Process Customization Leads to Increased Operational Efficiency at Befeler Group

TL;DR

_ too long; didn’t read _

Befeler needed general process standardization company wide. After 6 months of searching for a solution they kept coming back to Nutrient Workflow. No code, PDF Generator, DB Integration, Multiple Languages and Email process launch were key. 6 different use cases already have been automated to date.

About Befeler Group

Befeler Group is a privately held real estate investment firm based in Miami, Florida. The group focuses on acquiring and managing multi-family homes, hotels, and office properties throughout Florida, specializing in purchasing and enhancing well-located assets in urban cores with significant upside potential.

Mark Rosencwaig is the Vice President of Befeler Group. Mark leads the organization’s day-to-day operations, finances, strategy, and technology systems. Mark is responsible for implementing business policies and procedures and dictates the Company’s operational standards. Mark also leads the Company’s Acquisition & Asset Management division, responsible for asset performance, acquisitions, and dispositions.

The Challenge

Befeler needed a system to automate complicated business processes and improve communication between team members. According to Mark, the organization’s biggest challenge was a lack of adherence to standards and procedures, which could have potentially severe consequences in their line of business due to regulatory requirements and the economic cost of errors. According to Mark, “We needed a way to standardize our processes, so our employees really have no choice but to follow the process.”

Prior to Nutrient Workflow, all Internal communications, processes, procedures, and approvals were done via email.

A significant portion of our employee base struggled with providing the correct information or left out important facts. This meant we were constantly asking employees to rewrite emails for clarification, or we’d have to reach out via phone calls.

The whole “process” left everyone frustrated and made our work extremely inefficient.

Why Nutrient Workflow?

After extensive research into numerous platforms, Nutrient Workflow became the obvious choice due to its extensive customization abilities. “We focus heavily on policies and procedures,” said Mark “and some of these procedures are highly custom and complex in nature.”

Ultimately, Mark found several reasons to move forward with Nutrient Workflow:

• Minimal Code knowledge required.

• Ability to document and auto-email PDFs (PDF Generator).

• Database integration.

• The ability to translate every single field to a different language.

• Email Monitors to automatically launch processes based on email content.

“If you can think it; you can automate it!” Mark Rosencwaig, Vice President

Implementation

The team’s process and form design skills have significantly improved following their Nutrient Workflow training sessions to the point where Mark now feels like they have overcome any learning curve for Nutrient Workflow’s more advanced features and customizations. Form and process design have become much more straightforward and the team is able to tap into Nutrient Workflow’s deep set of customization tools.

So far, Mark’s team has been able to “Nutrient Workflow” their processes with little to no issues. Furthermore, Nutrient Workflow’s ability to allow the translation of form fields into different languages was a huge plus for their multilingual staff.
Outside of our corporate office, all of Befeler Group’s field employees have extremely limited English language skills. 

Furthermore, written communication skills varied widely, and parsing key details in communications could be very difficult. 

With Nutrient Workflow, every form/process Befeler has in operation has been translated and translations are revised every quarter to ensure quality.

What They’ve Built

Mark and his analyst have built numerous operational processes that have facilitated and standardized internal communications, approval processes, and financial controls. As a property management company, the processes they have automated have greatly improved the organization’s operational efficiency. These processes include:

• Tenant Verification

• Move-in Approval Process 

• Purchase Order Approval Process 

• Vehicle/Parking Management and Registration Process 

• Tenant Notice Requests

• Rent Comparables Tracking and Analysis

The team is currently working on a utility expense tracking process to granularly control utility expenses and address cost spikes when they occur.

Results

The results have been transformative, despite Mark’s small Nutrient Workflow admin team and while continuing to work their regular jobs.

“We have achieved significant operational efficiencies that would not have been possible without Nutrient Workflow,” according to Mark.

Mark has seen significant improvement in:

• Process completion efficiency (especially approval processes).

• Eliminated miscommunication from the field.

• Visibility of task statuses and progress.

“We have achieved significant operational efficiencies that would not have been possible without Nutrient Workflow.” Mark Rosencwaig, Vice President

What Will hey Nutrient Workflow Next?

Based on their experience with Nutrient Workflow so far, Befeler Group plans to roll out additional automated processes across the Company.

• Utility expense control, Overage tracking & resolutions

• Vendor management/onboarding

• Employee performance evaluations

• Robust AP approval process