Author: Kris Subramanian

What REIT Finance Teams Manage During Close: 

• Hundreds of manual journal entries across properties, Journal Vouchers (JV), and entities 
• Reconciliation chaos: Rent, CAM, bank, tenant-level, intercompany 
• Complicated approvals and compliance tracking 
• Scattered audit documentation 
• Reporting demands from JV partners, boards, auditors, and investors 

Top 3 Priorities for Improving the REIT Close Process 

1.  Reducing Manual Journal Entry Effort 

Why it matters: REITs typically manage thousands of recurring and ad-hoc JVs every month. 
Manual data entry + email approvals = bottlenecks and risk 

✅ Look for automation solutions that include: 

• Smart templates and pre-filled recurring entries 
• Integrated approval workflows 
• Direct posting to ERP with audit trails 

2. Automating Reconciliation & Exception Handling

Why it matters: Reconciliation eats up to 40% of the close cycle. High-volume rent and CAM data are painful to match manually. 

✅ Look for AI tools that: 

• Auto-match transactions across systems (ERP, lease, bank) 
• Flag anomalies and unmatched items in real time 
• Track aging and allow commentary or notes for auditors 

3. Real-Time Visibility into Close Status 

Why it matters: Without a centralized dashboard, close progress is hard to track and manage—especially in multi-entity REIT structures. 

✅ The right solution should offer: 

• Close calendars and task trackers 
• Visual dashboards for task status (by property, entity, region) 
• Alerts for delays, exceptions, or missing approvals 

Other Close Priorities to Consider: 

• Streamlining Approvals & Compliance Checks 
• Centralizing Documentation for Audit 
• Faster, More Accurate Reporting 

Pro Tip: Adopt a REIT-Ready Close Automation Platform Powered by AI 

No-code tools are great—but AI-driven automation tools purpose-built for REITs, like JIFFY.ai, reduce time-to-value by offering: 

• Pre-configured journal templates 
• Built-in reconciliation logic 
• Approval thresholds by entity 
• Audit-ready data backups 
• Reporting accelerators tailored for REIT metrics 

In the complex world of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), reporting is where financial and operational complexity collide. From property-level income statements to Journal Voucher (JV) summaries and investor-ready board decks, REIT finance teams juggle a wide array of reporting demands—each with high stakes and tight timelines. 

Yet, despite the criticality, reporting remains one of the most error-prone and time-intensive phases of the end-to-end close. According to a 2023 Deloitte CFO Signals survey, more than 60% of finance leaders cited “data complexity” and “fragmented systems” as major barriers to timely financial reporting. For REITs, this is compounded by lease-level granularity, occupancy dynamics, and multi-entity structures. 

The Reporting Reality in REIT Close Cycles 

From a recent JIFFY.ai REIT Close Survey, here’s what we found finance teams are dealing with today: 

• Over 70% of respondents generate 8 or more financial and operational reports during each close cycle. 
• The top 3 reports include property-level P&L and balance sheet, JV/partner financial summaries, and NOI by property. 
• Yet 63% struggle with scattered data across ERPs, lease systems, and spreadsheets, leading to delays and inaccuracies. 

Here are some real-world challenges they face: 

• Manual mapping of rent rolls to GL 
• Complex ownership splits that vary month to month 
• CAM recovery allocations prone to human error
• Audit trail gaps in investor or regulatory filings 
• Disparate formats across operational and financial data sources 

Why Traditional Tools Fall Short 

Spreadsheets and legacy reporting tools simply can’t handle the nuances of modern REIT finance operations. Here’s why: 

• Data latency: Updates from property managers often arrive late or incomplete. 
• No single source of truth: Financials, leasing, and occupancy data live in separate systems. 
• JV complexity: Partner structures differ by asset, making standardized reporting difficult. 
• Compliance risk: Inaccuracies in CAM allocation or lease-level billing can invite audit scrutiny. 

What’s the Most Time-Consuming Task? 

When asked what slows reporting down the most, REIT finance teams pointed to: 

1. Tedious reconciliation between KPIs and accounting
2. Difficulty creating investor-ready reports quickly 
3. Errors due to inconsistent master data 
4. Manual formatting for board/investor packages 

The Path Forward: AI-Powered Reporting with JIFFY.ai 

Modern REITs need a modern close. JIFFY.ai’s AI-powered reporting solution transforms reporting from a reactive task to a real-time strategic advantage. 

