Happy to be Hosted

Moving to a cloud-bKimMannased commercial property management and accounting platform typically sounds like a daunting transition. Kim Mann, CPA/property controller for Kansas City-based Block Real Estate Services LLC, makes it sound more like a walk in the park.

“Going from self-hosted to hosted was the easiest conversion that I have ever done,” Mann said. “When you have change, people tend to get cranky about it. But I didn’t have any push back.”

And when it came time to flip the switch to the Yardi cloud, the transition was fast and easy.

“I simply sent out the new URL, gave everyone a half day off, and said, do not enter Yardi until tomorrow, and we went back live within 24 hours,” Mann said.

Block Real Estate Services LLC converted to Voyager 7S in June of 2015, and Mann anticipated that the customizations and intricate property structure set-up would complicate the transition. That turned out not to be the case, an impressive feat considering that her team tracks 700 financial entities using Yardi software.

Preparing for the change with extensive testing, Mann also enlisted 12 of the company’s Yardi users to become “champions of the change.” Testing took four weeks, with the entire conversion time frame lasted two months total.

Both of the transitions – a cloud-based platform and use of the new Yardi Commercial Suite, have created enhanced efficiencies and time and cost savings for Block Real Estate Services LLC.

“Going to the cloud freed up a massive server and saved us from having to buy another server, so we did not have to incur that expense. Our IT department loved that,” Mann said.

Use of the Yardi Commercial Suite has changed the way Block Real Estate Services LLC processes invoices, and while the switch to Yardi’s PAYScan for electronic invoice processing required some major adjustments, the end result has been tremendous employee time savings.

“Our AP department is seeing a lot of free time. We are actually thinking about how to repurpose part of their work week. That gives us an employee and a half to do something else,” Mann said. “They can help out in other areas, or they can help me implement new stuff.”

She plans to continue to expand the reach of the Yardi software platform going forward, Mann said at the recent Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference in Anaheim, Calif.

“My eyes have been opened here. There is so much more that we can do.”

Learn more about Block Real Estate Services LLC: http://www.blockllc.com

Learn more about Yardi: http://www.yardi.com/

SHARE POST

Facebook LinkedIN

AUTHOR

Leah Etling is the founding editor of the Balance Sheet and a 12-year Yardi employee who also oversees press releases and social media. An award winning journalist, she holds a master's degree from UC Berkeley and is a native of Santa Barbara County, Yardi's home.

Recent articles

Panel of CRE executives speaking at the NY Executive Summit

CRE leaders on AI adoption, disruption & what’s next

Three CRE executives from Arden, Brookfield and Silverstein shared at the Yardi NY Executive Summit how they're navigating market disruption, tenant experience and AI adoption.

People pointing at investment management screens on a laptop

The real operational cost of reconciliation in investment management

How much of your team's week goes to validating data instead of analyzing it? Discover the operational cost of reconciliation in investment management and how connected workflows reduce it.

Mobile apps for Yardi Senior Living Suite

Stay connected with senior living mobile apps for sales & EHR

Did you know there are mobile apps for Senior CRM and Yardi EHR? Get the latest performance, security and usability improvements.

05 / 20 / 26