How to select your property management system supplier

With the development of the Chinese property market, more and more local Property Management companies turn to information technology as a tool to improve service quality and to reduce cost. The selection of a software supplier often proves more challenging than expected, as different categories of vendors promote radically different approaches.

This article compares Siveco (and the bluebee^® facility management solution) to the various types of vendors active in the Chinese market. It is based on the experience accumulated by Siveco in the past 10 years, acting as a consultancy or a software supplier, and by our customers such as Changcheng Property Group or Green Property Management.

Local “property management software” suppliers focus on the administrative part of the business, from customer management to billing and accounting. This reflects the difficulties property companies face to collect fees, a problem especially acute in residential properties. Support for the core business of providing services, especially engineering services from which significant cost savings (energy) and life expectancy improvements (equipment and property life) can be achieved, is not part of the solution proposed by those vendors, who have seldom been faced with such requirements in China. Attempts to develop such software functionality for particularly demanding customers have not been successful, mainly because vendors lack understanding of property management services. This type of vendors is the most common “competitor” for Siveco.

Major ERP suppliers, not specialized in property management, present similar characteristics as local property management software vendors. While less knowledgeable about the property management market, especially its billing and customer management practices, they usually benefit from a larger customer base and better technology, including standard interfaces with facilities management software: Siveco often integrate its solution with the ERP used by its customers.

Software development houses, of which there are many in China, big and small, can offer to develop custom-made software to meet any requirement. Property management companies sometimes turn to such vendors, as they find the pricing attractive. The initial price offered is often only the tip of the iceberg, as costs and delays accumulate, as the client must provide experts and resources to act as designer for the entire solution and the suppliers starts to understand the complexity of the property management business. Similarly, the cost of maintaining and upgrading solutions, as technologies evolve is also enormous, as it is not spread across a large customer base.

Drawing on over 25 years in the maintenance and facility management market in Europe and 10 years in the Chinese market, Siveco launched its software R&D center in Shanghai in 2008, focused on the needs of multisite facilities operators in China. The bluebee^® suite of product focuses on the property management core business of providing services – engineering, maintenance, cleaning, landscaping, security and quality control. bluebee^® is natively mobile, most users connecting to the system with their Android phones or tablet: the system is centered on workers using mobile apps, just like property management itself is centered on workers performing services. The bluebee^® suite only covers core business processes and purposely excludes admin processes, which many local software vendors or ERP software can handle better – to each its own! In the same way that admin-driven suppliers will never become facilities management experts, Siveco will never become expert at office automation (OA), customer relationship management (CRM), billing and accounting (ERP). On the other hand, bluebee^® includes standard connectors to integrate such third-party solutions, as well as other facility systems such as Building Management System (BMS or SCADA).

Many property management companies in China have experienced what is described in this article. Some have spent several years trying to develop additional “core business” functionalities to their admin-focused property management solution. Others have been tempted by cheaper software development contracts. In most case, the system has never been put into use. This contrasts with Siveco successful experience with such leading companies as Changcheng Property Group and Green Property Management.

The practical conclusion is that property management should select a solution to support their core business of delivering quality services – which is what bluebee^® is designed for. They should also select an administrative support solution from the many vendors available, either local property management software vendors or ERP suppliers. The two can be integrated, if needed, using standard connectors.

Tags： FM、bluebee、property management system