• Automated data aggregation from ERP, lease, and operations systems 
• Dynamic report templates tailored to JV structures, investor requirements, and regulatory filings 
• Real-time data validation and exception tracking 
• One-click board decks with narrative-ready summaries 
• Seamless audit trails that ensure compliance 

REIT reporting doesn’t have to be a bottleneck—or a liability—but it often is. With AI-powered automation solutions, your finance team can shift from “data wrangling” to real-time insight delivery. It’s time to break free from spreadsheet chaos and deliver reporting that’s faster, smarter, and ready for what’s next. 

In a recent JIFFY.ai pulse survey of REIT finance leaders, here’s how respondents rated their audit preparedness: 

• ✅ 10% – Always audit-ready 
• ⚠️ 40% – Mostly compliant, but time-consuming 
• 🛠 35% – Struggle with documentation and traceability 
• 🔥 15% – Reactive: Scramble during audits 

When asked what compliance controls are hardest to enforce, these stood out: 

• Threshold-based approval rules 
• Real-time tracking of audit trails 
• Data validation before posting 
• Role-based segregation of duties (SoD) 
• Automated backup of journal entries and reconciliations 

Why Audit Challenges Are Magnified in REITs 

REIT finance structures are inherently complex: 

• Multiple legal entities and JV ownerships 
• High volume of recurring entries like rent accruals, CAM recoveries, and intercompany eliminations
• Sprawled tech landscape (ERP + lease management + Excel + property manager emails) 

Add in the need to meet SEC, SOX, and NAREIT compliance, and you’ve got a system where manual processes introduce audit risk at every turn. 

The Case for Built-In Compliance and Continuous Audit Readiness 

What Leading REITs Are Doing Differently with Automation: 

Embedded Threshold-Based Workflows 
Ensure that no journal entry or financial adjustment is posted without multi-level, rule-based approvals. 

Real-Time Audit Trails 
Track every action—who posted what, when, and why—with full traceability and time-stamped logs. 

Pre-Post Validation & Exception Alerts 
Catch errors, data mismatches, and compliance gaps before entries hit the GL. 

Automated Backup of JVs and Supporting Docs 
Every entry comes with embedded attachments—no more digging through inboxes or shared drives. 

Role-Based Access & Segregation of Duties (SoD) 
Ensure internal controls are enforced consistently across teams, properties, and entities. 

Why Ready-to-Use Audit Automation Solutions Beat Custom Setups 

Yes, no-code solutions let you build your own rules—but that still puts the burden on your finance team to design and test every control. 

In contrast, a REIT-ready solution like JIFFY.ai comes pre-configured with: 

• Industry-specific compliance logic 
• Built-in audit templates for JV and property rollups 
• Automated logs for reconciliation exceptions 
• Scalable approval chains and validations that grow with your portfolio 

Final Word: Compliance Isn’t a Checkbox—It’s a Foundation

In today’s real estate climate, being audit-ready isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity. REIT finance teams must move from reactive, manual compliance to embedded, intelligent controls that ensure transparency and speed. 

With intelligent automation, your REIT finance team can: 

• Be audit-ready every day—not just year-end 
• Mitigate regulatory risk with confidence 
• Eliminate scrambling and documentation gaps 
• Scale compliance as your portfolio grows 

Why “REIT-Ready” Matters 

When it comes to monthly or quarterly reporting, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) face challenges that generic tools aren’t designed to handle—like Journal Voucher (JV) ownership splits, CAM reconciliations, multi-entity consolidations, and property-level reporting granularity. That’s why REIT finance teams shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel with custom development or configure every detail from scratch, even in no-code platforms. 

What a Ready-to-Use REIT Automation Platform Delivers 

Prebuilt Reporting Templates for REIT-Specific Needs 
From property-level P&Ls to consolidated financials, CAM recovery breakdowns, and investor decks—expect plug-and-play formats tailored to REIT workflows. 

Automatic Mapping Across Systems 
Eliminates manual mapping between lease schedules, rent rolls, and GL data. The system reconciles data from ERPs, lease management tools, and operational systems without human intervention. 

Embedded Logic for JV and Ownership Splits 
Handles complex ownership structures and distributions with embedded calculation rules that reflect how your JV partnerships operate. 

