How to Effectively Audit Your Operations Processes

Over the past few years, real estate agencies have increasingly been relying on technology for their operational efficiency.

More and more, technology is playing an ever-growing role in all parts of an agency, and it's crucial to ensure that those individual parts are working together effectively to help you reach your fullest potential. Therefore, it's essential for businesses to regularly review their operations processes to ensure they are keeping pace. Here are some things you need to consider when auditing your operations.

Recognising the need for an audit

The decision to audit your business operations should not be a random one. Ideally, real estate agencies should revisit their tech operations and processes annually as part of their strategic planning. Beyond this, there are a number of indicators that will suggest an audit is urgently needed.

Find out if you are experiencing one or more of the four key indicators that your CRM is holding you back. Furthermore, if your agency is experiencing missed opportunies, operational inefficiencies, rising costs, high staff turnover, or you're noticing that things are increasingly falling through the cracks, it is probably time to reassess your tech operations. 

The need for an audit shouldn't always arise from things going wrong. It is best practice to audit your business regularly. This doesn't need to be an all-out audit every single month, it might mean keeping a closer eye on things or setting up a forum for people to raise concerns before they become a problem. Generally, it is best to do a thorough audit annually to ensure your processes are up to par and aligning with your overall business goals.

The audit process

The audit process begins with a comprehensive analysis of your current tech operations, without holding anything back or omitting any areas. The aim is to identify any bottlenecks or areas that are not operating optimally.

When it comes to auditing, it is best to gather insights into your operations using hard data and analytics tools, rather than anecdotally. A great place to start this is focussing on your key areas such as your CRM, property management software, and digital marketing platforms. 

You can also utilise a reporting platform such as PropTech BI. Through custom made reports and dashboards and huge amounts of valuable data, you can make decisions with confidence and drive your business forward whilst saving time. Discover more about the industry leading, soon to be integrated with Eagle Software platform here.

Valuable insights also often come from those who use these systems daily - your team members. Engage in detailed conversation about their experiences with the current tech operations and gain their perspective on potential improvements. This will not only provide practical insights, but also foster a culture of continuous improvement within your agency. Your staff are on the front line and have a deep understanding of what tools are working well, where problems are regularly occuring, and which software products lack support or don't function as advertised.

The Eagle Software team is another great resource you can utilise to help you better understand or improve your current tech stack. With years of experience well-versed within the industry, our experts can help to provide an external input and put you on the path of success.

Creating an implementation plan

Once the audit is complete, the next step is to create an implementation plan based on the findings and results of your audit. This plan should outline how your agency will address the identified gaps, and imprive your overall tech operations. Keep in mind that this implementation will likely ned to be completed in stages, especially is significant changes are required or you need to overhaul a key component in your tech stack.

Your implementation plan should also establish clear timelines and assign responsibility to specific team members to ensure there is transparency and accountability throughout the process. 

It might also be worth setting up some sort of onboarding process, or create an onboarding team to help with the adoption of new technologies. This task team can provide training and support to ensure a smooth transition and ensure that both clients and staff feel supported through the changes. Read our full guide on getting your team across tech stack changes to help ensure a successful adoption. Without the support of staff and team members, it will be challenging to maximise your new technology and really make the most of it, so it's imperative to get behind your team and take their feedback on board.