Cambridge Residential is a fast growing Lettings Agent based in the South of England.  Established in 1997, the business opened with a low volume of properties which were managed using a paper based system.  As the business grew, a database developed, but was only used as an information source with all processes remaining manual.  As volumes of properties grew and legislative complexities increased, Tom Ghibaldan, Director of Cambridge Residential knew that an IT system had to be purchased.

As with many managers of businesses, Tom was concerned at the implications of integrating a new system which would perform a critical role within the company. Specifically, the legislation around Lettings – gas certificates, etc. – meant the business could not withstand things being overlooked. "With the old system, we understood it, even if it was not good, we knew where to find everything" said Tom.  Also, he knew there would be a high investment of time, especially as he had decided to be the figurehead for the company to drive the change forward.

Cambridge Residential is now four months beyond their "go live date". One of the concerns proved accurate in that Tom has dedicated a huge amount of time personally to manage the process and has been training staff himself following the initial training provided by SPA Microsystems.  "Initially there was lots of groaning and hands in heads, but now there are lots of  'eureka' moments and I can see staff smile as they realise that Aspasia has just done something automatically for them" said Tom.  Advice that would be passed on to any other business going through the same process would be to spend a greater time "playing" with dummy data between initial training and going live, just to help build familiarity. However, in terms of his other main concern, this proved to be less founded as even during the high learning curve, fewer things were being missed.

Aspasia is undoubtedly a system that requires time to become fully familiar with, but in the relatively short time that Cambridge has been operating it, benefits are already materialising.  One of the requirements Tom had of any system was the need for greater automation.  With Aspasia, you can go to a property, get the details and a digital photo, input them to the system and then everything else is done – the web site is updated, information is uploaded to portals, the details produced and the property is being marketed from that instant. "We never need to question whether the web site is up to date – we just know it is!"

More specific to the Lettings arena is the client accounting needs and in Tom's words, Aspasia is "second to none.  Contacts (landlords/contractors etc) are all getting paid more promptly which improves relationships, and arrears chasing and tax issues are now much easier to manage." Whilst it is still early days, Tom perceives that the staff to property ratio will drop due to the increased automation and functionality of Aspasia.  He has also noticed that staff are able to spend more time dealing with property management rather than being bogged down in administration, all leading to better customer service. 

One feature of Aspasia is the ability for Landlords to access their accounts through the web site and therefore reduce workload on negotiators. Cambridge has a high number of international Landlords in far flung corners of the world which, due to time-zone differences, makes telephone contact a challenge.   With Aspasia, these customers will be able to view their account details 24/7.  And with customer service being one of the differentiators that Cambridge prides themselves on, this increased accessibility for Landlords was very attractive. Tom's only concern now is that with many other companies buying Aspasia, competitors can start to catch him up!

When asked about his views on Aspasia, Tom provided the following summary: "Going with Aspasia is the best decision I have made since starting the business.  I wish I had done it four years ago. When you are small, you put the decision off and, as the business grows, the decision to change gets harder.  The secret is to do it early. It has transformed the business. It's fantastic!"

July 2004