EPMEPM: NewsNEWS

Real+ Expands Service Offering to Outsourced Trust Accounting

Dynamic real estate agency service provider Real+ is now offering yet another way for clients to realise greater efficiencies in their businesses by outsourcing trust account management. The company, which has an established reputation in the industry for its training, coaching and recruitment services, has just set up a new business division, Real+ Outsourcing, to provide the service.

Real+ Outsourcing is now an accredited partner of IT provider Rockend to implement its cloud-based trust accounting program Property Tree for agency clients, including an option for them to take up a fully outsourced service. “At its simplest,” says CEO Fiona Blayney, “It means we have become a remote trust accountant for both sales and property management,’’ she said.

Ms Blayney, who expects to increase Real+ staffing by 50-75 percent as a result of the new service, said it was a response to a growing appetite in the industry for outsourcing non-core functions. “We realised that using outsourced services is becoming a more profitable business model for the clients that we work with,’’ she said.

Real + CEO Fiona Blayney

“Often people want to outsource but they don’t necessary want to `offshore’, so they’re thinking, ‘Who do we know and trust’ that we would feel comfortable to have manage our Trust Account? I pretty humbled that our clients feel that way about Real+ in selecting us.’’

She said the most compelling advantages for agencies were the cost and time savings and there were also check systems in place to minimise the possibility of errors and fraud.

“For many businesses, onshore outsourcing is still a cheaper option compared with employment and desk costs for varying sized businesses, plus there is more than one person overseeing things and that’s great for minimising risk.”

“This is below-the-line administrative work so we say to businesses, ‘Get out there, build the business, make money and allow another organisation to undertake these services with a financial model that is actually more beneficial than what you are doing now’.’’

She said another advantage was the continuity of knowledge and efficiency that outsourcing allowed, something that was often lost when staff left or went on holidays. “We can access their system at any time of the day,’’ she said. “Right now we have businesses we are providing these services to and their daily receipting has been done, with their accounts reconciled and in balance before the front doors of the office even open of a morning.’’

Ms Blayney said Real+ offered a range of options under its outsourcing division apart from the fully outsourced service: “We can also provide a clean-up service to fix trust accounts that need to be brought back on track, or we take over for a few weeks and manage it remotely if, say, your trust accountant is going on leave. We also provide support around how to improve trust account utilisation within the business to increase efficiency through training and consultation.’’

With the new trust account service a major focus, she said it was too early to nominate other functions that may be added to the new outsourcing division. “There are other ideas in the pipeline but right now our priority is to provide a leading service for this particular niche,” she said.

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