Arming Your Family Office With Real-Time KPIs’

  • By zoltan-szakal
  • May 1, 2018
Real-Estate-Investing

Investing in real estate is one of the cornerstones of many wealth management firms and family offices.  As such it goes without saying that real estate investors need robust software to track and report on this asset class, but more on that later.

A research article published by the Manulife Asset Management Group late last year states in part that:

“US commercial real estate has been a rewarding option for investors in recent years, with property prices having more than doubled from their post-financial crisis low in 2009.  Since then, the asset class has been delivering consistently high returns with relatively low volatility – factors that will likely appeal to investors looking for alternative sources of returns…”

The report goes on to address how the ‘income’ component can act as a cushion from a returns perspective in the event of an economic slowdown as well as how demand and supply factors could cause the sector to diverge from the economic cycle.

The Need For The Right Software Is Now

Participating in this environment requires real time actionable information and this is where the software comes in.  Today’s investors, while still needing to perform the in-depth analysis and due diligence required in order to make wise investment decisions, must have robust software in their overall arsenal of tools.  Unfortunately, too many family offices have outgrown entry level software like QuickBooks, which cannot provide the data they need in a timely manner.  There are times when decisions must be made within a limited time period, or the deal slips away. Key Performance Indicators showing real time data are crucial to staying on top of and potentially ahead, in today’s fluid environment.  What is today’s cash position?  What do we have that can be collateralized? What are our current debt ratios?  These are questions that, at times, need almost immediate answers.  If the information is dated, no decision or worse yet, bad decisions can arise as a result.

Software that can draw data from various sources (both external and internal) and report on it in real time could make the difference between a great new deal and a missed one.  Dashboards, KPI’s and real time multi entity consolidations have become a fundamental requirement in today’s world of data overload within the Wealth Management sector..  The example below is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the informational requirements of today’s CFO’s and CIO’s.

Portfolio-Financial

 

The Bottom Line

Information similar to the above example must be at the decision makers fingertips in order to make agile and informed decisions.  Software that can be purchased at the local stationary supply outlet is not the answer to today’s complex analysis needs (it is astounding how many organizations in this space still relegate their reliance and decision making requirements to this level of software).  It’s time for many to up their game and embrace new software that can easily accommodate today’s essential informational requirements.

If you would like to read more about how to recognize you are outgrowing entry level accounting software, please click here.

Wealth Management