Part 3 of 3

SAN FRANCISCO—Keeping this focus on the future is critical; it allows you to quickly identify where you currently have issues and where future issues may present themselves. That is according to Rentlytics co-founder and CEO, Justin Alanis. In the first part of this three-part series, we talked about how data will shape the multifamily industry. In part two, we chatted about how business intelligence is changing the decision process, and in today's part three, we talk about how to use data effectively and how to use it to complement a portfolio.

GlobeSt.com: How does a company make sure that they actually use the data and BI effectively?

Justin Alanis: We find that it works best when you set a concrete and detailed plan for the future. Creating an annual financial budget is a good starting point, but it is also really helpful to create a detailed operational strategy by predicting the number of new leases and renewals, rental rates, traffic patterns and conversion ratios, delinquency, occupancy and average vacancy days, etc. Once you set that plan, the tracking becomes much easier. Deviations from the plan stand out, and you can then address them much more quickly. But without knowing what you want to accomplish, it is really hard to monitor the strength of your performance.

GlobeSt.com: How do you make data truly actionable?

Alanis: We focus our efforts on current and future data, such as leasing patterns and renewal results, while using past data to determine cyclicality and trends. Keeping this focus on the future is critical; it allows you to quickly identify where you currently have issues and where future issues may present themselves, and thus allows you to be proactive instead of reactive. Evaluating future metrics--such as renewals, occupancy, revenue, and traffic patterns--is paramount.

GlobeSt.com: Should companies bring in outside data to complement their existing portfolio data? If so, how do they do that?

Alanis: Absolutely. In order to perform comprehensive analysis around property ROI, utilizing data from outside the core property management system is essential. For this reason we at Rentlytics have created a system that can bring data from anywhere into your core dashboards and even create custom dashboards that are tailored to your specific needs.