Preferred Real Estate Investment ("Preferred") focuses on the acquisition, restoration, leasing and property management of existing commercial and industrial real estate. The company has succeeded by developing long-term, personal relationships with its tenants and business partners. However, as Preferred expanded its operations, the company outgrew its disparate systems for managing customers and business functions. Also, accurate information needed to run its business optimally was not accessible. To support its business growth and better serve customers, Preferred elected to revamp its infrastructure with better, more efficient systems.

After evaluating 25 competitive offerings, Preferred invested in Oracle( Real Estate Management, part of the Oracle E-Business Suite. Preferred was seeking a single, integrated offering that would help manage its complex tenant relationships. Although many offerings provided niche functionality, Oracle Real Estate Management supported the entire real estate lifecycle.

"Finding software that supported our entire business - from a "hello" to a move in - was very difficult," said Erik Kolar, president, Preferred Real Estate Investment. "We could buy individual systems in each respective area, but then we'd have to build an infrastructure to make those silos communicate. We chose Oracle because it provided comprehensive functionality across all the respective disciplines and got the senior management team engaged in our daily work processes."

It became clear that an integrated system that leveraged a single source of information was necessary to help deliver a clear and consistent view of Preferred's customers across its many business units. "We have multiple businesses under one roof and as we grew, it was increasingly taxing to share customer information across the company. Oracle will allow us to consolidate and centralize all of our information, enabling our business to run more smoothly and provide customers with timely, accurate information. Ultimately, we think that our investment in Oracle is bringing us one step closer to our goal of increasing tenant retention and keeping occupancy levels high."

Chief among Preferred's requirements was that the new system needed to manage and maintain the complexities of Common Area Maintenance (CAM) charges. Previously, Preferred relied on spreadsheets to calculate CAM expenses. This process was prone to errors, and it became increasingly time consuming and difficult as the company grew. Critical to Preferred's decision was the functionality within Oracle Property Manager to expedite the entire CAM process. Oracle's CAM functionality has the flexibility to model the varied terms resulting from the lease negotiation process.

Relying on Oracle, Preferred also expects to gain much clearer visibility into its financial processes. Having a property management system that is fully integrated with financial applications will enable management to make better decisions based on accurate, reliable information. The company will also be able to improve communication among all stakeholders in the organization including agents, property managers, space planners, lease administrators, financial analysts and, most importantly, tenants.

"Oracle's commitment to the real estate industry was a critical part of our decision and I have no doubt about their ability to help us overcome our challenges," said Kolar. "Oracle is an industry leader and we believe that Oracle Real Estate Management will help Preferred better position itself for growth, and prepare for continued success in the future."

Oracle Property Manager
Oracle Property Manager is part of Oracle's solution for Real Estate Management. For more information, please visit: http://www.oracle.com/solutions/real_estate.

About Oracle
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