Where software can help

E-marketplaces are becoming popular in multifamily management organizations. These online “stores” give access to thousands of products and equipment that property managers need to run their business. They provide many benefits like:

• Aggregation of purchasing

Raiven offers an online marketplace that aggregates top suppliers and supplies, giving easy access to the routine items that property managers need to stay productive. The smooth platform assembles your preferred sites like Grainger, Office Depot and Graybar, so you have one place to do your shopping.

There is no need to visit multiple sites when you use Raiven Marketplace, and you can add items to your universal shopping cart from multiple suppliers, an added touch of convenience for your purchasing team or person.

This platform also allows your team to create and save shopping lists for repeat orders. You can submit electronic quote requests to suppliers to help streamline your workflow approvals as well.

• Optimization of spend

You may have one or two people that source all of your routine items. The lead maintenance tech is a likely candidate that would do some ordering or administrative personnel. Regardless, you want to make the process of purchasing supplies easy and with no room for rogue spending.

Raiven’s browser extension makes your routine purchases smooth and cost-effective. The extension works in the background when your purchasers are ordering supplies. If employees are searching for items from unapproved suppliers, the browser extension slides in similar products from approved sources and shows how much money can be saved.

This extension stops rogue purchasing in its tracks, which keeps you in compliance.

• Performance tracking

Tracking performance is critical to gauge how well your business is running. Fortunately, with Raiven’s e-procurement platform, tracking spend and financial performance is easy.

Tracking contractor performance is also essential for your business. You want to utilize vendors and suppliers that provide value to your organization and that have proven their worth.

So, it is important to use preferred partners that keep to schedule and help save you money. Raiven provides a cloud-based platform that analyzes contractor performance metrics, provides ratings, and helps take the mess out of contractor selection and hiring.

These are fundamental aspects of the management business, and as you build a robust team and organization, the use of automated software is a no-brainer to further optimize your operations.

Where operational improvements can help

In multifamily management, operational efficiency is a moving target. So, property managers look to streamline operations in every aspect of the business. This requires examining business practices and searching for new ways to improve processes. Let us review a few areas that can be addressed.

Centralized procurement is a strategy that property managers use to control expenses and manage the entire procurement process. Ultimately, the aim is to have one department or location manage all the purchasing decisions within the company.

When done correctly, this allows for several benefits:

• Efficiency improvements by consolidating suppliers in an online platform.
• Strategic sourcing to gain better discounts on routine purchases.
• Easier management of suppliers and vendors.
• Less rogue spending.
• Greater transparency across all business verticals.

Within Raiven’s platform, there is a robust analytical and tracking system. This allows you to get real-time data to make the best decisions for the company. Diving into the data will expose gaps that you can close:

• Look at all purchasing data from all departments and all GL categories. The more data you research, the more informed decisions you can make to improve performance.
• Track performance from all suppliers. Check reports to ensure each supplier, contractor and vendor is upholding their part of the deal. If they are having issues or you notice deficiencies, you can address them immediately.
• Review reports on a regular cadence, either monthly or quarterly. That way, you can stay abreast of any anomalies.

Policies that refuse authorization or reimbursement of rogue purchases

Rogue purchases can hurt NOI. So, as you look for ways to improve operations, put policies in place that prohibit rogue spending and that deny reimbursement for any rogue purchases that have been made. This immediately sends a message to your team that you will not tolerate these habits or behaviors.

In the end, operational improvements make managing the business and team easier, and employees will benefit from a clear and transparent strategy.

Optimize multifamily management procurement practices with Raiven

Refining your procurement strategy is an essential part of growing your multifamily management team. In other words, it will help you save money on supplies, give you the best data available to make informed decisions and ensure that unapproved purchases do not happen.

Tapping into Raiven’s complete solution makes optimizing your procurement strategy simple and streamlined. Reach out today for more information.