While ESG requirements, reporting obligations, and tenant expectations continue to grow, many organizations are still struggling with fragmented data, Excel-based workflows, and manual processes. The challenge isn’t a lack of technology. It is the absence of a clean, centralized data foundation that brings clarity and control to everyday operations.
These questions were also at the heart of the 16th Annual Green and Blue Building Conference in Vienna last November, organized by Ghezzo: Wissen rockt! There, industry experts discussed the real opportunities and limitations of digitalizsation in general, and especially AI, in the built environment. Following a panel discussion on energy transition and real estate industry, Alexander Ghezzo sat down with Martin Schröder, Sales Manager for German-speaking markets at Moderan, to continue the conversation about the core value of digitalization beyond the stage.
In this interview, Martin shares a pragmatic perspective on digitalization in commercial property management. He explains where property managers can achieve quick wins today, why AI is often misunderstood, which international examples are worth paying attention to, and why flexibility, enabled by clean and reliable data, is becoming the new standard for commercial properties.
Adapted from the original German interview.
Alexander Ghezzo (AG): Why does property management struggle so much with digitalization, and where are the real quick wins?
Martin Schröder (MS): The real estate industry is traditionally shaped by long-term contracts, complex processes, and established structures. Many property managers still rely on Excel spreadsheets, paper files, or disconnected legacy software systems. There are two main reasons for this.
First, there is the mindset of “what has worked so far doesn’t need to change.” The real obstacle isn’t missing technology. It is the challenge of changing familiar processes. Digitalization means change, and that requires a willingness to question long-standing habits.
Second, introducing new software is often perceived as time-consuming and expensive. Sometimes that perception is justified, but it doesn’t have to be.
Especially in property management, the situation has become increasingly challenging. Requirements are growing more complex, including ESG, operating cost optimization, and reporting, while margins are under pressure. Many teams are simply overloaded. They face more tasks and more responsibility, but hardly any additional resources. As a result, digitalization is often seen as extra work rather than relief.
And yet, this is exactly where the quick wins lie. A central, transparent, and reliable data foundation makes a noticeable difference in day-to-day work. When all data, from energy certificates to contract deadlines, is digitally recorded and easy to access, decisions can be made faster and on a more solid basis. Instead of wasting time searching for information, property managers have an immediate overview and can focus on what really matters: actively managing their properties.
AG: How do you assess the current AI hype?
MS: Expectations are enormous, as if AI could solve all industry problems at the push of a button. But it’s important to remember that property management is built on contracts, deadlines, and human relationships. These are processes that cannot be handled by algorithms alone.
Another key issue is responsibility. Who is really willing to leave decisions about real estate to an AI whose results are, at best, only partially transparent? In real estate, millions or even billions of dollars are at stake. Even when AI is used for more routine tasks, a human still needs to maintain oversight and make the final call. If an investment fails or a deadline is missed, the liability does not lie with the AI. It lies with the property or asset manager.
That is why we see AI in practice as a supporting tool, not a replacement for human expertise.
From our perspective, AI is most valuable when it takes on clearly defined tasks, such as automatic text recognition in documents. This is where real efficiency gains can be achieved.
But without a clean data foundation, AI is useless. If information is scattered, incomplete, or inaccurate, AI amplifies these problems rather than solving them. That is why our priority is not to use AI at all costs, but to create a structured, centralized, and transparent data landscape. Only on that foundation can AI truly deliver its value.
AG: Which international examples do you find inspiring, and where does Austria stand by comparison?
MS: Estonia is a fascinating example. The country has been operating virtually paperless for around 25 years. This applies to public administration, healthcare, and the real estate sector. Processes that are still often handled with Excel or physical files elsewhere have been fully digital, efficient, and transparent there for years. This approach depends on the right public infrastructure.
In Austria, the picture is different. I would not claim to give a definitive assessment, but my personal impression is that Austria is still at an early stage by comparison. Many property managers continue to rely on Excel spreadsheets and isolated systems. In some areas, over-regulation makes innovation more difficult. Additional bureaucratic layers often make new digital solutions more complex than they need to be.
At the same time, change is clearly underway. Rising costs, more complex tenant requirements, and ESG regulations are putting pressure on companies. As a result, more organizations are starting to seriously engage with digitalization.
AG: In commercial real estate, tenants, spaces, and contracts change rapidly. How can this complexity still be managed?
MS: That is true, especially in commercial real estate. The level of dynamism is enormous and has increased further in recent years. Tenants change more frequently, spaces are reconfigured, and contracts are constantly renegotiated. Anyone working solely with Excel or filing cabinets quickly loses oversight and, with it, control.
The only practical answer to this complexity is a structured, centralized data foundation. When all information about spaces, contracts, and terms is maintained in one place, kept up to date, and accessible at any time, transparency emerges. This allows decision-makers to react quickly to change instead of piecing together incomplete data.
In addition, a digital platform makes it possible to largely automate processes such as deadline management, reporting, and service charge settlements. This significantly reduces administrative effort.
AG: What trends are you currently seeing in the use of commercial space?
MS: We are clearly seeing a trend toward greater flexibility. Traditional long-term leases are losing importance, while shorter terms and more flexible models are becoming more attractive. Many companies no longer want to commit to spaces for ten or fifteen years. Instead, they want to use them in line with their current business needs.
At the same time, a sharing culture is emerging. Coworking spaces, temporary offices, and shared infrastructure are becoming more relevant even in traditional commercial environments. Users increasingly expect spaces to adapt to their needs, not the other way around.
This development will continue to accelerate. Flexibility is becoming the standard, not the exception. Owners and managers who want to remain successful in the long term must respond with modular space concepts, adaptable contracts, and digital support that makes this flexibility possible in the first place. When spaces, leases, deadlines, and costs are brought together in one place, teams can make adjustments without rebuilding entire workflows in Excel.
AG: What truly sets Moderan apart from traditional property management systems?
MS: What distinguishes Moderan starts with the foundation. It is fully cloud-based. While that may sound obvious today, in practice it often is not. Many property managers still work with locally installed software, VPN access, or limited remote solutions. With Moderan, teams can work from anywhere. Updates run automatically, and there are no hidden IT costs for servers, maintenance, or version upgrades.
