Brett-Robinson

Brett-Robinson

Brett-Robinson is the premier real estate and condo management company in the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach regions of Alabama. The company operates 19 individual condo properties, with 2,500 condo units under management. The company also manages approximately 400 “satellite” units, across 60+ facilites throughout the region, on behalf of individual condo owners.

Brett-Robinson had been using the same work order legacy system for the past 17 years. A RFP process was initiated for an enterprise Work Order Management system. Various systems were evaluated, but no product was discovered to meet their needs. The cost and the functionality of other systems could not be justified, until they found Asgard.

Mr. Pat Clay, Director of Maintenance for Brett-Robinson, shares his experiences with the Katana Team and Asgard:

“For years, we had been searching for a CMMS / Work Order Management System that could manage our unique and dynamic business model. The key objective in the selection of a new software system was to find a system that could standardize and consolidate all of our facilities into one application, as well as integrate the various operational departments throughout the organization: front desk, housekeeping, maintenance, facilities, preventative maintenance, and finance/accounting.

In the past, we had to accept the limitations of our previous work order management system, and instituted inefficient policies and procedures as a result of these limitations. We got stuck in the way we used to do things and finally realized there had to be technology that could help automate some of our operational processes and find better ways to manage our inefficiencies. We no longer wanted to work around a system, we wanted a system to work for us!

It was through the implementation of Asgard that we were able to achieve some of the following results:

1. Automated our billing process.
We previously had a dedicated team of four associates that manually transcribed work orders, on a daily basis, into our billing system. The manual transcription of billing information was not only time consuming and expensive, but also required the billing personnel to catch and interpret, on a case by case basis, possible errors in highly customized and complex billing rules. To address and improve this key revenue-producing area for Brett-Robinson, the Katana Team custom-created an automated, rules-driven billing system that produced a much lower risk of error in the owner billing process. These automated billing rules lead to an increased cost efficiency by eliminating the need to review, and make potentially non-standard billing decisions, on virtually ever transaction.

2. Automated our work order management process through the use of Netbooks by our field technicians.
We have improved our customer response times with the use of computers in the field. Our technicians now have access to a computer and can monitor when a work order is created, or assigned to them. Our technicians cover properties over several miles of beachfront; they no longer need to check back into a centralized facilities location to get their work order assignments. They can be mobile throughout the day and focus on customer service, satisfaction and technical efficiency in responding to service calls.

3. Improved the accuracy of our owner statement process.
We developed a standardized and consolidated model task list for all associates to use, at every one of our properties. Mistakes are avoided and the owner statements have never been as well received as they are today.

4. Achieved significant labor cost savings.
The automation and improved efficiencies in our operation allowed for the consolidation of four full time associates. These cost savings paid for the implemenation of the Katana solution.

The Katana Team was not a sales team; the demonstration was provided by the team who eventually configured and implemented our system. The demonstration was specialized for our business, and the Katana Team dedicated time to learn about our operations, and how their product could be customized to fit our dynamic business model.

The relationship we have experienced since we made the decision to implement Asgard has been exceptional. The configuration and onsite implementation went very well and Katana more than exceeded our expectations throughout the entire process. The system has been operational for over four months and the Katana relationship is still the same…they are always receptive to learn more about our operations and customize the product to improve our business.