5 Top Tips for Strategic Sourcing
22/02/10 13:14 Filed in: Strategic sourcing
Agentplus allows property management businesses to strategically source tasks such as property administration, trust accounting and IT application support by providing a hosted state-of-the-art property management software application with associated personnel to provide the back-end services. As providers of strategic sourcing services to real estate businesses, we were asked by the editors of SOLD magazine to provide our top tips for strategic sourcing. Strategic sourcing is a significant decision for any business, and one which should not be taken lightly!
Here is our list of the 5 most important things to consider when outsourcing any business process to any provider:
1. Evaluate a service provider like you’d hire a full-time employee
When you’re evaluating proposals from service providers, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Just like hiring a full-time employee, selecting a partner is a very subjective experience. Check references and ask for feedback from other clients who have used their services.
2. Don’t choose a partner based solely on price
Though it might be tempting, never select a partner based solely on price. To get the best service possible, it is worthwhile ensuring that the project is solid financially for both parties; this will ensure that you will always receive the best level of service possible. Experienced strategic-sourcers report that their most successful projects are the ones where they felt the partner offered a balance of good value and quality results.
3. Establish a good partnership & maintain constant communication
A good partnership is the key successful strategic sourcing. Ensure that you have a nominated project “sponsor” in your business who has an “opposite number” in your proposed partners business. You should communicate and explain all the objectives/goal that you wish to achieve within a certain period of time to both your proposed partner and to your staff right from the beginning of the contract and ensure that these channels of communication remain open and healthy for the period of the contract.
Establish a formal communication system both for regular updates and other ad-hoc communications. Outsourcing business processes means that things within your business will change, and can be a stressful time for employees who are not used to “doing things differently”. It is important to manage new expectations with your staff right from the beginning.
4. Agree to a service level agreement.
It is important to discuss the level of performance that you expect from your partner or service provider. Once you have established a service level agreement, agree on a set of performance indicators. Measure your partners performance regularly based on these indicators and check whether they're able to meet the required or agreed level of service or performance.
5. Measure Success
You should always evaluate the success of your projects. Most times there will be obvious financial benefits, but other efficiency gains or reasons for outsourcing can be harder to quantify. These could include generating a higher profile for your business, more credibility, or greater customer satisfaction. Consider how you will measure these intangibles before the project has commenced.
Managers from both large and small businesses are always looking for creative ways to accomplish more of their business goals for less money. Strategic sourcing of non-core activities can help you save time, money and frustration and can most definitely help you continue to build your business!
Here is our list of the 5 most important things to consider when outsourcing any business process to any provider:
1. Evaluate a service provider like you’d hire a full-time employee
When you’re evaluating proposals from service providers, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Just like hiring a full-time employee, selecting a partner is a very subjective experience. Check references and ask for feedback from other clients who have used their services.
2. Don’t choose a partner based solely on price
Though it might be tempting, never select a partner based solely on price. To get the best service possible, it is worthwhile ensuring that the project is solid financially for both parties; this will ensure that you will always receive the best level of service possible. Experienced strategic-sourcers report that their most successful projects are the ones where they felt the partner offered a balance of good value and quality results.
3. Establish a good partnership & maintain constant communication
A good partnership is the key successful strategic sourcing. Ensure that you have a nominated project “sponsor” in your business who has an “opposite number” in your proposed partners business. You should communicate and explain all the objectives/goal that you wish to achieve within a certain period of time to both your proposed partner and to your staff right from the beginning of the contract and ensure that these channels of communication remain open and healthy for the period of the contract.
Establish a formal communication system both for regular updates and other ad-hoc communications. Outsourcing business processes means that things within your business will change, and can be a stressful time for employees who are not used to “doing things differently”. It is important to manage new expectations with your staff right from the beginning.
4. Agree to a service level agreement.
It is important to discuss the level of performance that you expect from your partner or service provider. Once you have established a service level agreement, agree on a set of performance indicators. Measure your partners performance regularly based on these indicators and check whether they're able to meet the required or agreed level of service or performance.
5. Measure Success
You should always evaluate the success of your projects. Most times there will be obvious financial benefits, but other efficiency gains or reasons for outsourcing can be harder to quantify. These could include generating a higher profile for your business, more credibility, or greater customer satisfaction. Consider how you will measure these intangibles before the project has commenced.
Managers from both large and small businesses are always looking for creative ways to accomplish more of their business goals for less money. Strategic sourcing of non-core activities can help you save time, money and frustration and can most definitely help you continue to build your business!
5 Great Advantages of Strategic Sourcing
22/02/10 13:13 Filed in: Strategic sourcing
Did you know? Every minute either you or your employees spend on an activity that doesn't directly add value to your customer's satisfaction is a cost that can be saved in your business. There are many reasons that you should look at strategic sourcing your non-core property management activities to save time, save money, and most importantly - provide your customers with a better service.
