Investing in Tech gives Eris an Edge in Property Management.

Technology has become a competitive advantage for Eris Property Group, a fully integrated property development and services group that provides a range of commercial property skills in the South African and sub-Saharan African markets. For example, by continuously investing in its unique Facilities Management System (FMS), Eris has boosted its property and portfolio management team's efficiency and capabilities, creating real benefits for clients.

"Our new system, which we implemented about a year ago, has given us a host of new features, improved our workflows and added functionality to important areas of our business," says Berenice Devereux, Procurement Manager at Eris. "We have real-time oversight of maintenance spend; we can forecast maintenance requirements; we can track individual asset performance; and we can ensure contractual obligations in respect of performance and spend."

She explains that the Eris Facilities Management System incorporates a host of features, from standard elements like workflows (including work order management, quotes issued/tracking, invoice tracking, vendor notification and contractor performance measurements) to improved functionality in areas like planned preventative maintenance, equipment life cycle management, asset management, checklists and compliance related aspects.

Sufyaan Chiboo, Operation Support at Eris, adds that the system at once provides detailed reporting capabilities per tenant in a building, as well as a holistic overview, which is helpful for tracking trends, problem-solving and making business decisions. For example, he says, it's easy to spot if you're regularly having more problems on a particular floor of a building.

With this system, Eris has an asset register, which allows the company to efficiently and effectively track repair costs to assets, capture asset warranty data and management equipment life cycles. "This also includes an asset management and maintenance process, which has inbuilt audit functionality to ensure accountability," says Devereux.

She adds that it's an automated system that cuts out many previously manually handled, potentially tedious processes (such as sending notifications to contractors if their required documentation has expired), which also eliminates the risk of human error. It also ensures everyone is on the same page. "The software also improves communication throughout a transaction process by continually updating all parties (internal and external) as to status changes, required actions and outcomes of actions," Devereux says. "The software enhances transactional speed, accuracy and compliance across all participants, from landlords to project managers, contractors and finance departments, and reduces reliance on traditional paper-based processes."

Eris continues to expand on the system, exploring ways it can help to optimise the business and benefit clients. Devereux says that future phases will hopefully see Eris clients having access to certain modules of the system.

"We believe that our investments in technology will help us to achieve our property management aims - to increase long-term value while ensuring maximum operating efficiency," she says.

To find out more about Eris Property Management, contact Eris Property Group on 011 775 1000.