Customer Stories
Customer Stories – Billion Development
Precise Management to Support Business Expansion
Rooted in Hong Kong for over 30 years, Billion Development and Project Management Ltd (Billion Development) is a property development company dedicated to revitalizing Hong Kong’s older communities, creating a blend of the city’s past and future. Leveraging extensive experience, Billion Development plans and develops high-quality, sustainable new buildings that protect Hong Kong’s unique character while meeting residents’ evolving lifestyle needs.
Billion Development’s property development and project planning cover a diversified portfolio including residential buildings, office towers, shopping malls and retail outlets, industrial and commercial buildings, as well as hotels. The company actively participate in urban renewal and holistic development in Hong Kong, striving to deliver higher quality living and commercial spaces to the market.
With continuous growth in leasing and asset portfolio size, Billion Development currently manages over ten properties, encompassing more than 1,000 units. As management and departmental collaboration becomes more complex, the traditional manual and fragmented management model struggles to sustain high operational efficiency.
Mr. Albert Lam, Financial Director of Billion Development, states: “As our leasing operations expand, we need to manage various asset types simultaneously while ensuring accuracy in financial reconciliation, report analysis, and lease monitoring. Without an appropriate information system, maintaining efficiency and precision becomes extremely difficult.”
To enhance departmental collaboration and operational transparency, Billion Development adopted the FlexSystem Property Management System seven years ago, implementing digital reform. Through this automated and integrated platform, the company has reshaped its property management processes.
Collaborative Operations Enhance Management Transparency
Since the launch of the property management system (PMS), Billion Development has successfully established a cross-department shared platform, allowing instant access to core leasing and financial data across departments. From lease registration, renewal management, billing issuance to payment status monitoring, processes have been computerized and automated, significantly reducing manual entry errors and accelerating information flow.
Initially operated mainly by account department responsible for rent posting, bill generation, and financial report consolidation, the team has grown more proficient, prompting management to extend the system’s use across departments. Currently, leasing team and legal team members are simultaneously using the system. The leasing team can instantly view property leases, unit occupancy, and rent payment status, handling renewals and customer inquiries without waiting for internal back-and-forth. The legal department can track overdue rents, breaches, and arrears in real time, quickly preparing legal documents based on data, accelerating case processing while mitigating risks.
Data-Driven Decisions for Accurate Management
FlexSystem PMS enables Billion Development to monitor leasing performance, financial status, and revenue trends in real-time, empowering management to develop forward-looking and flexible asset strategies based on precise information. Mr. Lam notes: “The system runs stably and reliably. Initially applied in commercial properties, it now covers residential buildings and parking projects, with the management scale multiplied several times since inception, accurate data presentation is an indispensable guarantee for our precise management.
He also praises the FlexSystem team’s professional service: “They respond quickly, deeply understand our business needs, continuously optimize system functions, and offer insightful advice to ensure the system fits our actual operations.” The long-term close partnership ensures continuous upgrades and customization, keeping the system evolving with the business and acting as an important technological partner for Billion Development’s steady operations.
Smart Property Management Embracing Future Challenges
Looking ahead, Billion Development will continue to deepen automation and data strategies with the FlexSystem Property Management System to promote smart property management comprehensively. Recently, the system-generated electronic billing has been further upgraded to include a Fast Payment System (FPS) option. Tenants can now conveniently pay rent directly via FPS, enhancing payment convenience.
Mr. Lam states: “With FPS introduced, tenants can complete payments faster, significantly accelerating overall collection speed and bringing tangible operational benefits to our company. Billion Development will continue to providing tenants with superior and interactive property service experiences, consolidating market leadership, and driving management through technology to embrace a new era for Hong Kong’s real estate industry. ”
Financial reporting and analytic capabilities minimize our workload in consolidating financial data as well as give us a comprehensive understanding of our business performance in different periods.
Levelling Up with Automation in Apartment Rental Management
For students studying abroad, finding affordable and cozy accommodation could be one of their primary concerns. In Hong Kong, student housing in universities’ residence halls is always limited. Flat-hunting ignited a group of overseas university graduates to set up iRent, aiming to create a warm rental living community for students.
Established in 2014, iRent offers long-term apartment rental services specifically for Mainland China and overseas students studying in Hong Kong. Its apartments are strategically located in key districts across Hong Kong including Mongkok, Prince Edward, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon City and Shatin, with close proximity to various universities and MTR stations.
iRent’s property portfolio includes 10 apartment buildings and other residences scattered in multiple residential buildings, providing 250 rooms via its one-stop O2O apartment rental platform. The company has served over 700 tenants since its inception with 95% students coming from different countries.
A wide range of room types at monthly or yearly rental plans are available to cater for different tenant needs. Custom-made furniture, regular cleaning, courier services and various entertainment services are also provided.
Challenges in Booking Management
When iRent debuted its apartment rental services, the company collected and recorded room availability, bookings and tenants’ information offline. With the growing numbers of both rooms and tenants, the company experienced pain points throughout the offline booking management and account invoicing process. iRent believes that technology plays an important role in its daily business operations and expansion strategies.
“In the past, our staffs had to do a lot of manual works to keep track of room status such as bookings and availability. It was prone to human errors and increased our manpower costs,” said Johnny Cheng, Business Development Manager at iRent. Cheng decided to look for automation solutions in property and financial management.
iRent eventually turned to FlexSystem Ltd, one of the largest Hong Kong-based enterprise management software and services provider. Financial and Property Management solutions are implemented at iRent
Maximize Manpower and Efficiency
Financial and Property Management solutions help iRent maximize manpower, enhance lease and accounting operational efficiency and assist in business decision making.
“Our entire booking process is now automated with minimal human intervention, enhancing efficiency while reducing human errors and manpower costs,” he said. “Every staff can now handle 150 tenants simultaneously, speed up 50% after using FlexSystem’s solutions.”
Tenants are now able to search, view and book rooms, pay rental fees, submit repair requests and chat with customer service agents online. 3D 360-degree views of rooms are available for customers who are unable to schedule onsite property viewing.
Financial and Property Management solutions provide high-level data security, access control and flexible reporting. iRent staffs are granted different access rights to ensure they have the appropriate access to company data including financial and confidential data.
Data Analysis in Management
Data analysis becomes more crucial for financial and real estate business management. Solutions enable iRent to easily retrieve meaningful financial data and create reports for financial analysis.
“Financial reporting and analytic capabilities minimize our workload in consolidating financial data as well as give us a comprehensive understanding of our business performance in different periods such as every quarter or every year,” he said.
He added, “FlexSystem solutions provide actionable insights for our financial and business planning. We can make more informed business and investment decisions particularly in business expansion.”
Despite challenges brought by COVID-19 and economic downturn, iRent has an optimistic outlook of property management market. “With an ever-rising demand for housing and quality living in the Chinese community, Hong Kong’s property rental market will continue to prosper,” he concluded.