To stay competitive in the property management industry, it’s crucial that your systems align with your long-term strategic plan. The most effective way to achieve this is by conducting both a Business Assessment and a System Assessment. These assessments provide valuable insights for strategic decision-making. They serve as invaluable roadmaps to success.
Business Assessment
The primary goal of a Business Assessment is to offer strategic insights to improve business operations, enhance competitive advantage, and achieve financial success. It evaluates business processes to: streamline operations, address pain points, position the company for growth, reduce labor costs, and fulfill operational wish lists.
Key components of Business Assessments include:
- Business Process Analysis: Reviewing key business processes from start to finish
- Manual Efforts Assessment: Identifying opportunities for automation and eliminating duplication of efforts
- Operational Efficiency: Evaluating business processes, system tools, and resource management
- Strategic Alignment: Examining business goals, vision, and adaptability to change
In short, Business Assessments take a broad approach, unlike a System Assessment, which tends to focus more on technology.
System Assessments
A System Assessment is similar to a Business Assessment, but focuses on evaluating the performance, security, and reliability of information technology systems. The goal is to provide recommendations for system improvements including: security enhancements, technology integration, system architecture, hardware upgrades, and IT policies and procedures.
Key components of a System Assessment include:
- Functionality Analysis: Ensuring clients are using system functionality to its fullest potential
- Security: Assessing vulnerabilities and compliance with security standards
- Module Review: Analyzing “nice to have” vs. “must-have” features to make licensing recommendations
- Infrastructure Evaluation: Reviewing software, integrations, and network resources
These assessments often reveal issues such as underutilization of functional features, and overuse of tools like Microsoft Excel and Word for complex processes, which may lack sufficient controls. Our objective is to identify and recommend what needs to be done to ensure your business is as effective as possible.
System Assessments are best used in conjunction with Business Assessments to ensure that systems align with business objectives and strategies.
What’s next?
Once you know what your company needs, you must select your products. An expert like Lynx is aware of available solutions and the best combination of products and services to match your specific requirements.
Internal resistance to change and getting the team on board must be addressed. Project management experts, like the team at Lynx, can assist with this process.
Transforming a company’s use of automation effectively often requires a three-phased, multi-year approach. Lynx is uniquely positioned to support this process, including matching your requirements with offerings from various vendors, including industry leaders like Yardi. We also provide a “Needs-Features Comparison” to ensure your company acquires the best system for its needs.