AvidXchange: Manage Your Real Estate in Real Time

Leveraging Information... What if you received 600-750 invoices from dozens of vendors each week for properties scattered across multiple states? How would you orchestrate the hundreds of authorizations required from dozens of managers, each interpreting your company's rules and regulations?

Could you quickly and accurately process these payments manually? No, you could not. You would have to process your invoices electronically. That's what Charles Pooley, Director of Information Services at Ramco-Gershenson Properties (NYSE: RPT), told me recently. Ramco-Gershenson, a REIT, owns 81 shopping centers primarily located in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

Two years ago Ramco-Gershenson implemented AvidXchange's electronic invoice management system. Pooley spent all his "political capital" to promote this change to skeptical colleagues. Now "the finance and operations people love it."

According to Mike Praeger, CEO of AvidXchange, the biggest advantage to electronic processing is not simply eliminating paper, but, more importantly, leveraging information never available in a manual system.

Reporting is vastly improved. Precise cash management is now possible because pending invoices are quantifiable before "hitting the accounting system." Average approval times are reduced. And automated CAM reports are generated complete with invoice backup. No arguments with tenants here.

AvidXchange, which feeds into all popular property management accounting systems, processes invoices from 92,000 vendors per month for 50 enterprise clients, including 15 public REITs. Most importantly, AvidXchange does not interfere with vendor arrangements. Property managers still maintain their personal relationships. According to Praeger, that's absolutely critical to adoption.

Spread the Word... This "Sponsor Profile" Dispatch recognizes AvidXchange as a major supporter of PikeNet. Thank you! (For sponsorship details, please click here.)

Road Warrior Update... Today I'm am in Lokichokio in northern Kenya, close to the Sudan border. (Have your seen The Constant Gardener?) It is just after seven in the evening. It is dark. I have no Internet access. After a vacation break, I will publish the next Dispatch on Tuesday, Nov 29.

-- Peter Pike