Another key differentiator is Moderan’s approach as an open platform. Rather than trying to do everything, Moderan acts as a central data and process layer that connects with specialized solutions through integrations such as accounting, CRM, or smart metering systems. This allows organizations to build their own ecosystem instead of choosing between rigid all-in-one tools or disconnected point solutions.
Moderan’s focus is clearly on commercial real estate, especially on SMEs. Many traditional systems are either residential-first or built for large enterprises. Both come with corresponding complexity and implementation effort. Moderan is designed for teams that manage commercial space professionally but do not have a dedicated IT department. This is reflected in intuitive interfaces, a clear logic built around spaces and contracts, and a deliberately low barrier to adoption. Digitalization should feel like relief, not like another major project.
Operating costs are another area where Moderan stands out. In commercial real estate, they are a critical lever for both profitability and tenant satisfaction. Moderan structures cost data clearly, manages allocation keys transparently, and makes the relationships between spaces, contracts, and costs visible. This reduces errors and follow-up questions while building trust internally and externally.
AG: Is Moderan more of an efficiency tool or a strategic management instrument?
MS: It is clearly both, and that is exactly the point. In practice, the value often starts at the operational level and unfolds fully at the strategic level.
In daily work, Moderan initially functions as a strong efficiency tool. There is less Excel, fewer duplicate entries, and a clear structure instead of scattered information. Reports are no longer created under time pressure. They are generated on demand. That alone significantly reduces workload and frees up time.
But efficiency is only the foundation. Once data is complete, clean, and centralized, Moderan becomes a true management instrument. Owners and managers gain portfolio-level visibility into lease terms, tenant structures, vacancies, revenues, and costs. Strategic questions can then be answered based on data rather than intuition.
Many users start with Moderan to regain control of day-to-day operations. They then realize they can manage their portfolios far more strategically than before.
AG: Sustainability only matters when it is measurable. How does Moderan support that?
MS: Sustainability becomes meaningful when it is more than a buzzword and when it is measurable. In commercial real estate, that requires a clean data foundation that shows how consumption, costs, and emissions evolve over time.
In Moderan, operating costs play a central role. This includes CO₂ emissions that can be directly linked to spaces and lease data. The result is transparency and actionable sustainability metrics.
Moderan also offers a renewable energy module that allows electricity from photovoltaic systems or green power contracts to be reported separately. This makes it visible at all times which share of the energy supply is already renewable.
Importantly, Moderan is not a standalone ESG tool that creates a parallel workflow. Sustainability-related data is integrated directly into daily property management. This includes managing certificates and energy performance documents, as well as tracking consumption and emissions. As a result, sustainability becomes a natural part of everyday operations rather than a separate reporting exercise.
Summing Up
Commercial property management is becoming more complex, not less. As ESG requirements, flexible leases, and reporting obligations increase, the need for clarity and control becomes critical. But at the end of the day, meaningful digitalization doesn’t start with hype or tools; instead it works best with clean, centralized data that supports both daily operations and long-term decision-making.
For property owners and managers, the takeaway is clear: those who invest in a solid data foundation today are better equipped to adapt tomorrow. Flexibility, transparency, and strategic control are no longer optional — they are becoming the standard.
Curious how clean, structured data can support your commercial portfolio?
Book a demo to learn more about how Moderan helps property teams move beyond Excel and manage complexity with clarity.
Martin Schröder is Sales Manager for German-speaking markets at Moderan. He works closely with commercial property owners and managers across the DACH region, helping them bring structure, transparency and control to increasingly complex portfolios. At the 16. Green and Blue Building Conference in Vienna, Martin spoke on a panel about the role of the real estate industry in the energy transition.
Alexander Ghezzo has been active in the events industry since 2000 and has established numerous successful conferences and congresses in Austria, with a strong focus on real estate, facility management and industry. His events are regularly covered by leading media outlets such as Kurier, Wohnkrone, Immobilien Fokus, OIZ and TGA. In addition, Alexander is an experienced trainer in presentation and moderation, problem-solving, leadership, as well as specialised areas of marketing and operational optimisation.
]]>
However, if lease managers want to make sure their real estate assets are optimised and compliance with lease terms and regulations is maintained, then effective lease management is imperative. In this blog, we’ll look at the complexities of commercial real estate lease management before looking at 10 ways lease managers can improve their processes.
What is commercial real estate lease management?
Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Lease Management encompasses the processes and strategies used by businesses to effectively manage their commercial real estate leases. This includes lease administration, lease accounting, compliance management, and lease data analysis, among other key aspects. The goal is to streamline lease-related operations and maximise the value of their real estate portfolio.
The importance of effective CRE lease management
The significance of effective lease management cannot be overstated for businesses operating in the commercial real estate sector. It directly impacts cost control, risk mitigation, and overall operational efficiency. Implementing robust lease management practices gives businesses a way to ensure accurate financial reporting, while at the same time helping them minimise lease-related risks. Another benefit is that it can position them to make well-informed strategic decisions regarding their real estate assets.
Understanding the challenges in CRE lease management
CRE lease management presents various challenges that lease managers must navigate to ensure they can effectively administer lease agreements and to optimise real estate assets. The following challenges encompass the complexities of commercial real estate leases and common pain points for lease managers.
The complexities of commercial real estate leases
Commercial real estate leases are often intricate and can involve many terms, conditions, and legal nuances, such as lease duration, rent adjustments, maintenance responsibilities, and clauses related to property improvements. To avoid potential disputes and ensure compliance with the lease terms, it is essential to understand and manage these things correctly.
Commercial real estate lease management requires a comprehensive understanding of lease structures, industry regulations, and the legal implications that could result in any breaches. For instance, negotiating lease terms that align with the business’s operational needs while at the same time complying with legal requirements demands a significant level of expertise. In addition to this, interpreting and implementing lease provisions like rent escalations and common area maintenance charges only adds to the intricacy of lease management.
