The Challenge: Ensuring Excellence in a Complex Operation
With beginnings dating back to the early 1900s, this family-owned real estate company has become a cornerstone of the Southeast’s real estate landscape. Their portfolio boasts over 15 million square feet of retail, industrial, residential, hotel, office, and mixed-use properties. With a mission to create and operate well-conceived, quality projects in prime locations, they have long distinguished themselves as industry leaders known for their integrity and dedication to tenants, partners, and the community.
Despite their well-established position, the company faced challenges with their lease administration processes. Managing the volume and complexity of tenant and property management requests relied on outdated systems, including a shared email inbox and a manual Excel spreadsheet. These systems created inefficiencies and delayed response times, hindering their ability to meet their own high standards of service excellence.
- Cumbersome Communication: A shared email inbox made it difficult to track, prioritize, and assign incoming requests.
- Manual Processes: An Excel-based system required constant updates, leaving room for human error.
- Delayed Responses: Without automation, response times stretched to weeks, creating frustration for both tenants and property managers.
- Lack of Oversight: Managers lacked a centralized tool to monitor and ensure the timely completion of tasks.
Faced with these operational hurdles, the company turned to ThreeWill for a transformative solution.
The Turning Point: A Vision for Modernization
Recognizing the limitations of their current setup, the leadership sought the guidance of ThreeWill to tailor a solution that fit their unique workflows. The goal was clear: create a seamless, efficient process that could handle the demands of their extensive portfolio while maintaining their commitment to excellence. Our team stepped in to deliver a purpose-built Lease Administration Help Desk, leveraging Microsoft’s Power Platform to meet these objectives.
The centerpiece of the system was a mobile-responsive Power App, which revolutionized the submission process for tenant and property management queries. This intuitive app provided a seamless user experience, ensuring that tenants could report issues quickly and efficiently, while staff received all the necessary information to act promptly.
To eliminate bottlenecks and inaccuracies, Power Automate workflows were developed to integrate directly with MRI Software. These workflows automated data retrieval and ensured that every query was enriched with accurate lease and tenant details. This level of integration reduced manual errors and allowed employees to focus on resolution instead of data collection.
A robust SharePoint-based dashboard became the central hub for managers, offering unprecedented visibility into real-time request statuses. With this dashboard, managers could monitor tasks, prioritize urgent issues, and allocate resources efficiently, ensuring that no request fell through the cracks.
Lastly, the system’s scalable infrastructure ensured it could grow alongside the company’s needs. Designed with futureproofing in mind, the solution is mobile-accessible and ready to accommodate additional properties, tenants, or new functionalities as needed.
Real Results: Measurable Improvements in Operations
The deployment of the new help desk system was nothing short of transformative.
For tenants, the improvement was immediately noticeable. Response times, once measured in weeks, were now resolved within hours. The intuitive design of the Power App meant that tenants could submit requests effortlessly, while managers and staff gained the tools to deliver faster, more effective service.
For employees, the new system was a game-changer. Automation eliminated repetitive, manual tasks, freeing them to focus on high-value activities that required their expertise. Staff no longer spent precious time chasing down missing information or updating cumbersome spreadsheets. Instead, they had a streamlined, reliable workflow that improved both efficiency and job satisfaction.
Managers praised the new visibility the system provided. With the SharePoint dashboard, they could track every task in real-time, identify bottlenecks, and ensure accountability across the board. This level of transparency led to better coordination and empowered teams to meet and exceed service-level expectations consistently.
Overall, tenant satisfaction rose as service delivery improved dramatically. The system provided a renewed sense of trust and reliability, strengthening relationships with tenants and setting a new standard for excellence.
Quantifiable Savings: Unlocking Time and Cost Efficiencies
Before implementing the help desk, the company’s legacy systems caused employees to lose approximately one hour of productivity daily due to inefficiencies. With 260 workdays in a year, this equated to 260 hours per employee annually. Using the mean hourly wage of $38.23 for business and financial operations occupations in the real estate industry (source: BLS.gov), the estimated annual savings per employee is $9,939.80.
Assuming 10 employees were directly impacted by these inefficiencies, the total annual cost savings amounts to $99,398. Beyond financial savings, this improvement has allowed employees to focus on higher-value work, further enhancing the organization’s productivity and morale.
ROI Calculation: A Compelling Return on Investment
This project was completed in just three months as part of ThreeWill’s Community Management managed service, where the calculated annual savings of $99,398 demonstrates a 331% ROI within the first year. These figures highlight the financial impact and rapid payback period of investing in tailored technology solutions.
Why This Matters: A Testament to Tailoring Technology
The story of this real estate company highlights the transformative power of purpose-built solutions. Customization is not just about addressing a problem—it’s about unlocking potential and driving excellence. By tailoring the Lease Administration Help Desk to the company’s specific needs, ThreeWill enabled them to overcome long-standing inefficiencies while positioning them for future growth.
Custom technology solutions like this ensure that businesses can operate at their best. For this client, it meant replacing outdated processes with streamlined workflows, turning operational challenges into opportunities for enhanced service delivery. The result is a more agile organization that can confidently meet the needs of tenants, partners, and the broader community.
This case also underscores the broader value of a trusted partnership. ThreeWill’s commitment to understanding the client’s unique challenges and delivering a tailored solution was key to this success. The collaboration didn’t just solve an immediate problem—it laid a foundation for long-term operational excellence.
Looking Ahead: Building on Success
The Lease Administration Help Desk solution is just the beginning. With a modernized approach, the company is now positioned to explore further enhancements, such as predictive analytics and advanced reporting, to stay ahead of the curve in a competitive market.
Conclusion: Transform Your Operations
This case study demonstrates the power of tailored solutions to address complex challenges. If your organization is struggling with similar inefficiencies, we’d love to explore how we can help you streamline operations and achieve your goals.
Contact us to boost productivity in your organization today!
