Case Studies

GVA Williams

Business Challenges

  • Unable to find an off-the-shelf software product that could account for the sophisticated and complex revenue process associated with commercial real estate transactions
  • Legacy accounting processes were outdated and inefficient
  • Financial reporting and commission calculations were delayed due to manual processes

GVA Williams is a leading commercial real estate broker and property owner serving multinational corporations, major space users, developers, owners, institutions, lenders and investors throughout the Tri-State area (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut). The firm is a founding partner of GVA Worldwide, a network of more than 3,500 real estate professionals in 90 markets worldwide. Finance is a critical function for GVA Williams and its growth plans, yet the company was hampered by out-of-date technology architecture and manual accounting procedures. GVA Williams was looking for a real-time online operational and financial accounting system that could be integrated with a broker performance system in an effort to create more efficient business processes and workflow.

Axispoint Solution

  • Architected an enterprise broker performance and financial accounting system comprised of both proprietary and off the shelf software
  • Designed and developed the Broker Performance System, a Windows .NET desktop application that integrates with the Solomon accounting platform
  • Delivered a highly organized application that lists all brokers and properties, calculates appropriate broker commissions, and generates the corresponding accounting entries associated with each real estate transaction

    • Axispoint business analysts consulted with the GVA Williams team at the outset of the project to fully understand the complex nature of commercial real estate transactions, and the challenges associated with properly accounting for them efficiently. While there are several vendors that offer general accounting software, none offer a product designed specifically for accounting for complex real estate transactions from both an operational and financial point of view. Armed with both industry knowledge and technical expertise, the Axispoint Applications Services Group architected and designed a complete system comprised of custom written and off the shelf software. Axispoint customized the Microsoft Solomon platform and developed a Windows .NET desktop application that fully integrates with the Solomon accounting back end. This highly-intuitive Broker Performance System application automates the entire real estate accounting process, calculates complex broker commissions, and generates the corresponding accounting entries that accompany each transaction. The system serves as a comprehensive and dynamic database that maintains all of the brokers, clients, deals, and properties that comprise the GVA Williams portfolio.

Business Value

  • Business process redesign brings a new level of sophisticated and efficiency to the organization
  • Improves processing and calculating of commissions while reporting operational and financial information in a timely manner
  • Provides brokers and the finance department a clearer vision of outstanding client invoices
  • Allows the company to serve clients quicker, offering better quality of service and enhanced communication
  • Improves the firm's cash flow collections process
  • State of the art system is a boon to recruiting brokers and clients

    • Axispoint helped GVA Williams identify, map, and redesign critical finance processes, which brought a new level of sophistication to the entire organization. With the implementation of the Broker Performance System, the company can process accounting transactions and calculate commissions faster. Brokers can execute more business and serve their clients more effectively, and efficiently. The technology substantially reduces the effort and time required to properly account for deals and to collect receivables than the manual entry accounting system previously in place. The updated technology platform serves as a powerful recruiting tool for the company, illustrating the commitment to IT to both clients and prospective employees. In addition to providing a more productive work environment, the system minimizes costs, since personnel increases are only associated with the demands of higher deal volume. The state of the art accounting module and broker database is unrivaled in the industry, and allows GVA Williams to retain their status as one of the premier commercial real estate brokerage firms. Axispoint and GVA Williams both pride themselves on superior service to their clients. The development and implementation of the Broker Performance System allows GVA Williams to continue to offer their clients and employees the high level of customer service that have come to expect.

“I was extremely impressed with Axispoint’s ability to identify the key business aspects and build them into the functionality of the software on a timely basis. Their whole team is driven to provide a solution, regardless of the degree of difficulty, and we appreciate their unique approach of sharp business acumen and unrivaled technical expertise. We value our partnership with Axispoint and look forward to working with them on future projects.”

- Daniel Robitaille, Controller, GVA Williams Real Estate