Introduction follows pilot that significantly reduced costs and improved renovation management
(Sept. 12, 2011) — RealPage, Inc. (NASDAQ: RP), today announced OpsBid, a fully integrated on demand capital spend management solution for multifamily that completely automates the management of renovations and capital improvements and eliminates inefficiencies associated with paper-based processes.
OpsBid is a full-featured bid management and job cost solution that integrates with the OpsTechnology supplier network and all leading accounting systems. The platform allows a collaborative approach to managing bids, contracts, lien waivers, job cost and transaction documents, in addition to enabling real-time tracking of every transaction against the budget and integration with third-party accounting systems. As a web-based solution, all documents and transactions are available on-demand with 24/7 monitoring in the RealPage data center with backups and redundancy.
“OpsBid will transform how renovations and capital improvements are approached in multifamily,” said Ashley Glover, executive vice president, multifamily solutions for RealPage. “With apartment rents on the rise, property owners are starting to put greater emphasis on capital improvement projects that will add value to their properties. OpsBid offers unprecedented visibility, control, time and cost savings by automating the entire process — starting with supplier selection and bid solicitation. We’ve already seen how this spend management solution is saving customers significant costs in how projects are managed.”
The launch follows a successful pilot program with Berkshire Property Advisors in which the company significantly drove down costs associated with contractors, labor, invoicing and overall project management.
“OpsBid has enabled us to manage projects much more efficiently from start to finish and significantly reduce costs,” said Zach Maggart, vice president of redevelopment for Berkshire. “Integration with RealPage’s OpsTechnology supplier network gives the ability to put bids out to multiple contractors and vendors and transact with them electronically in real time, offering much greater speed and ease. There are definite cost savings from sourcing suppliers and managing bids online. And easy access to historical project information allows us to make more informed decisions about bids and cost projections.
“In fact, just through automated invoicing, we estimate that we are saving $7 to $10 per invoice in labor costs,” Maggart continued. “We’re also seeing labor savings along all the various automated workflows, which has eliminated the need to look for, send or fax paperwork. Because OpsBid manages everything in one location we have much greater collaboration both inside and outside the organization, which has drastically improved the way projects are run.”
OpsBid’s ability to integrate with third-party accounting general ledger and accounts payable systems creates a paperless, automated workflow with no duplicate data entry into multiple systems. Automated control features for expenses also provide notifications to ensure documents are routed correctly for approval. Centralized reporting and user controls let project managers access customized reports with the ability to set parameters on who can access given information.
Strong apartment demand and strong resident retention when leases expire is giving property owners a greater reason to invest in their properties. During the second quarter of 2011, overall U.S. apartment rental revenue increased 2.5 percent, while average occupancy reached 94.3 percent according to results released by RealPage’s MPF Research.
For more information on OpsBid, or to speak with a RealPage executive, please contact Karen Dodge at (972) 820-3718.
About RealPage, Inc. Located in Carrollton, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, RealPage provides on demand (also referred to as “Software-as-a-Service” or “SaaS”) products and services to apartment communities and single family rentals across the United States. Its on demand product lines include OneSite® property management systems that automate the leasing, renting, management, and accounting of conventional, affordable, tax credit, student living, senior living and military housing properties; LeaseStar™ expert managed marketing that enables owners to originate, syndicate, manage and capture leads more effectively and at less overall cost; YieldStar® asset optimization systems that enable owners and managers to optimize rents to achieve the overall highest yield, or combination of rent and occupancy, at each property; Velocity™ billing and utility management services that increase collections and reduce delinquencies; LeasingDesk® risk mitigation systems that are designed to reduce a community’s exposure to risk and liability; OpsTechnology® spend management systems that help owners manage and control operating expenses and Compliance Depot™ vendor management and qualification services to assist a community in managing its compliance vendor program. Supporting this family of SaaS products is a suite of shared cloud services including electronic payments, document management, decision support and learning. RealPage’s MyNewPlace subsidiary is one of the nation’s largest apartment and home rentals websites, offering apartment owners and managers qualified, prospective residents through subscription, pay-per-lead and LeaseMatch pay-per-lease programs. Through its Propertyware subsidiary, RealPage also provides software and services to single-family rentals and low density, centrally-managed multifamily housing. For more information, call 1-87-REALPAGE or visit www.realpage.com.
SOURCE RealPage, Inc.