Lease administration is a critical procedure in real estate organizations that involves tracking and managing lease agreements between tenants and property owners. However, it can be daunting and time-consuming for leasing agents and real estate professionals responsible for multiple properties with numerous tenants. The dynamic technological improvements have enabled leasing associates and real estate agents to gain an advantage from software solutions to effectively track and optimize areas of the business’s lease portfolios.
Lease administration software solutions help to produce, examine and disseminate leases and relevant documents by providing a centralized database that can record crucial information about the leasing deals. They help business associates to streamline the process, reduce errors, improve accuracy, and achieve compliance. But with numerous lease administration software options available, it can be tough to consider reliable and efficient software that caters to emerging business needs. In this article, we shall discuss some features leasing agents must look for in a lease administration software.
1. Lease Tracking and Data Management
The software must enable enterprises to track and manage leases across their portfolios and extract critical lease data from various lease documents, including financial and non-financial information. Since the manual lease management process can be complex and time-consuming, the lease administration solution must be able to store data about the lease agreement from various tenants. It should then be able to provide critical dates, rent amounts, and key clauses, such as renewal options, termination, and contract expansion options.
2. Customizability and Scalability Function
Leasing businesses’ requirements are rapidly evolving to meet the needs of their customers and enable them to grow their portfolios by targeting new lease opportunities. Organizations should consider a lease administration software that allows the tailoring and customization of reports and crucial lease management information according to the requirements of the enterprise.
The solution must be flexible to meet and adapt to the changing business needs to ensure minimal disruptions and inefficiencies in the lease management process.
3. Lease Accounting and Finance
Enterprises aim towards reduced records redundancy, integrated work systems, and better forecasting and decision-making. The solution should integrate into the current accounting systems and provide accurate lease accounting functionality that follows the latest accounting standards. The software must be able to provide extensive insights into the impact of the leases on the firm’s financial statements and aid in finance tracking, revenue forecasting, and auto-invoicing for the leases to enable simultaneous implementation of accounting processes.
4. Automation and Workflow Management
The software must include automated lease administration features that allow leasing agents to automate essential lease management activities. It aids in increasing corporate productivity and ensuring that critical information such as references, scheduled tasks, future activities, and due dates are not overlooked. The software needs to be aligned with the lease workflows to simplify the process effectively by assisting in lease renewal management, invoice preparation, automated reminders and email alerts, and preparation of contracts.
5. Security and Data Protection
Businesses store sensitive and confidential information about the tenants and the lease properties. Therefore, they must consider a solution having high-level data security measures that comply with industry standards for data protection. The software must provide password protection and data encryption protocols to prevent the risk of data breaches and limit accessibility to third-party or unauthorized individuals or groups. It will also help to adhere to confidentiality and privacy legislations across the globe.
6. Compliance Management
It is crucial to comply with industry standards, legislations, and regulations to prevent disruption of business processes and hefty fines. The lease administration solution must adhere to regulatory compliance requirements such as the FASB, IFRS 16, and ASC 842 and be equipped with advanced features to handle compliance reports, ensure data accuracy, and enable efficient financial reporting to the relevant personnel. It should also be able to detect discrepancies in the system that can pose compliance risks.
7. Automated Alerts and Notification
Leasing agents are always on-the-go and have a tight schedule for their responsibilities. The software solution should update and alert the associate when leases are due for renewal or when important deadlines are approaching. The agent can then efficiently manage all the lease activities, fulfill their daily responsibilities, and have a balanced schedule to cater to all the tenants and prospective clients for the business.
Why opt for a lease administration software?
According to the Global Newswire, the lease administration market is predicted to grow by over $6000 million by 2027. For leasing businesses, this is good news. Lease administration has progressed to critical practice in recent years, and enterprises must comply with the new lease accounting standards. Leasing agents must therefore focus on software that allows them to manage lease activities and contracts via focused tracking and automated workflows in the lease management processes.
At the end of the financial year, leasing agents and real estate professionals aim to reduce their leasing costs by identifying root causes and taking corrective actions.
An effective lease administration software allows enterprises to accommodate global leases and stakeholders in a single and centralized system to enable control of the leasing program. Thus, it is ideal to consider a lease administration software that can inspect the individual lease properties and expenses related to the portfolio and map the owned and leased property for simpler management. Effective analytics in the software is crucial to ensure that the portfolio performance is measured regularly through KPIs and simultaneous reports are prepared to inspect the liabilities, costs, and discrepancies in the data and also for auditing purposes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, opting for the ideal lease administration software is critical as it enables organizations to boost efficiency, improve operations and drive value from the initial investment. The software must provide a comprehensive solution to managing leases effectively, allowing users to set custom email reminders for crucial workflows and helping organizations to improve the communication gap and eliminate any complexities of managing lease agreements. Businesses should choose a solution that offers automation, detailed analytics, integration capabilities, user-friendliness, and robust security features. By considering the above criteria while selecting a lease administration software, businesses can optimize their lease management operations and achieve accuracy and better decision-making.
