Predictive Analytics And Automation Are Saving CRE Owners Money And Labor
Technology companies have revolutionized CRE and fundamentally altered the way industry professionals conduct business, powering explosive growth from innovative software companies.
Crowdfunding from Fundrise, online lending from RealtyShares, leasing and asset management from VTS and data from Xceligent and CoStar have all commanded media attention and users' dollars for the solutions they provide. Now, Goby has entered the space with a CRE performance tool that streamlines operations and delivers actionable data for asset owners, managers and investors.
In an increasingly virtual age, CRE has been maligned for its reliance on dated media and legacy systems. Spreadsheets represent an improvement from paper from an organizational standpoint, but are often unwieldy and siloed, and not navigable or connected enough to yield key efficiency insights.
As software developers engineer efficient, sector-specific alternatives to handle information, CRE companies that adopt them are realizing significant cost savings. The next evolutionary step for document-reliant industries like CRE comes with the cloud, which has permitted the digitization, sharing and machine interpretation of essential contracts, correspondences and financial statements.
Goby designed invoice and utility bill automation to simplify the workflow of CRE finances, meaning teams can liberate from labor-intensive, error-prone manual data entry and save a week’s worth of work. Goby aggregates building and portfolio data, including energy, water, waste and any other invoice performance in a single, cloud-based, remotely accessible hub.
Once data coverage is achieved, owners and operators of real estate assets can harness Goby’s data visualizations to reveal actionable opportunities for cost savings. For example, monthly and annual actual costs can be compared to their projections and budgets, which lets owners identify outliers and opportunities for improvement.
One key feature of the module is its robust validation engine, which flags potential errors on the utility side while identifying any anomalous activity in the property or portfolio. Spikes in consumption trigger alerts, so stakeholders can take remedial and preventive steps or rectify errors with the provider.
Another benefit is Goby’s immediacy, as bills are pushed to Goby as soon as they become available. The tool cuts processing time and helps users avoid late fees.
Portfolio managers are often cognizant of on-site energy usage, and corporations are increasingly committing to environmental stewardship. By sharing data with building occupants, a property manager can help motivate and empower them to reduce energy use. Widely recognized, objective metrics like Energy Star provide a great barometer to monitor usage and track progress. Goby uses this same consumption data to reveal opportunities for sustainability reporting and certifications at the building and portfolio level.
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