As the end of financial year (EOFY) celebrations come to an end, realisation sets in that maybe you didn't need to purchase all that stuff from the EOFY sales. Don't regret it, you earned it! July is often a good time to reset and review the books. One area that may need attention is your businesses IT costs.
In conjunction with our profit team, we’ve noticed an upward trend in IT costs within the real estate sector. An average real estate office of ten people will spend approximately $80,000 per year on IT subscriptions.
Leveraging the benefits of technology is critical in this day and age; to develop time efficiencies and to be able to compete in a highly competitive market. However, not all IT costs are equal and perhaps there are areas you should review to ensure your IT spend is working for you.
- Internet and phone - With NBN now becoming more readily available, perhaps it's time to review your internet and phone pricing? Many providers these days offer cloud based phone systems which could potentially cut down your costs.
- Printing - Whether you're printing new lease agreements or a market review document for your open homes, we understand that in-house printing and print rental costs can get out of hand. For our White Family businesses, we have partnered with the market leading print company to provide our businesses a value offering. Just a word of caution - when exiting contracts, you need to consider the breakout cost. Sometimes it’s better to wait before moving to a new print provider. Also, find out if there will be increases year-on-year and see if you can “fix” in for a period of time.
- Real estate portal subscriptions - We all need to advertise our stock for our vendors. However, let’s be honest, some portals provide more leads than others. Review how many genuine leads you’ve received from advertising your properties on various portals and make a call to see if they have provided enough value to warrant your subscription.
- IT providers and hardware - IT companies that look after your businesse's day-to-day IT support needs may not completely understand your future requirements. Often we see our real estate businesses given quotes for excessive IT hardware that is no longer needed. Today there is so much potential using cloud technologies that there are limited needs to have a server in your office.
- IT software subscriptions - Do you still have that graphic design software that you don’t use anymore? Review your day to day subscriptions - do you still need them or can you reduce the subscription level based on your current needs?
If you have any questions about your technology requirements, please feel free to reach out for a discussion. Our interest’s are to ensure your business is profitable and often that means reviewing your bottom line.
