Holistic Expense Management

You’re on top of things. You know that utility expenses are one of the largest costs in running your multifamily property, with prices that seem to spike at random. You’ve dealt with the challenge by implementing RUBS to allocate utility costs to your residents who, after all, control consumption. You’ve got your expenses under control. Or do you? Implementing a utility management program is an important step on the road to controlling the expenses on your multifamily property, but it’s only a step. The technologies that make utility management systems function—using sensors to monitor utility consumption, collecting that information in a connected system and processing the data to provide meaningful operational intelligence—can be leveraged to create other cost-saving opportunities. An obvious and oft-discussed extension to your utility management system is to use anomalies identified in utility usage patterns to identify maintenance issues. While there is value to being able to generate a work order to fix a problem before the resident is even aware of its existence, this capability only scratches the surface of what is possible with an intelligent, connected expense management system. Procurement management Suppose that your maintenance technician finds that he needs to replace a leaky shut-off valve. Your expense management system can provide him with a list of approved parts from approved sources. The system can place the order electronically while handling the vendor’s invoice electronically, eliminating paper from the parts-procurement process. Vendor management: What to Consider? A note regarding vendors—your expense management system should put this list under your control, allowing you to funnel your business to the most cost-competitive suppliers. Thus, your expense management system can allow you to save money on the cost of parts on the front end even as it saves you money on invoice processing on...