Common challenges for lease managers
Lease managers frequently encounter various challenges in the management of commercial real estate leases. These may include overcoming hurdles related to lease data accuracy, lease accounting standards, lease compliance management, and the need for comprehensive lease analysis. Additionally, lease portfolio management and abstraction services can pose significant challenges for lease managers.
Lease data accuracy: Maintaining accurate and up-to-date lease data is crucial for effective lease management. However, disparate sources of lease information, complex lease structures, and frequent updates to lease terms can lead to challenges in ensuring data accuracy.
Lease accounting standards: The constantly changing landscape of lease accounting standards has introduced complexities in lease accounting and financial reporting, requiring lease managers to adapt to new guidelines and regulations. This can be seen in cases like the transition to the new lease accounting standard ASC 842 in the United States, or changes to the FRS102 accounting standard in the United Kingdom.
Lease compliance management: Ensuring compliance with lease terms, regulatory requirements, and accounting standards is a critical aspect of lease management in all parts of the world. Managing lease compliance across a diverse portfolio can be demanding and requires well-thought-out processes and stringent controls.
Comprehensive lease analysis: Conducting thorough lease analysis to identify opportunities for cost savings, lease optimisation, and risk mitigation requires a deep understanding of lease terms, as well as the ability to extract legitimate insights from lease data.
Lease portfolio management & abstraction services: Effectively managing a portfolio of leases, including lease abstraction, organisation, and centralised access to lease documents, is incredibly important for streamlined lease administration and decision-making.
Being able to address these challenges is absolutely fundamental to the successful management of commercial real estate leases, as well as the overall optimisation of a business’s real estate portfolio.
10 ways to improve CRE lease management
As we’ve seen, the effective management of CRE leases is essential for maximising the value of real estate assets, while at the same time ensuring compliance with lease terms. Here are ten valuable tips to help you enhance your CRE lease management practices.
- Use lease administration software
- Implement lease accounting standards
- Embrace lease compliance management
- Leverage lease data management
- Conduct in-depth lease analyses
- Step up lease portfolio management
- Look at lease abstraction services
- Incorporate lease management systems
- Optimise your lease audit services
- Embrace technology for efficient lease management
Tip 1: Use lease administration software
Adopting some form of lease administration software can really help to streamline lease management processes. Not only does it centralise lease data, but it helps to automate day-to-day tasks, freeing lease managers to work on what truly matters. At the same time, lease administration software provides deep insights into lease performance, giving lease managers the ability to track important dates, manage business-critical documents, and ensure adherence to lease terms across the entire portfolio.
Tip 2: Implement lease accounting standards
Adhering to lease accounting standards, such as ASC 842 in the United States, is a no-brainer. It is crucial for accurate financial reporting and compliance. These standards and frameworks help lease managers handle many of the complexities associated with their role, ensuring transparency in financial statements, among other things.
Tip 3: Embrace lease compliance management
In some parts of the world, prioritising lease compliance management involves establishing robust processes to monitor and ensure adherence to lease terms, regulatory requirements, and accounting standards. This includes maintaining an up-to-date lease abstract, tracking dates, and proactively addressing compliance issues in order to avoid potential penalties.
Tip 4: Leverage lease data management
Centralising and maintaining clean, accurate lease data is absolutely vital for informed decision-making. Lease data management tools and best practices help make this much more efficient, so businesses can ensure accuracy, completeness, and accessibility for all their lease information.
Tip 5: Conduct an in-depth lease analysis
A thorough lease analysis involves many things, foremost among them is evaluating lease terms, costs, and performance. This helps lease managers identify opportunities for cost savings, risk mitigation, and portfolio optimisation. Carrying out a comprehensive lease analysis gives lease management companies a way to uncover insights, which can then be leveraged to negotiate favourable lease terms, as well as make data-driven decisions.
Tip 6: Step up lease portfolio management
Lease portfolio management includes organising, tracking, and strategically managing a portfolio of leases in order to optimise its performance. There are many ways to enact lease portfolio management processes, but centralising lease documents and maintaining an accurate lease inventory, while at the same time implementing portfolio management best practices, can give businesses the upper hand by enhancing operational efficiency.
Tip 7: Look at lease abstraction services
Outsourced lease abstraction services can help businesses extract and organise critical lease information, such as critical dates, financial obligations, and lease terms. This takes the burden of administration off internal teams, while at the same time facilitating compliance management. Not only that, but it can enable quick access to essential lease details for more fast-paced decision-making.
Tip 8: Incorporate responsive lease management systems
Responsive lease management systems can become an extension of the lease manager when used correctly. Any lease-related inquiries, changes, and issues can be promptly handled by lease managers, with the added bonus of much more efficient communication channels. This can help streamline and standardise processes around client comms, helping lease management companies enhance tenant satisfaction.
Tip 9: Optimise lease audit services
Regular lease audits can be a goldmine. Not only do they help businesses identify and recover potential overpayments, but they also help to ensure lease compliance and enhance cost control. Don’t be afraid to leverage specialised expertise, too. Uncovering financial inaccuracies can help maximise the value of a lease portfolio, paying dividends in the long run.
Tip 10: Embrace tech for efficient lease management
Embracing lease management software can significantly enhance the efficiency and accuracy of lease management processes, making lease administration much easier, improving data accuracy, and affording powerful insights.
Elevate your CRE lease management today
Effective Commercial Real Estate lease management is multifaceted, encompassing a wide range of components such as automation, compliance, strategic analysis, and accurate data.
While these areas might seem beyond the grasp of many lease managers, it’s easier than ever for businesses to enhance their operational efficiency, and in so doing maximise the value of their commercial real estate portfolio.
]]>Within the cooperation, Newsec, a leading player in the property industry uses Moderan software for all its property management processes. By combining Newsec’s industry expertise and vast market presence with Moderan’s state-of-the-art property management software, this partnership promises to deliver unique solutions for their customers, including renowned players like Eften Capital and Capitalica.
