Five Ways to Create a Powerful Spend Management Program

When revenue management gets more scrutinized during shifts in market cycles (such as is the case now in the apartment industry), focus on expenses becomes more intense. Offsetting deficits of dollars coming in can, in many cases, be achieved by juggling the dollars going out. That seems to be top of mind for many stakeholders, considering that the industry has normalized from a rapid growth cycle in recent years. Since the third quarter of 2015, the nation’s apartment market has experienced a general decline in rent growth, only just recently showing signs of improvement. In some markets, concessions are being offered to fill apartments. Lindsey Cade, senior director of product marketing for RealPage, says clients are getting more serious about spend management and how it can fill the gap when revenue isn’t as flush. “There are a few things in 2018 that we’ve heard over and over again, and we expect we’ll hear in 2019,” she said. “One is increased focus on expense management. It’s not how much can we increase rent year over year. It’s about how we can bring expenses down.” Spend management not without challenges Monitoring spending is the sure-fire way to get expenses under control. But that is not without its challenges. Industry pros say a spend management program often fails because of bad habits, lack of budget controls, cracks in approval processes and increased risk from non-credentialed vendors. Companies without a spend management solution typically bear the burden of manual processes and sorting through stacks of paper. “It can be a lot to consider,” RealPage Vice President and General Manager of RealPage Spend Management Sara Jones said in a recent webcast. Jones oversees RealPage’s automated spend management software, which focuses on increasing productivity and efficiencies in purchasing, invoicing and vendor management. RealPage currently has over 4 million manag...