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News Release
Integrated Business Systems, Inc.
999 Riverview Drive, Suite 280
Totowa, New Jersey 07512
Media Contact: Sandy Crisafulli / (201) 796-7788 / [email protected] / @carylcomm
Taking the Cloud to a New Level for Commercial Real Estate
Multi-Cloud Strategy is Next – and a New Generation of Industry Professionals is
Leading the Charge
By Michael Mullin, President
Integrated Business Systems
Totowa, N.J.
When talking about “the cloud,” it is hard to resist using weather-related language. So
here we go again. A well-executed multi-cloud strategy can rain savings on a
commercial real estate enterprise. But putting that symbolism aside, we continue to see
our clients, who use the cloud strategically, achieving significant savings. Cloud-based
solutions are emerging as the clear winner over traditional on-site IT systems, with the
potential to transform every aspect of the real estate business – from property
management to accounting to construction management.
Well-designed cloud-based applications, strategically deployed, are helping companies
shift dollars formerly spent on in-house IT to areas that generate ROI. In addition,
applications designed for the industry are assuming routine functions, freeing staff to
focus on the core business and management to focus on new profit-generating
initiatives.
With so much good news regarding cost-reduction, security and efficiency, you might
wonder why the entire real estate industry is not in the cloud or headed there. And you
might also wonder why organizations that are already in the cloud are not going to the
next level.
They really should be connecting their cloud-based apps, allowing them to “talk” to each
other, thereby delivering a cohesive picture of the state of their business. Yet our
observation, based on nearly 40 years in this industry, is that commercial real estate
traditionally is not driven by operating efficiency. The driver is the deal. Top
management is laser-focused on that ultimate goal, leaving functional decisions to the
individual departments.
This is what typically happens behind the scenes. The accounting department buys a
cloud-based solution. And next door, construction management buys one. Maybe the
leasing unit is getting one, too. Silos full of data are sprouting company-wide.
Information is going to various clouds. Individually, these solutions will do a great job for
the department that bought them. But how about for the company as a whole? What is
missing? These function-specific apps are not integrated.
Without integrated communication among all these varied information streams,
management gets only isolated slices of the state of the business. Functional solutions
get traction at the departmental level but, in the end, management misses out on the
benefit of being able to make critical decisions based on a single, comprehensive view
of information. The promise of efficiency via multi-cloud is simply not being fully
realized. But things are changing.
The real estate technology industry’s mission is to help our clients eliminate those
information silos. For example, Imperium Powered by Acumatica, IBS’s cloud-based
enterprise lease management/accounting solution, seamlessly interfaces with thirdparty products across multiple services categories. It feeds information into a multicloud environment and makes it available anytime, on any browser in a consolidated
form. And this type of solution is gaining ground with a new generation of commercial
real estate executives who know that the best deals are the ones based on the best
information.
The industry’s latest wave of commercial real estate decision-makers understands the
limitations imposed by siloed information. As mobile-centric digital natives, they are
used to literally carrying their brains in their pockets. They expect their devices to
provide the comprehensive data they need to make a deal when and where they need
it.
Their passion for tech (and what it can do to make a commercial real estate business
more successful) is spreading across demographic lines. There exists a growing
recognition that technology, when strategically deployed, is transforming the world, and
these rising industry leaders want their corner to be “in on it.” Commercial real estate
companies with this management attitude are our best market and our most satisfied
clients.
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