Rida Kalvaitienė, Head of Newsec Property Asset Management in the Baltics says that digitalization is a big part of their ongoing dedication to service excellence: “Moderan and Newsec both serve real estate leaders, fostering a spirit and synergy of innovation. It’s also important that Moderan platform provides us with a comprehensive view of our processes across the Baltics. I’m confident that our partnership with Moderan will help us deliver unparalleled value to our customers, enhancing operational efficiency, portfolio value, and sustainability.””
Kristi Hakkaja, the CEO & Co-Founder of Moderan says that most progressive real estate companies trust Moderan: “With our extensive experience in commercial real estate, we can offer the best digital standard for Newsec’s processes. The real estate and property sector is experiencing a transformative period and companies that embrace digitalization can maximize their properties’ potential. We’re beyond excited to be a part of this next chapter of the Baltic real estate scene.”
Newsec is a full-service property house in Northern Europe, providing property management services, facilitating real estate investment transactions, and offering valuation services. With a strong presence in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, Newsec is committed to delivering superior quality and expertise to its clients.
Moderan is the go-to property management solution for commercial real estate owners, specializing in automating lease and utility management, and portfolio reporting, including CO2 calculations for ESG reporting. Moderan’s cutting-edge solutions help optimize property management processes and portfolio performance. Moderan software is used to manage over €6 billion worth of assets in the Baltics and beyond.
]]>Moderan loves to work with real estate managers who come up with interesting and innovative tenant-centric solutions. And we offer them the toolbox to manage even the most complicated CRE portfolios.
- Another customer, Asgaard Property is a mix of traditional offices and modern coworking setup where you can lease either desks or square metres. This offers the most flexible options for their tenants.
Even though all our customers are different and some have very specific needs, the most common Commercial Real Estate management problems are roughly the same for them all. Solving these problems give CRE owners and managers significant gains in revenue and property value.
Here are 4 of the most common issues of CRE lease management.
1. Scattered information
Most CRE owners manage at least 50 leases, but usually hundreds or thousands. Managing the information is tough, reporting even more so, especially if you have hundreds of leases and each of them with very different terms. Often CRE managers are still using Excel and/or some legacy software that no longer matches their day-to-day needs. Their lease information is not centralised and automated. Managing the portfolio takes a lot of manual labour which wastes time and causes errors in the data.
SOLUTION: Moderan keeps all your property and lease information in one place, for everyone. You get an instant real-time overview of the properties. All reports are always up-to-date and only 1 click away. And, you can give each property manager access only to the properties that they manage, while you have an overview of the entire portfolio.
2. Changing space size and vacancies
Managing space size changes and vacancies is one of the key challenges in CRE. The space one tenant occupies can consist of one or several units. And the size of each space can change constantly – in a shopping centre, any new tenant would usually have their space totally rebuilt at the beginning of their lease.
All these changes in spaces need to be automatically reflected in rent and utilities calculations, but even more so in all your portfolio reports. Not only is the space distribution between tenants changing, but the total leasable area of the building would typically change when a new office tenant chooses to rent a whole floor, including the corridor between the cabinets.
SOLUTION: This is the area where Moderan is particularly useful. You can easily manage all spaces, their sizes and their history. All vacancies are highlighted by colour, so you get an instant overview across your portfolio. And you have a history of prior tenants and rent prices for each space.
3. Keeping track of deadlines
In any CRE portfolio, there are always a bunch of deadlines coming up with different spaces. For example insurance requirements, upcoming indexation windows, notice periods for regular contract termination, etc. Missing those deadlines can cost the landlord some serious money.
SOLUTION: Moderan gives you timely reminders and puts you in control of your deadlines. This means both email reminders and a task list of upcoming (and overdue) tasks.
4. Utility calculations
Calculating utilities in Excel can take hours, if not days. You have to take into account all the vacancies, mid-month tenant changes, different contractual exceptions, etc. There’s a high risk of making errors in Excel (see problem 1 in this article) and you might end up with reimbursement claims from the tenants.
SOLUTION: We have built a solution specialised on Commercial Real Estate management, with a standardised setup and a powerful tenant exceptions management tool. You only have to import the readings (or have them integrated with a remote metering system), insert the utility charges and your monthly calculations can be done in a matter of minutes.
Find out more about the topic and watch a live demo of using Moderan software from our webinar.
If you have more questions in detail, feel free to arrange an online meeting with our team lead specialist and we will be happy to answer all your questions. Just click on the button below and book a free online meeting. We speak 6 languages.
Proptech has been a hot topic in real estate for a while now, but in 2020, Covid left an understandable dent to the whole real estate industry. With travel restrictions, lockdowns and working from anywhere shift, the property industry along with proptech companies initially took a hard hit. In 2020, global venture capital in commercial real estate proptech dropped sharply after the pandemic hit by almost 80% compared to 2019. Yet, the sector successfully weathered the test, most of them are seeing a rise in sales and vigorously recruiting new people.
Property management digitization is on fast forward
Moderan Co-founder & CEO Kristi Hakkaja notes: “After the initial shock, the pandemic might even have been a blessing in disguise for property management tech companies. On the one hand, real estate managers needed to work as efficiently as possible to mitigate the situation and keep costs low, on the other hand, the tenants were expecting more professional and flexible service than ever before.” This only ignited the growing hunger for technology.
Even though many companies still use spreadsheets as the primary tool, there are specialized solutions to automate most key processes, i.e. leasing, budgeting and reporting. Yet, many CRE companies are still unsure which solutions could deliver the highest return on investment. Moderan gives them the tools and the high-quality data they need.
Moderan software makes upgrading from Excel and maximizing commercial property revenue easy. It’s focused on the unique needs of commercial property management, offering property and spaces management, as well as the most extensive lease rent-roll tool and automated utility calculations.
Moderan is going strong in 2021
In 2021, Moderan has been going and growing strong – the team has grown by 80% in the past year and they’ve expanded to 4 new markets: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Canada and Hungary. Their software is used to manage over € 3 billion worth of assets with more than 2 million m² of leasable space, 650+ buildings and 10 000+ tenants.
