generic product either eliminates or greatly limits the amount of customer support you receive and it’s easy to see how up-front savings or promises of simplicity don’t make sense long term.
Quality lease administration and lease automation companies, such as Quarem, often customized solutions with intuitive interfaces. The Quarem team is part of your CRE staff from roll out to implementation and beyond. Before you pick up that generic solution, give Quarem a call and discuss how a quality, customizable and thoughtful solution to Lease Administration and overall portfolio management can help save you time and resources and grow your CRE empire in the process.