If you havent thought about strategic sourcing before, here are some reasons why you should:
1. Focus on core functions
Offices that are able to strategically outsource routine functions to experts are more capable of focusing on their core business. Take the pharmacy industry for example. Before the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme went online, pharmacists had to worry about a whole lot of administrative work in billing and claims processing which consumed a lot of time and resources. Now that these functions have been outsourced to external locations, they are able to focus more on their primary concern, being “patient care”. Outsourcing administrative work in a property management department can allow you to focus more on customer care.
2. Better risk management
In any outsourcing model the partner always supplements the operations of your business with redundancies and back-up mechanisms. Usually, when and employee resigns or goes on maternity leave, there is a mad scramble (and usually expensive recruitment fees) to find a replacement. This can cause disruptions to the customer experience and negatively impact your business.
3. Lower infrastructure costs
Companies that decide to outsource key functions can find that their infrastructure costs are much lower. Consider the cost of IT hardware, telephones, software applications, and even office space that are required for every employee in your business. By outsourcing some functions to key partners, it is possible to significantly lower your investments in these areas.
4. Access to experts
Financial benefits aside, another reason some businesses outsource work is to have processes delivered by teams that have special expertise in the outsourced process. There is no guesswork in the persons experience or adherence to procedures, this is all business as usual in the outsourcing world.
5. Control operating costs and gain operational efficiencies
Outsourcing some functions can also save on “hidden” operational costs like payroll, administrative costs (eg bank charges, printing and stationery), recrutiment fees, energy, and utilities. In fact, outsourcing some business processes can give you some budgetary certainty around ongoing business expenses. Additionally, where businesses outsource to partners who have expertise in a particular area (see “Access to experts”), this can also translate to greater operational efficiencies for your business. For example you can re-direct effort currently spent by employees on non-core activities to activities that enhance your customer’s experience.
If you havent thought about strategic sourcing before, here are some reasons why you should:
1. Focus on core functions
Offices that are able to strategically outsource routine functions to experts are more capable of focusing on their core business. Take the pharmacy industry for example. Before the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme went online, pharmacists had to worry about a whole lot of administrative work in billing and claims processing which consumed a lot of time and resources. Now that these functions have been outsourced to external locations, they are able to focus more on their primary concern, being “patient care”. Outsourcing administrative work in a property management department can allow you to focus more on customer care.
2. Better risk management
In any outsourcing model the partner always supplements the operations of your business with redundancies and back-up mechanisms. Usually, when and employee resigns or goes on maternity leave, there is a mad scramble (and usually expensive recruitment fees) to find a replacement. This can cause disruptions to the customer experience and negatively impact your business.
3. Lower infrastructure costs
Companies that decide to outsource key functions can find that their infrastructure costs are much lower. Consider the cost of IT hardware, telephones, software applications, and even office space that are required for every employee in your business. By outsourcing some functions to key partners, it is possible to significantly lower your investments in these areas.
4. Access to experts
Financial benefits aside, another reason some businesses outsource work is to have processes delivered by teams that have special expertise in the outsourced process. There is no guesswork in the persons experience or adherence to procedures, this is all business as usual in the outsourcing world.
5. Control operating costs and gain operational efficiencies
Outsourcing some functions can also save on “hidden” operational costs like payroll, administrative costs (eg bank charges, printing and stationery), recrutiment fees, energy, and utilities. In fact, outsourcing some business processes can give you some budgetary certainty around ongoing business expenses. Additionally, where businesses outsource to partners who have expertise in a particular area (see “Access to experts”), this can also translate to greater operational efficiencies for your business. For example you can re-direct effort currently spent by employees on non-core activities to activities that enhance your customer’s experience.
As seen in SOLD Magazine: "Welcome to the Property Management Office of the future"
29/01/10 15:16 Filed in: Articles
Samantha McLean, Marketing Manager for Agentplus, has recently had an article published in SOLD magazine entitled “Welcome to the Property Management office of the future”. In this article, she talks about how strategic sourcing can make your business more competitive and how you can use technology to its fullest advantage in your office. Click Here to read the full article. To download a pdf of the article, click here.
Macquarie Bank releases Real Estate Benchmarking Report
13/01/10 12:17 Filed in: Industry
Macquarie Bank has recently released their latest Real Estate Benchmarking Report. This report suggests that 88% of Agencies surveyed are still looking to build their property management businesses either by organically growing them, or through acquisition. They also note that there will be an increase in focus on property management by agencies with some uncertainty due to economic conditions in the sales market. They also suggest, based on these results, that there will be a great deal of attention paid by principals to everything from commission rates to properties managed per staff member and that as a whole the industry will become more competitive.