As a nice change that also supports fast expansion, on-site real estate expos and forums are finally back. This year, Moderan has participated in 6 events all over Europe, from EXPO Real 2021 in Munich with nearly 20,000 participants, to our own Commercial Real Estate Management Conference in Tallinn where Moderan was discussing “Concerns and solutions for the introduction of CRE technology”. And across Europe, Moderan was present at the Polis Convention in Düsseldorf, The Baltic Real Estate Leaders (BREL) Forum, Baltic Real Estate Investment Forum & Awards (BREIF), and Prague Property Forum, which all bring together the key players in the region. Good job to all the organizers for managing these great events yet again!
It was also a pleasure to see Moderan customers being recognized for their innovative approaches. On BREIF Awards 2021, recognizing the best projects of the year, Moderan is proud to have been able to support many of the winners and nominees, i.e. Kaamos, VPH and Colliers (for SĀGA Shopping Center).
Moderan’s network of partners and integrations is also growing in leaps and bounds. This year alone they’ve integrated with Standard Books and Visma Horizon (accounting), Siemens Desigo CC, Agatark, Delta E, Fidelix (remote metering), Casavi. Wowflow (facility management) and many more are also on the way.
Kristi Hakkaja says that Moderan is continually hiring and expanding: “We’re growing in all aspects and we are happy to see key players like EFTEN Capital, Capital Mill, Riga Plaza & IAD Investments placing their trust in us. It’s definitely motivating to see that from Baltic top 10 local CRE players, 60% already use Moderan or have started a pilot. Furthermore, working with Slovakia’s largest real estate fund this year has taught us a lot about the specifics of the Central European property market. This all comes to show we’re doing the right thing.”
Looking ahead to 2022 and beyond
In the upcoming years, technological solutions are becoming ever more important. For one thing, environmental requirements are causing a surge in data needs. Over the past years, numerous building certification systems (e.g. LEED or BREEAM) have been established worldwide, aiming to make the building sector more sustainable or future-proof. According to these standards, buildings should not only be planned, constructed and renovated sustainably, but also operated sustainably.
Both publicly listed funds and corporate tenants are striving to be ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) certified. Anyone looking to conduct high-quality environmental analysis, should have started collecting detailed data yesterday. Moderan has provided customers such data collection tools for some time now – as a result, all Moderan users have accumulated detailed data for several years. They’ll have no problem in generating sufficient reports needed for these certifications.
“One of our large corporate tenants requested a 12-month overview of their energy consumption for each meter, which they need to provide for the corporate ESG reporting. They were pleasantly surprised, when I delivered it to their mailbox in less than 20 minutes. This is what Moderan has enabled us,” summarizes Jānis Benfelds from Mūkusala Business Centre the value Moderan generates for complex business centres.
On another environmentally related note, the constant electricity price fluctuations make efficient utility calculations more important than ever. The tenants will expect even more precise metering and utility cost calculations and analysis. Moderan’s powerful utility calculation engine makes monthly utility calculations easier, smarter and faster than ever.
All in all, using the right tools and efficiently utilizing data will help CRE companies work smarter and greener and uncomplicate property management for all parties involved. As Kristi Hakkaja notes: “We’ve seen first hand how real estate companies committing to adopting new technologies have the right mindset and tools to beat competition and turn challenges in their favour. Moderan in looking forward to even bigger appetite for proptech solutions and growth in the upcoming year.”
What Does Property Management Software Do?
Property management software provides an integrated solution for rental property investors and real estate managers to:
- manage
- rental spaces
- tenants contacts
- lease contracts
- utility calculations
- generate financial reports
- analyze their property portfolio overall performance.
It is very important to highlight that there is a major difference between the two types of properties – residential property and commercial property. All-size-fits-all solutions often do not solve the complex processes within commercial property management.
Online property management.
Professional real estate management.
Real property management software nowadays is mostly a cloud/online service, it allows landlords of small or large property portfolios to manage their processes from occupancy overview, utility calculations and exception handling to financial accounting and reporting.
There are various lease software platforms specialized in certain niche situations, such as small portfolios of single family homes, to large mixed commercial portfolios. So how to pick the right fit for you?
Online Real Estate Management Software criteria to consider
For picking the right tool for you, it is essential to explore the features for not only what your portfolio looks like today, but what you expect it to evolve into in the future.
The right property management solution should be designed to fit around the needs of the portfolio, big or small, with old or new buildings and for traditional long-term or flexible lease contracts management.
Will the platform you choose be able to grow with you? If so, is it affordable while you are still in the small portfolio phase? Moderan offers a flexible user-based pricing model that makes it suitable for both a 3.000 m² portfolio with one manager or a 300.000 m² portfolio with a whole dedicated team behind.
Moderan online property management platform today is specializing mainly on commercial and mixed-use property portfolios. We do have some residential property portfolios managed under our platform as part of the portfolio mix. Our strength is to serve commercial property managers, nevertheless.
Who benefits from property management software?
The simple answer is: both sides – landlord and tenants – the end-to-end property property management software enables landlords to effectively manage operations and provide convenience to the tenants.
Property management accounting software
Many universal property management solutions aim to cover both sides of the real estate segment, commercial and residential real estate management. They try to do many things at once – including accounting. It may seem like a very good deal, but there is a BUT …
Often those solutions better fit for residential property management, due the specifics with residential contracts which are usually short term and pretty standard and easy to renew.
In contrast, commercial tenants lease management is complex and features a variety of exceptions and extension options. Only a commercial property manager is likely to understand such leases, and knows how to manage lease contract indexation of the appropriate amount on an annual basis. Right property management software should be able to solve those complex processes connected with commercial lease management contracts.
Therefore Moderan is focused on the CRE management, to be excellent in one main thing. That is: online property management tool for commercial real estate portfolio managers.
What Moderan offers and adds constantly, is the compatibility and integrations with other systems that you are already using for financial management: such as – your current accounting software.
Property management accounting software integration example:
MODERAN integration app for Dynamics 365 Business Central app. The integration is used to exchange data between Moderan and Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Moderan app is meant for a property owner who’s real estate management (contracts, properties, rent-roll and utilities) is in Moderan software, and whose ERP is Business Central (BC).
