Getting BT Builder, says Mauhay, helped GeoEstate take advantage of the real-estate boom.

To stay competitive, Philippine businesses--whether big or small--face the task of choosing from a variety of business solutions and tools that would give them a competitive advantage in conducting their day-to-day operations. Not only could these solutions and tools make a big difference in their bottom lines, but the benefits derived from them could be so dramatic particularly in the case of businesses that don't have their own integrated information system yet.

This is precisely what GeoEstate Development Corp. did when it decided to equip itself with Bayantrade's "BT Builder Total Property Business Solution." GeoEstate, one of the country's newest and most progressive local real estate development companies, did so to take full advantage of the current real-estate boom. It is a company that has brought together a highly seasoned management team for its multiple real-estate projects. Bayantrade, on the other hand, is a consulting firm that specializes in procurement and information technology services.

For a company like GeoEstate, coming as it did from a manual process, acquiring a solution like BT Builder to implement its first integrated information system was a big jump. Although a new entrant in an industry dominated by big real-estate companies, GeoEstate wanted to immediately develop a competitive advantage in terms of management information accessibility. So, after hearing positive feedback from other companies that were using the BT Builder system, GeoEstate was convinced that it was precisely the solution it needed for its own information
requirements.

According to Manolo Mauhay, GeoEstate's chief finance officer, the company did not acquire BT Builder just to keep up with the Joneses. It knew that the long-term benefits of a full-blown information system are essential to achieving two crucial tasks: meeting the company's revenue commitments, and getting easier and faster access to information that could give them better operational and cost control.

To simplify the process for acquiring a full-blown system for real estate companies, Bayantrade had collaborated with SAP in designing and developing the BT Builder. This was in 2004, when Bayantrade acquired T-Systems ITC Philippines, an SAP implementation services partner, to give itself the capability of offering end-to-end supply chain management services to its customers.

Currently, BT Builder has various packages--or blocks--that allow real estate companies to continually enhance their existing systems as they grow. At the core of services provided by the BT Builder are the Accounting & Financials Management and Construction Management Systems. Depending on their requirements, user companies may choose to scale up the BT Builder by adding other modules like, say, Property Sales and Real Estate Management.

Bayantrade's industry experts--professionals with many years of experience in the local real estate scene--provide assistance during the implementation of BT Builder. In the case of GeoEstate, though, they have given valuable inputs to the company's business processes on top of the standard technical support for customizing the BT Builder, an added service that Mauhay says has been a great help to a company like GeoEstate that has just established its operations.

The BT Builder Solution integrates the multiple facets of GeoEstate's activities. It puts under a single system the various data entry and processing tasks of a company's departments, yielding timely data that management needs in making critical business decisions.

In the case of GeoEstate, for instance, its construction unit uses the BT Builder system to monitor cost estimates relative to project timeline and targets. On the other hand, its finance department uses another module of the system to access financial records, reports, cash flows, collection, and budget controls. And using the same system, its purchasing department monitors inventories by using precisely the same information gathered by its construction and finance units--information that comes from the very same database being accessed by the sales department for its sales reporting and analysis.

The impact of such system for real estate companies cannot be overestimated. With BT Builder, they will not only have a better understanding of existing projects in terms of cost and productivity but will also be able to reduce costs through effective property management. Their stakeholders, on the other hand, will also be able to monitor the status of their units as they are built. Indeed, it is a system that can greatly improve a company's internal operations and bring customer satisfaction to much higher levels as well.

On top of these benefits, the BT Builder package already has provisions for the hardware and software licenses necessary to operate the system. There is therefore no need for its user company to talk to other IT vendors for the rights to use those hardware and software, a great convenience for companies still in the process of building their systems. In some cases, in fact, the BT Builder can be up and running in as fast as four months.

SAP software has been commonly associated with big business, but with enterprise-grade solutions like Bayantrade's BT Builder, it is finally reaching out to small and medium enterprises. This levels the playing field for business more than ever before, providing small businesses the agility they need to survive in an increasingly competitive environment.


CONTACT DETAILS:

GEOESTATE DEVELOPMENT CORP.
14th Floor Jaka Tower 1, 6780 Ayala Avenue, Makati City
Telephone: (02) 856-5656

BAYANTRADE
2nd Floor Building 6, 951 Bonifacio High Street
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Telephone: (02) 784-7700
Fax: (02) 784-7744
E-mail: marketing@bayantrade.com
Website: www.bayantrade.com

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