Of all industries, real estate and property developing are the last that one could associate with computers and software. But, it seems the ‘brick and mortar’ business is increasingly in need of Enterprise Resources Planning solutions than others, given its rapid growth and the pressure developers undergo to design and deliver projects on time.

“In fact, the role software is playing in real estate today is an indication that technology implementation is essential to effectively manage any fast-growing industry,” notes Mr Rahul Chawla, CEO, In4velocity Systems, a Bangalore-based company whose (ERMS) application, In4suite, provides a comprehensive set of solution for property developers.

“For property developing and real estate, smooth flow of information is central in order for it to execute projects on time, effectively manage materials, and run the business in a cost effective manner. Use of software makes way for this which helps all those involved.” Indeed, Enterprise Resource Management System (ERMS) is different from the traditional ERP system. ERP, Mr Chawla says, is an ideal solution when it comes to analysing business and administrative processes – to learn the strength and weaknesses and work out ways of fixing the holes from things gone by.

Whereas, ERMS helps real-time access to information that enables taking decisions that has a bearing on the present.

Connectivity
The ERMS application like In4suite, Mr Chawla points out, establishes interfaces through which all those involved are connected. He says this is critical for the constructors, as all the departments in their organisation need to take on-the-spot decisions based on the information they have.

If a developer, for instance, uses more cement than it is actually required in an area of a specific size, the application would indicate the amount of cement used in excess and point to the possible reasons. What’s more, while it would alert the finance department of the cost of excess cement, it would also inform the purchase department of the possible shortage of materials as a result.

“This way, (property) developers are well-informed in terms of materials spent and cost incurred on materials,” Mr Chawla says.

Automation
As property development and real estate needs to take care of a diverse set of processes – from legal to business management and customer care – it is vital for the system to remain automated.

Mr Chawla says automating the processes is done by enabling the application to glean out the required data to perform each one of them. So, the ERMS application requires just the customer profile to determine the date of payment (EMI’s), the kind of plan he/she has opted for and use the same information for billing and accounting purposes.

“Right from reminding the manager about the collection, SMSing the customer about the payment to checking with the bank if the amount has been credited, the application performs all these activities automatically,” he says.

Dashboards
Indeed, connectivity is made easy through ‘dashboards’.

This allows all those involved in the process-right from managers to the investors-to view the progress of a project by picking data which is more relevant to them.

“It even has interfaces to integrate all the stakeholders in the business right from brokers to suppliers, who are critical to the successful completion of a project and enable them to exchange data by click of the mouse,” Mr Chawla says.

He adds that the ERMS application is provided both as an on-line and as Software as a service model, as each developers understanding and needs are unique.