The integration app is used to exchange data between Moderan and Dynamics 365 Business Central. From Moderan, customer data and real estate rent invoices are imported into Business Central. There they are finalized and sent to customers. Business Central monitors sales invoice payments and sends Moderan customer balance information.
Moderan links each property data with the corresponding landlord company in BC – this way you have a full portfolio overview in Moderan while managing each legal entity as a separate company within your BC database.
- Synchronize your tenant data from Moderan to BC.
- Issue Moderan invoices and book financials in BC.
- Update customer outstanding balance from BC to Moderan.
Moderan property management integrations partners list includes also:
Utility meters/readings automation and calculations. You can have all aggregate data migrated between external, third party property management applications, directly from Moderan.
The growing list of our partners and integrations you can find here – Integrations. You are welcome to suggest us to connect Moderan with other software that you are already using. Contact us via [email protected] and we will surely take a closer look at it.
Moderan have been in the market 5 years and as of today over €3 billion worth of assets, more than 2 million m² of leasable space – 650+ buildings and 8 500+ tenants are managed with Moderan Property Management Software.
If you have more questions in detail, feel free to arrange an online meeting with our team lead specialist and we will be happy to answer all your questions. Just click on the button below and book a free online meeting. We speak 6 languages.
]]>Spreadsheets and old systems no longer cut it. Today, property managers need tools that handle leases, reporting, and communication all in one place. Good software helps you work faster, keep tenants happy, and grow your revenue.
In this guide, we look at some of the best commercial property management tools available. We compare features, pricing, and who each tool is best for—so you can find the right fit for your business.
Real Estate management checklist:
- space changes, unlike residential real estate, commercial spaces are often rebuilt and the space size changes.
- Deadlines, there are always lease deadlines, indexation windows, notice periods, insurance requirements, etc.
- Utility calculations, they need to reflect all the vacancies, exceptions and tenant and space changes.
Keeping track of all these factors with spreadsheets is complicated even with the simplest portfolios. While Excel does what it’s meant to do really well, it certainly has its limits. The lease information is not centralised & automated, which wastes time and causes often costly errors in the data.
Differences between commercial and residential property management
When choosing the best property management software, you’ll notice that they fall into two categories: commercial and residential. There are major differences between the two.
A lease for a residential property is usually short term and pretty standard and easy to renew. In contrast, commercial tenants leases are complex and feature a variety of exceptions and extension options. Only a commercial property manager is likely to understand such leases, know how to manage all the different indexation terms and track various CPI types and periods. Or be able to help, if the tenant wants to end the contract early, which is often costly and will depend on various lock-in and termination clauses.
Proptech – Increasing need for CRE management innovation
Recent hunger for technology is driven by 2 pressures:
|
|
How can property managers evaluate the best commercial property management tools?
Proptech is a hot topic in the commercial real estate industry now, but many questions remain about which products are viable and where proptech can deliver the highest return on investment.
Main development is emerging with property management business process automation, in order to move away from Excel. However spreadsheets are still today used as a primary tool for many key processes in commercial real estate: such as leasing, budgeting, and reporting.
Key points for making decisions, that CRE managers must look at are:
- Features : document management, lease administration, operational data etc.
- Usability : easy or difficult.
- Pricing : starting price point, flexibility of adding users or features etc
- Integrations/ compatibility with other management tools – reports, accounting, utility readings – calculations, invoicing, accounting consolidation, alerts/ reminders.
- Customer support : Email/Help Desk, Knowledge Base, Phone Support.
- Training – In Person, Live Online, Webinars, Documentation, Videos
- Value for Money
The top listed CRE proptech solutions comparison comparable to us:
| Moderan | Yardi Breeze | AppFolio | Buildium | VTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRE | Residential / CRE | Residential / CRE | Residential / CRE | CRE |
| Starting from 48 per month / per user | Starting from 100 per month/ per feature | Starting from 280 per month/ per feature | Starting from 50 per month / per feature | Starting from 20 000 per year / not provided |
| 1-500 users | 1-50 users | 1-500 users | 1-1000 users | 1000+ users |
| Support | Support | Support | Support | Support |
| Email/Help Desk FAQs/Forum Knowledge-Base Phone Support Chat |
Email/Help Desk FAQs/Forum Phone Support Chat |
Email/Help Desk FAQs/Forum Knowledge-Base Phone Support Chat |
Email/Help Desk FAQs/Forum Knowledge-Base Phone Support Chat |
Email/Help Desk FAQs/Forum Knowledge-Base Chat |
| Training | Training | Training | Training | Training |
| In Person Live Online Webinars Documentation Videos |
Live Online Webinars Documentation Videos |
In Person Live Online Webinars Documentation Videos |
Live Online Webinars Documentation Videos |
In Person Live Online Webinars Documentation Videos |
source: capterra.com
| Portfolio / Spaces Management | Contact / Lease contracts Management | Utilities calculations & Exceptions |
| Critical Date Alerts | Reminders | Tenant Tracking |
| Cash Flow Analysis | Document Management | Vacancy Management |
| Activity Dashboard | Commercial Property Management | Ad hoc Reporting, integration with accounting & many more |
Moderan online property management software works best for commercial leases and mixed use portfolios with various types of commercial rental spaces. For the Commercial property owners, commercial property managers, mixed use property portfolio managers, asset managers. Pricing: from 48 per month / per user.
Yardi Breeze Property Management Features
| Credit Check | Tenant Portal | Property Management |
| Online Payments | Tenant Tracking | Residential Properties |
| Tax Management | Vacancy Management | Portfolio Management |
| Accounting | Billing & Invoicing | Cash Flow Analysis & many more |
source: capterra.com
Yardi Breeze is property management software built exclusively for small to midsize businesses. Yardi Breeze offers features such as autocomplete address lookups, data import utility, home screen dashboard, drill-down reporting. Pricing: from 100 per month/ per feature.
