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Slowing down to speed up: a smarter approach to Real Estate ERP implementation
by Tracey Malloy-Pearson, Managing Director, North America at YAVICA
Slowing down to speed up
I once worked for a CEO who made the following statement in a company-wide address about growing and improving the company: “We need to slow down to speed up.” That’s never been more true than in real estate ERP projects.
In a world of instant gratification and short attention spans, everyone wants immediate results. But real transformation – the kind that sticks – takes time. You have to pause, listen, align, plan, execute, and, most of all, support people through the change. That’s what creates clarity. That’s what earns buy-in. That’s what unlocks long-term success.
An ERP implementation isn’t just about tech. It’s about a mindset shift. If you treat it like a checkbox exercise or a short pit stop in your company’s growth journey, you’ll miss the bigger opportunity: to truly evolve how your business works.
Substance over form
So how do you make that kind of change? It’s not just about throwing in a fancy dashboard or tweaking interfaces. It’s about putting in the work to understand what the business actually needs, and then making sure the data – and the system behind it – can support that. It starts by asking the right questions and listening closely to what’s working, what’s not, and what clarity really looks like.
You don’t need another dashboard. You need clarity: clarity that helps you act faster, manage smarter, and make decisions grounded in real-time, trusted data.
That’s the conversation I’ve been having with real estate leaders more and more. I recently worked with two clients facing very different organizational models but the same challenge: their systems weren’t helping them move forward.
At the heart of it all is this truth: real estate ERP implementation isn’t just about technology. It’s about changing the way your business works and bringing your people with you.
Everyone’s trying to maximize value. So why is it so hard?
In real estate, it takes a village – with everyone working toward one shared goal: maximize the value of the asset on behalf of their investors. That requires optimal rents, low vacancy, efficient operations, excellent service, and strategic forecasting.
While the goal is common, the team is diverse – each person has a specific role to play. Asset managers, accountants, property managers, leasing, and operations teams all view the same asset through different lenses. And unless your ERP system is designed to support that level of complexity, you’re going to struggle with fragmented workflows and mismatched data.
Success isn’t about applying a generic solution. It’s about listening, understanding your structure, and building a system that supports how your people actually work.
Real estate ERP implementation requires more than configuration
Here’s the part they don’t always tell you: implementing an ERP system is never just about configuration. It’s not about replicating what you’ve got. It’s about asking: what are you trying to accomplish? And why are things done the way they are today?
When you ask people to shift from a known process – even a broken one – to a new one, there’s resistance. That’s natural. That’s human.
So part of our role is to slow down and ask the right questions. What’s not working? Why is this painful? What are people really afraid of?
Sometimes it feels like a therapy session. But once we understand the human side of the challenge, the path to real transformation becomes much clearer.
Band-aids vs. solutions
A good example of this came from a client who initially asked us for a new invoice format. They wanted to avoid triggering VAT payments before collecting VAT from tenants. On the surface, that seemed like a quick fix.
But once we dug into the issue, we found the real problem was further upstream. Tenant payments were coming in, but the client couldn’t allocate them quickly or accurately. Payments were pooled across properties, and no one could easily tell which charges had been paid on which contracts. Until that was resolved, the cash couldn’t be used – despite technically having it.
Here’s what we did:
- Created a Request for Payment format to reduce early VAT exposure
- Leveraged SKG Services Europe banking functionality (SKG is our solution partner specializing in banking and treasury automation within Microsoft Dynamics 365) to automate cash allocation
- Rethought their collections process to improve visibility, speed, and internal confidence
That’s the shift – from applying a surface-level fix to redesigning the system in a way that actually solves the root problem.
Build for today. But don’t box yourself in tomorrow
Every implementation begins with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) – the essential structure needed to support your business today. But stopping there means you’ll quickly outgrow your setup.
Let’s say your current portfolio is primarily office, but you’re planning to expand into retail or residential. If we don’t account for that future from the beginning, you’ll hit limitations within a year.
That’s why we focus on future-proofing from day one. We work with clients to define:
- Must-haves for go-live
- Nice-to-haves for phase two
- Long-term strategic priorities to bake into the system architecture
The goal isn’t just to go live – it’s to ensure the system can evolve with your business.
The real win? A system that works for your people
So yes, there will be hard conversations. There will be resistance. There will be therapy-style check-ins and a few tough weeks. But there will also be breakthroughs. And a system that actually works for your people – not just IT.
That’s what I love about this work. And that’s why I wouldn’t do it any other way.
Curious how this looks in practice?
Join us at Realcomm 2025, to hear how YAVICA is helping real estate organizations implement Microsoft technology in ways that are practical, scalable, and people-first. I’ll be there sharing more lessons from the front line – and I’d love to connect.
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Manage large amounts of data with company groupings, hierarchal structures and enhanced reporting.
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Loan management
A scalable solution to process, handle and optimise large volumes of debts and commitments in Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Selected Clients
Agchem Manufactoring Corporation
Al Mana Group
AlBabtain
Al-Bawani Ltd. Company
Al-Fardan
Aqarat
ATP
Britomart
CPI Property Group
CTP
DEAS
Emperor Group
Entra
FFG
G City Europe >
Golden Rain Foundation
Goodman
Ilmarinen
INGKA Centres
Kojamo
Kuwait Real Estate Company
Kuwait Real Estate Investment Consortium (KREIC)
Landsec
Melbourne Airport >
Muzzo Group
NEPI Rockcastle
Newsec (Stronghold Invest)
OBOS
Osoul Al Mana Real Estate
Ports North
PUMC
Rockwell Land Corporation
Seaport Development Holdings, LLC.
Sponda
Stenprop/Industrials REIT
Tainui Group Holdings >
Tartu City Government
Tinline (Cephas Management)
Udviklingsselskabet By og Havn
Weerts Group
Willhem
Workspace
Zawaya Real Estate
