Commercial Real Estate Map Search Case Study: Savills Ireland

Ascendix: Before discovering Ascendix Technologies, what challenges did your company face in setting up and searching for data? What were the main difficulties? 

Cormac: Before we came across Ascendix, we had been using a local provider in Ireland. So up to that point, everything had just been sorted in silos of each compartment and stored in Excel files.

There was no sharing of data across departments. And we soon realized that it was based on a platform license and a very low-scale company. We could not tailor it the way we needed to fit across different aims and let teams use it in different ways. Like, we are all a part of one company, but each team operates in very different ways.

That was something we realized very quickly with our provider that we were not going to be able to have a “one size fits for all” of us. We needed something with more scope that is why we came across Ascendix.

Ascendix: Why did you choose Ascendix Technologies?

Cormac: Basically, Ascendix seemed like the best fish. There was a lot of functionality, for example, to be able to search real estate on a map was one of our key requirements.

We just had to draw a circle and could find everything in a radius, that kind of stuff. And there was one of the key things we have been looking for − a comparable database.

So, AscendixRE was by far the clear favorite basing. It was so awesome, really a close second.

Ascendix: What did you lack in the Salesforce General Search?

Cormac: There are a number of things. Certainly, I was looking for comparable data, the best ability to search on a map, and being able to draw on a map, that kind of optionalities.

A huge draw for Ascendix Search is the flexibility to change fields that you search on, put necessary columns quickly as well to be able to put them into PDF or Excel reports, and format those.

There are a lot of benefits to Ascendix Search over normal Salesforce search.

The Payoff

Ascendix: Have all the changes and the introduction of Ascendix Search reflected on your productivity? Did it help you to save money or save more time for calling? Have you measured it?

Cormac: To give an example, a colleague of mine last week was looking for all the shopping centers around Dublin. He was looking for all food and beverage units in shopping centers. So, he was saying that previously it would have taken maybe four hours to go through and look through every Excel file and put the information together. Then check and make sure it was up to date, whereas it took him 10 minutes to do it in Ascendix Search. So that is just one example of something where it has been a massive timesaver.

Ascendix: What are the most useful features/entities for you?

• Real Estate Map Search,
• Advanced Search Options in Salesforce,
• Lease Event,
• Lease Type,
• Market Localities,
• Rental Values.

Ascendix Search Pros:

• Easy Real Estate Map Search and Ability to Draw on a Map,
• Flexibility to Change/Add Fields and Columns,
• Comparable Database,
• Easy Way to Export Reports to Excel/PDF

Ascendix: What other apps from AppExchange did you use to make your work more efficient?

Cormac:  We installed Lightning Sharing. This is something that Chris Peterson (Senior Salesforce Consultant at Ascendix Technologies) recommended for sharing products, I believe you have already created your own solution in Ascendix Search.

We use Tableau to link a shopping center, a floor plan to Ascendix Search. We linked lease information to the floor plan so that people can see. We are still in the process of setting this up.

DatatableFSC was something that we bought for a property management team. Anyone who uses AscendixRE does not use it.

Savill’s Digital Optimization Plans

Ascendix: Considering your experience with Ascendix Technologies and with data readjustment. Are you going to continue with further digital optimization in your company? And if yes, how are you going to do this?

Cormac: I would imagine we will. I guess our goal at the minute is to get everyone up and fully functional on AscendixRE because some teams are a lot further along than others. We have an old legacy system, Microsoft CRM for reporting all our fees and instructions and stuff like that. The idea is that we can get to a point where we record all that information in AscendixRE, and then we do a mass upload it towards the CRM system once a month.

For just creating reports, downloading, and uploading to be in our system. That is something that we are working on to manage.

Key Takeaway

You may see from the story of  Savills Ireland, that flexibility and multi-functionality are the key things in commercial real estate CRM. The effectiveness and simplicity of the right CRM system will be paid off not only in terms of money but also in terms of time that you can dedicate to the business development to stand out from your competitors.

But if you have your own set of requirements for the Salesforce or Dynamics 365 CRM systems and would like to customize them to have a more competitive position on the market, look for a development partner with CRM expertise.

For more than 20 years, we’ve been offering CRM consulting and development solutions for different verticals including commercial real estate, finance, insurance, industrial manufacturing, etc. and will be happy to create you the most cost-effective CRM software.