AppFolio Property Management Features
| Credit Check | Document Management | Commercial Leases |
| Online Payments | Tenant Tracking | Commercial Property Management |
| Tax Management | Vacancy Management | Billing & Invoicing |
| Accounting | Deal Management | Cash Flow Analysis & many more |
source: capterra.com
AppFolio is a self-service online owner and renter portals, online applications and leases, online payments, built-in screening, maintenance requests, mobile inspections, bulk text messaging, accounting and reporting, and a seamless mobile app experience. Focus on apartments, residential, commercial, council and student property managers. Pricing: from 280 per month/ per feature.
Buildium Property Management Features
| Billing & Invoicing | Commercial Property Management | Maintenance Management |
| Credit Check | Contact Management | Owner Portal |
| Financial Management | Late Fee Calculation | Portfolio Management |
| Insurance Management | Lease Management | Payment Processing & many more |
source: capterra.com
Buildium is a cloud-based property management software that enables managers of residential and association properties to take control of every aspect of their business, whether in the office or fully remote, including online rent. The software covers community associations, student housing, affordable housing and residential properties. Pricing: from 50 per month / per feature.
VTS Property Management Features
| Commercial Property Management | Portfolio Management | Alerts/Notifications |
| Contact Management | Property Database | Cash Flow Analysis |
| Lease Management | Rent Tracking | Vacancy Management |
| Maintenance Management | Tenant Tracking | Document Management & many more |
source: capterra.com
VTS is a CRE leasing and asset management platform. VTS specializes in centralizing critical data and workflows in one place, VTS empowers landlords, property managers, and brokers to better attract, convert and retain their most valuable assets and tenants. Pricing: from 20 000 per year.
If you are still using Excel for CRE management – then the closest answer for an upgrade is clearly Moderan.
We can see there are many property management software options to choose from: some are for scale and pricey, some have robust basics but meant for smaller scale portfolios, some try to cover both sides of the real estate segment, commercial and residential property management and some try to do many things at once.
Moderan has the best benefits for CRE management and we want it to be the best in this one thing – to be the best online management software for commercial real estate portfolio managers. This is one of the most important differences compared to many universal real estate management platforms.
Moderan pricing is user based and not units based, which gives you better value for money. You can start small with a pilot including just one property and scale it, when you see the value to extend it to the full portfolio.
Moderan have been in the market 5 years and as of today over €2 billion worth of assets, more than 1.5 million m² of leasable space – 650+ buildings and 8 500+ tenants managed with Moderan Property Management Software.
Reach out to our team or book your free personal demo, to get a full overview for making decisions if it’s matching your property management needs. Link to our meeting calendar you can find here BOOK A MEETING. We speak 6 languages.
]]>Time to get digital with property management!
Tallinn-based start-up Moderan Solutions is cutting through all the different layers of challenges and making commercial real estate management easy and efficient. Moderan was born out of the real-life struggles of managing complex commercial properties. The software offers a flexible toolbox for property management, lease rent-roll, and automated utility calculations.
The toolbox should fit the portfolio, not vice versa
You might think that specialized software is only meant for the really big or very hip and trendy real estate companies managing a vibrant portfolio of ever-changing pop-up lease spaces and other trendsetting rentals. But all commercial real estate owners face the same challenges:
- space changes — unlike residential real estate, commercial spaces are often rebuilt and the space size changes;
- deadlines — there are always lease deadlines, indexation windows, notice periods, insurance requirements, etc. coming up;
- utility calculations — they need to reflect all the vacancies, exceptions and tenant and space changes.
Keeping track of all these factors with spreadsheets is complicated even with the simplest portfolios. While Excel property management does what it’s meant to do really well, it certainly has its limits. The lease information is not centralized and automated, which wastes time and causes — often costly — errors in the data. And utilities calculation in a refurbished building is oftentimes a mess only few people can dig themselves through.
The right property management software should be designed to fit around the needs of the portfolio — any portfolio — big or small, with old or new buildings, traditional long-term or flexible leases.
Moderan — the key to portfolio data integrity
Moderan aggregates all the property and lease information and makes it work for the owner, not the other way around. It gives you one standardized yet flexible environment to see and manage all properties in one place and track deadlines automatically. For utilities, you only have to import the readings, add utility bills and your monthly calculation can be done in a matter of minutes.
All in all, it gives comprehensive transparency and integrity throughout the property and lease management process. This saves time and money, helps manage properties smarter, and maximize your property revenue.
Moderan property management software works best for commercial leases and mixed use portfolios with various types of rental spaces. A flexible user-based pricing model makes it suitable for both a 300 m² portfolio with one manager and a 300 000 m² portfolio with a whole specialized team.
Are you ready to bring transparency and peace of mind to your portfolio management? Ask for a personalized free Demo and find out more about Moderan:
Book a demo
]]>- Rent indexations
- Early termination options
- Negotiation windows for regular contract termination
- Expiring tenant insurance obligations or guarantee letters
Keeping track of all those deadlines and many more is a challenge on its own. And while it might not seem like a big deal, the underlying stakes can actually end up being pretty high – managing deadlines directly affects your risks, revenue and property value.
RISKS – if tenant misses a deadline, it can become a responsibility for the landlord
Many deadlines are the responsibility of the tenant. But if they do not take care of these, they may become the landlord’s responsibility. In many high-risk retail or industrial spaces (restaurants, chemicals retailers, manufacturing), the tenant is obliged to maintain valid insurance to cover for the potential additional risks. Also, some tenants choose to replace their lease deposits with guarantee letters from banks and parent companies. Both of these have expiry dates that often arrive before the end of the rental period.
For example, if a restaurant’s insurance has expired and there happens to be a fire in the kitchen, the damages for the owner and neighbouring tenants can be significant. Landlord’s own property insurance might not cover all of these costs, depending on the circumstances of the event. And that is the reason the tenant is also expected to have liability insurance for situations like these. The restaurant should cover the extra expenses, but if the insurance has expired, there might be nothing left to take.
That is why it is in the interests of the landlord to track these deadlines and make sure their tenants’ insurances and guarantee letters are always valid.
REVENUE – missing rent indexations can compound quickly
The importance of rent indexations is often overlooked. According to most commercial lease contracts, indexations can only be done in a certain time window each year. If you miss that window, you’ve usually missed indexation for that year. Of course, you’ll have the next opportunity next year but meanwhile, the revenue increase you were expecting from the tenant’s lease on the year you missed indexation, will still be lost.
