The challenge
Our client, a global investment management firm, has over 300 individual units as part of a larger asset portfolio. They approached Osborne Clarke Solutions to discuss how we could help them manage their portfolio. They wanted a bespoke online asset management system which would allow all key stakeholders, including the client, asset managers, property managers and Osborne Clarke, to undertake their activities for any given letting in a consistent, transparent and efficient manner across all the individual assets in the portfolio.
Previously, each activity was undertaken in isolation; parties were unclear on who had the next action and delays were frequently encountered. The inefficiencies in the processes resulted in the client wasting valued time and resource when tracking and chasing through actions.
The solution
We designed and developed a bespoke online solution to manage the asset management processes, including all approval processes and execution processes. Our platform enables each user to clearly identify the actions they need to undertake and alerts them when their action is due.
From the client’s perspective, they can access the platform at any time and see the status of each of their letting instructions – from pre-legal instruction with the approval of Heads of Terms with a tenant, through to the legal process and subsequent approval and sign off processes. The senior team and approvers are informed when their approval is required, with the platform providing them with the information they needed to quickly and easily make a decision. This ensured that each stage of the process was smooth, efficient and transparent to all. Furthermore, the solution held all asset data for each unit.
The Osborne Clarke Solutions team took the leading role in setting up initial design led discussions and meetings to map out the client’s processes, understand the areas of pain and come up with the solution. Our attention to detail and desire to understand the client’s internal approval requirements, ensured the solution we created was designed and created for them, rather than forcing them to have to adjust their processes to fit within our platform.
By holding regular and detailed process-mapping discussions and meetings throughout the build process, we ensured the solution was specifically designed to meet the client’s operational needs. In fact, the additional functionality that we embedded within the solution ensured it delivered beyond their expectations.
The results
The client immediately saw significant benefits. Firstly, transparency: all their asset details and active letting instructions are now available in one place. Not only this, all key milestones through the letting processes are visible and assigned to each stakeholder. They no longer had deals that were awaiting approval, but with the approval team having no knowledge of them. Having the ability to identify the status of each letting and the owner of that milestone ensures nothing falls through the gaps – now, everything is clearly captured on the platform.
This streamlined process and transparency feeds into operational efficiency, reducing the time spent tracking down each letting and chasing for updates or actions to be completed. This helped make the client’s end-to-end process more efficient, for them and the other stakeholders involved.
