Choosing WeconnectU

"WeconnectU is more than just software. It's a complete package." - Geoff King, Village Living Properties

With many years of experience in software selection for the corporate environment under his belt, Geoff Kings saw something special in WeconnectU when searching for the right technology solution for Village Living Properties.

"It wasn't just a management system," he says. ''There were a lot of features that resonated with the way Village Living Properties runs their business -interaction with landlords, interaction with tenants."

Geoff also found that the value WeconnectU brings to rental businesses far exceeded that of the other solutions they considered.

"It does all the management stuff, it does all the accounting work, but there are also very nice features within it that make our lives infinitely easer when we're managing our business," he says.

Making the transition

"The WeconnectU staff are phenomenal people, and the culture of the organisation shines through the people that they employ and the way they deal with us." Geoff King, Village Living Properties

Teri and Geoff describe the transition to WeconnectU as relatively easy- far more so than they would have expected.
"I'd say within the first month we were ready to rock and roil," says Teri.

"The training that we got from WeconnectU was very professional," adds Geoff. ''They knew what they were doing, they put it in place, and they guided us through it."

''And we have the wonderful team from WeconnectU backing us up and guiding us along the way," says Teri. 'They're literally just a phone call away. If I don't know what I'm doing, just quickly call in and they are always very helpful."

Business Outcomes

Greater Manageability

Some of the biggest changes Teri and Geoff experienced using WeconnectU included a dramatically lighter administrative load, greater accessibility, and a much more seamless integration between back of house and client-facing roles.

"WeconnectU makes the transition between the physical and the administration so much easier," says Geoff. "Accessibility is important, and also it comes with a whole lot of different templates - lease contracts, addendums - that just make life so much easier. It quite literally is just a push of a button at the end of the day."

WeconnectU's banking capabilities also made a big impact on the business, removing the need for constant double-checking of manual processes thanks to its seamless bank integration and automated payment processes. It also dramatically reduced their risk profile by providing a secure environment in which to operate and administrate all aspects of their business, including - but not limited to - banking, payment processing and allocations.

Auditing, too, became a far simpler prospect.

"The audit process is just sending the auditor a logon," says Geoff. "They can access your information and they can audit whatever transactions they want to do. The reconciliation of the bank accounts is ail there, so from an audit perspective it's actually really simple for an auditor to manage their audit process with WeconnectU."

Quick and easy compliance

"With the new rules and regulations it's very important to stay compliant and up to date with ail the red tape when it comes to estate agents' businesses," says Teri. "WeconnectU definitely assists us in that."

"You can immediately see how compliant you are," says Geoff. "From a compliance perspective WeconnectU is very visual and kind of in-your face. You also pick up immediately if there's something sitting in the bank accounts that shouldn't be there, or that hasn't been reconciled. And you can always follow up on where you are with your properties - there's a lot of good information on the dashboard."

"Not being an admin person, I find WeconnectU quite addictive. I love going on there and seeing everything in one spot and being able to check that everything is just right. I find that amazing." - Teri King, Village Living Properties

Super-charged scalability

"WeconnectU makes our business infinitely more scalable," says Geoff. "It makes it possible for us to grow our business without having to worry about a back office that doesn't work."

Teri agrees, describing the mountains of paperwork and files that used to be required for every client. Now, she has all the necessary information in one place, accessible at the click of a button, enabling her to respond quickly and effectively to client requests without missing an administrative beat, regardless of the size of her rental portfolio.

"I know that I can have all this ad min in place, knowing full well that everything is still going to be controllable." - Teri King, Village Living Properties

Added value

"I definitely feel more valued," says Teri of her experience with clients since adopting WeconnectU. "Clients realise that I'm more hands on."

"I also think the value we get from interacting with WeconnectU is quite important," says Geoff, "because you don't know what you don't know. The more you learn from other professionals in the industry, the more you understand and the better you become."

Geoff describes the learning journey the Village Living Properties has been on since joining WeconnectU as adding huge value to the business, as well as to the service they are able to offer clients.

And as he puts it: service drives profitability. We like to believe we've played a hand in improving that, too.

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