Furthermore, there are always limits on how much you can index rent. This means that you cannot recover last year’s missed indexation by simply doubling the indexation the following year. Consequently, the revenue loss for 1 missed indexation only accumulates over a longer period of time. That’s the beauty (and power) of compound interest.
PROPERTY VALUE – depends directly on the lease revenue and risk factors
And finally, your total annual lease revenue is the key component of your property value (as a rule of thumb 10-20x annual lease revenue). This means that if you lose 100 euros per month per one contract indexation, you can lose 18K immediately on your property value.
Another component is the aforementioned risk. If you have high-risk tenants and these risks aren’t mitigated properly, your property value can take a serious hit.
That’s why it’s so important to stay on top of your property management deadlines. Missing a deadline here and there may seem like no big deal, but don’t be fooled. Poor deadline management can take a toll on your current revenue, portfolio value in general and future prospects.
Managing deadlines was actually the first challenge Moderan started out solving for property owners and managers 5 years ago. This is the most common place where property owners’ revenue is leaking, yet one of the easiest to solve with modern software tools (but not with Excel).
Moderan gives you timely reminders of all upcoming deadlines both via email and as a tasklist overview. The tasklist also includes overdue tasks to make sure you are always aware of your potential risks when some deadline has gone unattended.
Moderan puts you in control of your property management deadlines, your revenue, and your property value.
———————————-
Do you want to learn about how to improve your deadline management with software?
Watch our video: (and follow the Moderan YouTube channel to stay up-to-date)
]]>
We use the term “utilities costs” (also called “ancillary costs”, if we want to be technically correct) to refer to the costs that the tenant has to pay in addition to their monthly rent. These are operational costs related to the use of the rented premises.
There are 2 types of utilities costs
1. Common area maintenance (also known as CAM) and other general costs. These costs are needed in order to maintain the general operational quality of the building and commonly used spaces like corridors, elevators etc. Typical examples here include elevator maintenance, cleaning of common spaces, building security etc.
2. Individual utilities consumption, e.g. electricity, gas, water. These costs are consumed directly by the tenant and nowadays usually measured by meters. Individual consumption can vary a lot depending on the tenant’s business. For example, restaurants and gyms usually have high water consumption, IT-companies and grocery stores have higher electricity consumption, etc.
All in all, there are three common approaches to calculating and invoicing utilities costs. However, these mostly concern CAM and general costs. Individually consumed utilities are almost always metered and billed directly to tenant.
3 different approaches to calculating utilities
- Included in rent – most popular with serviced spaces as well as in Asia.
- Monthly fixed rate agreed for a year and balanced once at the end of the year – a typical standard in German-speaking and other Western European countries
- Monthly calculation and invoicing – a typical standard in Eastern Europe and other countries with a less stable history of commercial relations.
The pros and cons of these approaches
1. Included in rent
Utilities included in rent are used mostly for smaller, predictable premises (offices, especially small ones), where individual utilities consumption is not high. Alternatively, this approach is also used when tenants contract directly with the utilities providers (electricity, water, gas, etc.), which is common practice for major consumers like large warehouses or production companies who have the size to negotiate their own prices.
Pros
- A predictable monthly cost is convenient for the tenants
- Less monthly work for the landlord
Cons
- The landlord takes all the risks, thus has to have a very strong understanding of cost trends and dedicate special attention to achieve efficiency.
2. Monthly fixed cost and annual balancing
This approach typically means that landlord and tenant agree on a fixed monthly rate for utilities for a period of one year. The landlord makes a balancing calculation after the year is over and, based on the results, a new monthly rate is agreed for the following year.
Monthly fixed utilities pricing and annual balancing is pretty much the standard for residential properties in Germany. However, it requires a tradition of longer leases and a stable economic environment. Both the tenant and the landlord must be able to trust each other with some of their money for a long period of time (often more than 1 year).
From the accounting perspective, however, it is a pain. Both parties have to keep an estimated reserve to cover potential excess cost. For example, in Germany, the balancing is sometimes done 11-12 months after the year ends, which means you may be getting an extra invoice in December for previous year’s costs. As a business, you would normally want to end your financial year accounting no later than 6 months after the end of the business year.
Pros
- Less work month-to-month
- Predictable for a year
Cons
- Recalculations stretch over multiple years, making accounting more complicated
- Inconvenient for short leases with surprise bills long after the lease has terminated.
3. Monthly calculation and invoicing
Monthly utilities calculations and invoicing may take more work each month, but gives a very clear relationship and accounting for both parties. It used to take a lot of time and effort when things were done on paper and in Excel. That’s why Western Europe transitioned to monthly fixed cost and annual balancing. This was also motivated by longer lease terms and stable economic environment where the parties to the lease did not have to worry about the counterpart being able to fill their responsibilities months after the end of the contract.
Pros
- Transparent and clear
- No long-term commitment required
Cons
- Without proper tools, may take more work monthly
- May be difficult to adopt if the monthly fixed rate has become standard.
Common practices for calculating utilities always depend on many factors and finding the right solution is a balancing act. Even though monthly calculations are the clearest and most flexible way to go for all parties, it used to be burdensome for the landlord. That’s why long leases, monthly fixed cost and annual balancing tended to be the norm in economically stable countries.
Today, however, leases are getting shorter all over the world again, and both tenants and landlords value flexibility. That’s why it might be a good idea to switch to monthly utilities calculations even in countries where it hasn’t been a common practice. With modern automation tools like Moderan, monthly calculation and invoicing is no longer the headache it used to be.
Moderan makes monthly utilities calculations easier and faster than ever. You only have to insert the charges by the service providers, import the meter readings and review the results. This can be done in a matter of minutes even for larger properties. This way your accounting practices are always transparent and your cash flow is well managed. In the changing real estate market, digital partners help you meet the tenants’ expectations for flexibility.
———————————-
Do you want to learn about how to automate the complexity in CRE utilities management?
Watch our video: (and follow the Moderan YouTube channel to stay up-to-date)