BLOGS
Lease Management & Administration – Stepping Into The Digital World
Digital transformation is a hot topic for businesses in virtually every industry today. From finance to healthcare, to education, it is difficult to overstate the extent to which digital tools and services are transforming business as we know it around the world.
However, lease management and lease administration are very much the exception to the rule in this regard. Where other disciplines have discovered new opportunities for cost-saving and unprecedented levels of efficiency through the digital transformation, many companies don’t even have internal lease management practices, let alone a centralised digital tool to manage lease data.
In this blog, we’ll examine how lease management and administration software improves processes and helps drive portfolio savings.
Why should I invest in lease accounting management software?
Leasing is a major aspect of procurement and operational success for many businesses. It’s surprising, therefore, that so few utilise some form of lease portfolio management software.
Some of the benefits of implementing lease accounting and management software include:
Reduce Wastage Of Space And Time
Despite the digital age in which we live, many companies - not just small and medium businesses, but industry-leading organisations - are yet to adopt an online lease accounting system. Even those who do quite typically store their lease accounting data in enormous, user-unfriendly spreadsheets. Lease accounting management software provides a centralised, up to date, online platform where all your lease accounting information is stored and made available to anyone who needs to access it when and where they need it. The search and filter options available in lease accounting management systems also reduce the time wasted on searching for and processing physical copies of leases.
Save Money And Reduce Unnecessary Leasing Expenses
No matter how good your lease rates may be, you won’t get the value you want from the leases without good management and organisation - great leases can turn into the worst deals in the world if they’re mismanaged or neglected. A lease management and accounting software platform will ensure that all your lease data is stored in a central location, which makes it so much easier to see which leases are due to expire, already overdue or too expensive, and take the appropriate steps to correct them. Furthermore, lease accounting management software provides tailored insights and reporting features that can be used to keep track of lease spending as efficiently as possible.
Ensure Your Business Is Compliant With Latest Lease Accounting Standards
Lease accounting practice is changing - most notably, with the official implementation of IFRS 16 less than a year away, operating leases will soon need to be included in all balance sheets. This means that every single lease will need to be reviewed and perhaps even rewritten in such a way that it is compliant under IFRS 16 standards, which will undoubtedly have a knock-on effect on how your organisation chooses to deal with them. Centralising financial reports and consolidating past and present leases will become critical and having an accounting lease management platform will constitute the easiest, most efficient and most cost-effective way of achieving this.
Learn more about how IFRS 16 will change lease management practices in our previous blog.
Keep Your Data Safe And Secure In The Cloud
Using online lease management software also means that all your lease data is stored on a centralised cloud platform. There are several benefits to this: your data will be housed in a data centre with state-of-the-art physical and digital security, meaning it’s much safer than it would be should you store it on-site. Additionally, data centres maintain meticulous backups of all the data stored on their servers, so even in the unlikely event of data loss or theft, you’ll have access to all the information you require. Storing your data in the cloud also means that it’s available to all your key team members at any time, from anywhere, so you don’t have to worry about not having access to the information you need when you’re out of the office.
Maintain A Full Audit Trail
Using lease management and accounting software gives you more direct control over your lease portfolio and the ability to evaluate your existing leases accurately, with tailored reports and full audits. With access to this data, you’ll be far better prepared for improving your equipment leasing process in general.
This data will make it easy to identify errors and highlight successes, allowing you to underline which clauses suit the operational needs of specific users and assets and how to ensure that new leases not only benefit you financially, but are a good fit with your internal procurement and operational requirements.
Consolidating leases on a centralised platform will make it easier to review cost-saving opportunities and take the necessary actions to make your company’s asset leasing as efficient, effective and affordable as possible.
Negotiate Better Leasing Deals
One of the most significant benefits of using lease management and accounting software is that it makes it possible to negotiate better leasing deals: the ability to control your portfolio more effectively and the tailored reporting and comprehensive auditing features put you in a much better position to improve on equipment leases in general. Highlighting errors and successes underlines which clauses are best suited to the operational needs of specific users and assets and ensures that your leases aren’t just a good deal financially, but that they suit the requirements of your internal procurement and operational processes.
If you’re thinking of purchasing lease accounting software for your firm, it pays to know what you’re looking for. View the latest brochure for our lease management and accounting software LOIS below, or simply give us a call and speak to one of our leasing experts.