If you are thinking about growing your rent roll, acquiring a rent roll or even selling your rent roll, take a look at how offices using Agentplus have achieved these goals:
1. Growing your rent roll.
The report states that most property managers are able to manage between 101 - 150 properties. This is a highly arbitrary figure, because how many properties a person can manage depends, well, mostly on the person. It also depends on the sophistication of the systems and processes that are adhered to within the office itself. If your property managers were able to manage more properties (greater income) at the same cost, simple maths means you are now more profitable. Using Agentplus can allow property managers to manage more properties because all of the admin, receipting, trust accounting work is handled by the Agentplus System, your property managers can get on with the process of managing property, growing the rent roll and providing excellent customer service.
2. Acquiring a new rent roll.
If your growth strategy involves purchasing a new rent roll, then you need to put some thought into how you will manage the transition. Is your office able to scale in every way (admin, trust accounting, office space) to cater efficiently to increasing your business in large increments. Using Agentplus can allow you to scale easily again, because the admin, receipting, trust accounting work is handled by the system. Additional property management headcount may be the only additional resource required to manage your acquisition.
3. Selling your rent roll.
According to the survey, only 5% of offices are looking to sell their rent rolls. What is worth some thought here is the fact that well managed rent rolls are more valuable. With Agentplus you can provide detailed history (rent increases, arrears, maintenance, rent reviews, and many many more) that will all inherently add to the value of your rent roll.
To read the full Macquarie report online click here, to find out more about how Agentplus can help you face this highly competitive environment click here.
If you are thinking about growing your rent roll, acquiring a rent roll or even selling your rent roll, take a look at how offices using Agentplus have achieved these goals:
1. Growing your rent roll.
The report states that most property managers are able to manage between 101 - 150 properties. This is a highly arbitrary figure, because how many properties a person can manage depends, well, mostly on the person. It also depends on the sophistication of the systems and processes that are adhered to within the office itself. If your property managers were able to manage more properties (greater income) at the same cost, simple maths means you are now more profitable. Using Agentplus can allow property managers to manage more properties because all of the admin, receipting, trust accounting work is handled by the Agentplus System, your property managers can get on with the process of managing property, growing the rent roll and providing excellent customer service.
2. Acquiring a new rent roll.
If your growth strategy involves purchasing a new rent roll, then you need to put some thought into how you will manage the transition. Is your office able to scale in every way (admin, trust accounting, office space) to cater efficiently to increasing your business in large increments. Using Agentplus can allow you to scale easily again, because the admin, receipting, trust accounting work is handled by the system. Additional property management headcount may be the only additional resource required to manage your acquisition.
3. Selling your rent roll.
According to the survey, only 5% of offices are looking to sell their rent rolls. What is worth some thought here is the fact that well managed rent rolls are more valuable. With Agentplus you can provide detailed history (rent increases, arrears, maintenance, rent reviews, and many many more) that will all inherently add to the value of your rent roll.
To read the full Macquarie report online click here, to find out more about how Agentplus can help you face this highly competitive environment click here.
A new addition to the Agentplus Team
10/12/09 08:01 Filed in: People
Agentplus has recently welcomed Samantha McLean, previously with Corum Real Estate Services, to the team in the capacity of Sales and Marketing Manager.
When asked why she made the move to Agentplus, Samantha said, “I am really enthusiastic about this service. During my time at Corum, I saw so many property managers struggle with payments and other administrative tasks like receipting, arrears and reconciling their trust account. The Agentplus combination of software and services is exactly what is needed because it leaves property managers to be property managers and the rest is delivered by the experts. I am really excited to be involved in a new strategic sourcing platform for the property management industry which can definitely lead to increased efficiency and profitability for owners.”
Based in Sydney, (but travelling often), Sam has been involved in the Property Management Industry for some time now, writing articles for SOLD magazine and speaking at industry events. If you would like a demonstration or more information about Agentplus, interested persons should contact Sam on 0414 509 007.
When asked why she made the move to Agentplus, Samantha said, “I am really enthusiastic about this service. During my time at Corum, I saw so many property managers struggle with payments and other administrative tasks like receipting, arrears and reconciling their trust account. The Agentplus combination of software and services is exactly what is needed because it leaves property managers to be property managers and the rest is delivered by the experts. I am really excited to be involved in a new strategic sourcing platform for the property management industry which can definitely lead to increased efficiency and profitability for owners.”
Based in Sydney, (but travelling often), Sam has been involved in the Property Management Industry for some time now, writing articles for SOLD magazine and speaking at industry events. If you would like a demonstration or more information about Agentplus, interested persons should contact Sam on 0414 509 007.