This is part of a three-blog series from Daniel Russo, CEO Building Engines & JLL Property Management Technology.
Take out your phone and see how many apps you have that get you through your workday. I’m willing to bet it’s more than you think – and definitely more than you need to be successful.
This has become all too familiar in my time leading Building Engines: constantly bouncing between different systems—one for work orders, another for vendor management, a third for tenant communications, separate ones for maintenance scheduling, utility tracking, and visitor management. The list went on.
The worst part is when you actually need information, it takes days to pull a performance report from all these different systems to create just a basic overview.
The complex world of property management
The amount of different operational needs of the property management lifecycle is staggering. Here are just some of the different aspects that property managers need to keep their eyes on:
- Accounting, bookkeeping, and tax filing
- Tenant receivables (AR) collection & banking: Ensuring timely and accurate rent and fee collection
- Vendor payables (AP) procurement management: Optimizing vendor relationships, managing contracts, and streamlining payment processes
- Tenant services and issue resolution: Providing prompt and efficient resolution of tenant requests and work orders
- Building and equipment maintenance: Proactive maintenance of the building’s infrastructure, including HVAC, electrical systems, plumbing, landscaping, and more
- Risk mitigation: Implementing robust risk mitigation strategies, including insurance verification, building incident management, and compliance with safety regulations
- Building amenity monetization and management: Effectively managing and monetizing building amenities, such as conference rooms, fitness centers, and after-hours HVAC
- Visitor management & security services
- Document management: Maintaining organized and easily accessible records of all property-related documents, including leases, floor plans, invoices & purchase orders, and more
- Sustainability/ESG programs: Implementing and tracking sustainability initiatives, such as energy efficiency upgrades, waste reduction programs, and green building certifications
- Capital planning and improvement programs: Planning and executing capital improvement projects, such as building renovations, building-system upgrades
- Reporting and BI: Generating comprehensive reports and business intelligence insights on financial and operational performance
Seems like a lot to keep straight, right? Now think about doing that work in a separate tool for each individual challenge, and a lot of owners use different tools for the same task across their portfolio. That is a deeply inefficient way to get work done, leaving time and money on the table for property managers.
Doing it all-in-one with Prism
When we launched our Prism platform a few years ago, we started with a simple question: What if property teams didn’t have to jump between different apps to get their work done?
At Building Engines, we’re focused on serving all these use cases to create something better than the sum of its parts, by being able to do it all in one platform. Prism’s modules align with your core operational needs and can transform how you manage your commercial properties.
Rather than creating separate tools for each function, we’ve focused on creating a unified environment where all these critical property management activities can happen seamlessly:
- Tenant services: With our Work Order module, Prism empowers tenants to easily submit service requests through a user-friendly tenant portal or mobile app. The system automatically routes requests to the appropriate personnel and tracks the progress of each request until it is resolved.
- Vendor management: Streamline the entire vendor management process, from onboarding new vendors to managing contracts and processing invoices.
- Accounting integrations: Prism’s robust accounting integrations and open API infrastructure allow for seamless data exchange with the most common accounting software packages.
- Tenant receivables: Combined with a rich suite of integrations, property managers can leverage Prism Work Orders to automate the entire tenant charges process, monetizing numerous services and improving cash flow.
- Building and equipment maintenance: Schedule routine maintenance tasks and track equipment performance with the Preventative Maintenance module, reducing equipment failures and minimizing costly downtime.
- Risk mitigation: Prism provides a comprehensive suite of tools for mitigating risk, including features for managing insurance certificates, tracking building incidents, and scheduling safety inspections.
- Building amenity monetization and management: Tenant Experience, Space Management, and Maintenance Management modules provide a seamless way for tenants to reserve amenities, and for property managers to monitor usage and monetize amenities.
- Visitor management & security services: control your visitors, from pre-registration to check-in and check-out. The system is integrated with access control systems to provide secure access to the building.
- Document management: Prism provides a centralized repository for all property-related documents, including leases, contracts, insurance policies, and building plans.
- Sustainability/ESG programs: Track energy consumption, monitor sustainability initiatives, and help get ESG certifications with the new Utility Analytics module.
- Capital planning and improvement programs: From budgeting and planning to vendor selection and project execution.
- Reporting and analytics: Prism’s Reporting and Analytics module provides customizable dashboards and reports that provide insights into key performance indicators (KPIs).
The future of property management work
What excites me most about the transformation happening in our industry isn’t just the efficiency gains. It’s seeing property professionals getting back to the work they’re passionate about.
When property teams spend less time fighting with technology and more time focusing on building relationships with tenants, improving building performance and driving value for owners, everyone wins. Buildings run better. Tenants are happier. Property managers experience less stress and more job satisfaction.
All of those tools you’re using every day for your work aren’t just a drag—they might reveal your biggest opportunity for transformation.
Join us at Building Engines connect to learn more about how Prism can allow you to do everything you need for property management, in one tool.
