When you’re running a business with as many moving parts as a commercial real estate management office, collaboration becomes key to the enduring success of the operation. As your business continues to grow, it’s essential to invest yourself and your office in practices that will foster the collaborative process – not just for you, but for your clients, residents, and contractors as well.
In fact, a fascinating paper recently published by Deloitte University Press reports that, “A focus on innovation, including capturing the benefits of technologies such as advanced analytics, cloud computing, social media, and enterprise mobility, may help drive industry growth during this period of slowed CRE recovery.”
So, how can these tools – especially tools designed to increase collaboration through cloud computing – improve your commercial real estate business?
1. Email as your main source of collaboration is unreliable.
Email, as a business tool, revolutionized communication in the office and beyond, but – as with most modern marvels – it comes with a number of glitches and hiccups. Whether it’s a prospective renter forgetting to “reply all” when they reschedule a showing, a contractor’s email getting advertently moved to the SPAM folder, or forgetting to send important attachments, there’s a host of problems that can arise as quickly as you can hit the send button.
Now, we’d never advocate the elimination of email as your main source of communication. However, Skyline gives you the ability to save conversations, important dates, and more to a single location for easy reference. You’ll never wonder who was assigned to a specific task again, allowing your entire team to work together towards a more productive, more functional business operation.
2. Collaborative filing and cloud storage means never misplacing important documents.
Preparing new marketing collateral, but not sure which version of the text was most recently edited? Maybe the last person to work on the document is out of the office today and not answering his email? With a comprehensive cloud storage strategy, you’ll always have access to essential marketing information.
Skyline improves your collaborative efforts around the office by giving you a central location to store documents, save commentary, and delineate goals. Confusion and delay caused by paper filing systems and non-networked offices can be altogether avoided, giving you an edge as you provide top-notch service to your clients.
3. Maintaining a collaborative approach in the office and on site lays the foundation for an effective, organized commercial real estate operation.
One of the most challenging elements of running a commercial real estate management company is staying organized despite dividing time between the office, existing properties, prospective properties, client’s offices, and more. With all that moving around, it’s easy to cross wires, leaving your co-workers, subordinates, and contractors confused or ill-informed.
With a collaborative tool like Skyline on your side, though, it’s easy to keep things in order no matter where you’re working this afternoon. All you need is your trusty tablet or laptop to manage all of your files. Whether it’s invoice notices, client contracts, or property photos, your entire office can remain abreast of the latest developments – even if you’re away from your desk for the day.
As our world grows, changes, and becomes more reliant on collaborative work techniques and cloud computing, what else can we do to better serve our clients?