Commercial real estate management is a daunting task. From invoicing and rent rolls to lease tracking to maintaining updated financial reports, property owners and managers constantly handle huge amounts of information. Many use QuickBooks to help handle things on the accounting side. Is there a way to automate CRE management processes using QuickBooks, too?
In this article, we’ll dive into the ways you can use QuickBooks automations to streamline your processes and reduce your commercial real estate management workload, freeing you to focus on future growth and problem-solving.
This is part 2 of our 4-part series exploring how you can optimize QuickBooks and commercial property management software to meet your business goals. Part 1 dove into lease management using QuickBooks. To learn more, keep an eye out for parts 3 and 4.
What are the Benefits of Automation for CRE?
You may think that automation is unnecessary for your business. Maybe you already have systems that work and feel familiar for your team. But while these systems and workflows may have served you well in the past, it’s time to think about what will serve you best in the future. Automation offers long-term, scalable benefits that keep your team focused and productive even as your business grows and changes.
Accurate Calculations and Data Records
Keeping records and performing calculations manually invites human error. By automating these processes, you ensure that you are always working with accurate, updated numbers. Correct information is crucial for effective budgeting and business planning. In addition, you build trust with tenants and investors when you can easily share reliable information.
Increased Efficiency, Less Wasted Time
Automations also mean that tedious tasks get done on time, every time. When using outdated systems, it’s easy for small, repetitive, but necessary tasks to pile up in the background unnoticed until they become a problem. Using automatic alerts and workflows, you’ll always know exactly when things like invoices, reports, and calculations need to be addressed.
In addition, you can take advantage of automated processes to save you time. Instead of spending hours digging for the information needed for a simple report, set up your QuickBooks to perform it for you. No more time wasted performing tough calculations or sorting data. All you have to do is check the final product and move down your to-do list.
Insights for Growth
With features including automatically generated reports and alerts for potential issues like lease end dates and escalations, you gain increased visibility over your portfolio. Whether you’re concerned about a specific property or are looking for portfolio-wide patterns, automations make it easier to catch issues and spot trends. With additional, targeted information, you’re empowered to build better strategies and share crucial details with partners and investors.
What are the Best Automation Options in QuickBooks?
So how can you achieve all these benefits of automation using QuickBooks? Depending on your specific goals, needs, and budget, there are a variety of options that could be the perfect fit. Be sure to perform thorough analysis to see which choice, or combination of choices, is best for your business.
First, let’s take a look at a few ways to set up automations within QuickBooks itself.
Intuit Assist
Intuit Assist is QuickBook’s useful A.I. feature. You can use it to help you sort through information and to build things like reports, invoices, and tenant communications. Additionally, it can automatically sort and post your transactions to relevant reports, saving you from tedious data entry.
Finally, it can help you analyze your financial data and create strategies based off of it to meet your next business goals. It is important to note that different features may come with different QuickBooks packages.
Workflows and Rule-Based Automation
Workflows are a specific type of automation in QuickBooks. They offer several preset automations for common processes, like automatically sending invoices, as well as customizable options. Workflows are an excellent way to make repetitive tasks much more efficient and accurate by letting the software do the work for you.
Workflows are a type of rule-based automation, which basically tells Quickbooks that if a certain condition happens, then it should perform a certain action. QuickBooks streamlines this process by providing workflows. However, you may be able to work with your IT professionals to implement more unique or customized rule-based automations.
Automating in QuickBooks with Integrated Commercial Property Management Software
The automations QuickBooks offers are an excellent place to start. However, as a commercial property owner or manager, you may find that they don’t cover all of your day-to-day tasks. For automation and efficiency targeted at property management, the best option is commercial property management software.
Strong software options like STRATAFOLIO integrate completely with QuickBooks. This means that all of your data is fully synced between the two platforms and you can still take advantage of QuickBooks automations. In addition, set up tools specifically designed to automate CRE management processes. The best softwares offer A.I. assistance, notifications for key dates, customizable report generation, and automations for complex calculations like common area maintenance (CAM) reconciliation.
Explore STRATAFOLIO’s Automation Solutions
STRATAFOLIO is the best commercial property management software for automated, integrated QuickBooks use. Personalize your setup to make the most of alerts, automated reports and tracking, 1-click CAM reconciliation, and more for your unique business needs. A.I. tools and chat features help you leverage these tools for even better results.
To learn more about why STRATAFOLIO is the solution to help you automate CRE management, schedule a 1:1 demo now.
