Eight Meaningful Ways Nexus AP & Payment Automation Saves Time and Money for Real Estate Companies

Invoice savings

1. Reduce time on invoice capture by 50%

Current state

• AP clerks, especially those who work at commercial real estate companies, often receive thousands of invoices every month. Opening the mail, then sorting, uploading, and coding invoices into the general ledger (GL) eats up a lot of time.
• Property managers for multifamily housing can spend nearly half of their time receiving invoices, including opening and coding them. Consequently, they're taken away from managing residents’ concerns or showing properties.

With Nexus AP automation

• Nexus receives invoices in digital format through API/electronic file transfer from suppliers. As a result, there's no need to scan, index, and code invoices. Everything happens electronically, so every step takes less time.
• Staff - in the field and in corporate - is freed from opening envelopes, sorting invoices, entering them into the GL, and coding them for approval.

2. Reduce time on invoice review and approvals by 40%

Current state

• Invoice review and approval entails passing around paper invoices, chasing people down for signatures, scheduling meetings, and/or going back and forth over email.
• Approvals often create bottlenecks because too few people can approve invoices. There's also no transparency surrounding where the invoice is in the process.

With Nexus AP automation

• Invoices are routed to the right reviewers automatically using preconfigured approval workflows set up in Nexus software. Additionally, all invoices are stored centrally and electronically.
• Approvers receive alerts about action needed, and updates are automatically sent to the appropriate stakeholders when there are delays. Furthermore, AP teams can also batch-approved invoices.

Save time and money on AP payments

3. Reduce time managing payments by 50%

Current state

• Cutting checks manually, getting signatures, and then mailing payments can take 2 full business days every month.

With Nexus AP automation

• Nexus automates every aspect of disbursements. The software pulls funds directly from existing bank accounts, sends electronic notifications to suppliers when payments are sent, and displays payment status and reconciliation information through an online portal.
• AP reviewers can approve or reject all transactions before issuing disbursements.

4. Reduce cost of managing payments by 40%

Current state

• Manual checks are expensive. Bank of America estimates that business checks cost anywhere from $4 to $20 each, with the average being $6. That's a lot of money in labor, paper, printer supplies, postage, envelopes, time, and banking fees for each check.
  • Multiply that by the thousands of invoices real estate businesses process every month, and that's potentially tens of thousands of dollars wasted just on payment activities for the company.

With Nexus AP automation

• When ready, AP teams can use Nexus to pay their vendors by virtual card, ACH, or outsourced check. Many companies can save $2,000+ every month in printer supplies and postage alone. Plus, they can earn rebates on their virtual card spend that can be used to offset any payment licensing fees.

Save time on business administration

5. Reduce reporting time by 90%

Current State

• Real estate reporting takes a long time as data often needs to be pulled from multiple systems or sources and collated manually. This is especially true for CAM reports and bulk invoice reports.

With Nexus AP automation

• Reporting is available with just a few clicks, 24-7. Use filters, date ranges, and other criteria to find the exact data needed.

6. Reduce time communicating with vendors by 75%

Current state

• Most accounting staff spend hours every day fielding phone calls and emails from vendors and property managers inquiring about invoices and payments. It's important to realize they need to handle these inquiries on top of their regular duties.

With Nexus AP automation

• Every invoice is tracked and recorded online. For this reason, it's easy for anyone to find the information they're looking for without contacting the central AP team. Even suppliers can access an online portal, where they can self-serve 24-7. This then helps eliminate phone calls and emails about "Where's my invoice and/or payment?".

• The role-based accounts in the automation tool help companies control the information people see, ensuring that they can only view what's appropriate for them.

Save time and money on procurement

7. Reduce time spent on procurement activities by 70%

Current state

• Purchasing is time-consuming, especially for those who make frequent orders like large multifamily and development/construction companies.
• Companies can spend hours hunting for the best deals on the supplies they need.

With Nexus AP automation

• Purchase orders (POs) get from properties to the AP team much more quickly thanks to automated workflows.
• All procurement information is centralized, making any PO, invoice, or approval easy to find. As a result, PO approval time decreases from one week to one hour or less, in some cases.

8. Reduce over-budget spending by 0.05%

Current state

• The lack of insight and delay in approvals before supplies are purchased can lead to over-budget spending for projects and properties.

• Property managers and other real estate leaders have no visibility into how their spending is aligning (or not) with their budget.

With Nexus AP automation

• The automation platform shows how much has been spent for each budget line item. This means it's easier to track spending and adhere to a budget. Historical reporting even allows customers to track past budgets and actual expenditures, so they can forecast what they need for similar projects in the future.
• Quick approvals mean there’s no surprise spending. Budgets are displayed in real-time for property managers, so they know if they have money left to spend on a project or purchase.

AP automation and payment tools can have immediate effects on the AP team and its workflow, and the long-term effects will ripple out to the whole business. In fact, many real estate companies realize immediate ROI on their AP automation tool as they start saving hundreds of hours right out of the gate.

Nexus is here to help bring AP and payments automation to commercial, multifamily, construction, and other types of real estate companies. And save time and money in the process. View details here.