Built-In Exception Handling & Reconciliation 
Easily identifies outliers, exceptions, or missing data—before reports are finalized—reducing close errors and delays. 

Audit-Ready and Regulator-Compliant Output 
Whether it’s NAREIT standards or SEC filings, the system supports audit trails, version control, and standardized formats out of the box. 

Real-Time Dashboards for Internal and External Stakeholders 
Role-based access for CFOs, controllers, property managers, and JV partners—delivering the right insights to the right people instantly. 

Why Not Just Use No-Code or Build Custom Tools? 

While generic no-code platforms offer flexibility, they come with hidden costs: 

You’re Still Doing the Thinking: You’ll need to model, test, and QA each workflow—taking time away from strategic work. 

Maintenance Burden: Any change in reporting logic, JV structure, or compliance rules requires rework—and sometimes, additional dev help. 

Longer Time-to-Value: Custom builds or no-code setups often take months to implement and stabilize, especially with REIT-specific logic. 

Instead, a purpose-built REIT close automation solution built on a no-code platform such as JIFFY.ai delivers 80-90% of your reporting needs on Day 1—letting your team fine-tune instead of firefight. 

Final Word: REIT Reporting Shouldn’t Slow You Down 

The right reporting automation platform is more than just a tool—it’s a strategic advantage. By choosing a solution purpose-built for REITs, finance teams can reduce reporting time, ensure accuracy, and meet every stakeholder’s needs—without the chaos of spreadsheets or the risk of hand-coded workarounds. 

For Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), the month-end financial close isn’t just a deadline—it’s a pressure cooker. And Reconciliation is among its most time-intensive components. From matching rent payments and bank transactions to tracking expenses and revenue across dozens—or hundreds—of properties, the complexity is real. And it’s growing. 

The finance teams of REITs face unique operational reporting demands, from CAM recoveries to lease-level reconciliations, all while juggling joint venture (JV) structures and scattered data sources. In this environment, traditional reconciliation methods fall short—slowing down close cycles and leaving finance teams vulnerable to risk. 

The Real Cost of Manual Reconciliation in REITs

Despite digital advancements, a large percentage of REITs still rely on spreadsheets, email chains, and siloed systems for reconciliation. According to Deloitte’s CFO Signals Survey, 52% of finance leaders cited “data integrity issues” and “lack of automation” as primary causes for delays and inaccuracies in the close process. 

In REITs, this reality is compounded by scale. With high transaction volumes, complex ownership splits, and disparate property management systems, even small errors can ripple into major financial misstatements. Many REIT finance teams report spending 30%–40% of the total close cycle on reconciliation alone—and often still lack confidence in the final numbers. 

Key Reconciliation Pain Points for REIT Finance Teams

A recent JIFFY.ai survey of REIT finance professionals highlighted recurring bottlenecks: 

• High-volume transaction matching (e.g., rent, TIs, CAM recoveries) 

• Discrepancy resolution between ERP entries and lease abstracts 

• Tracking aged reconciling items with minimal visibility 

• Generating audit-ready support across fragmented tools and teams 

Add in the pressure of quarterly investor reporting and regulatory filings, and it’s clear why many REITs struggle to close the books quickly and confidently. 

Why AI-Powered Reconciliation is a Game Changer 

Enter AI-powered intelligent automation. Platforms like JIFFY.ai enable REIT finance teams to leverage solutions built on cognitive technologies such as AI and Machine Learning to automate, streamline and transform reconciliation from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage: 

• Automated transaction matching with built-in business rules and pattern recognition 

• Exception-based workflows that surface anomalies in real time 

• Audit-ready trails and documentation with zero manual prep 

• End-to-end visibility across ERP, lease systems, and bank feeds 

This paradigm shift allows REITs to focus on strategic decision-making instead of firefighting reconciliation backlogs. 

The Competitive Urgency to Modernize

With REITs under increasing pressure to deliver timely, investor-ready financials and navigate complex JV partnerships, automation is no longer optional. Industry benchmarks now show top-performing REITs are shortening their close cycles by 5+ days through AI-powered automation—freeing up finance teams to focus on analytics, forecasting, and strategic value creation. 

And it’s not just about speed. It’s about trust, transparency, and compliance. The ability to confidently stand behind your numbers—without reconciliation fatigue—is what distinguishes agile REITs in today’s market. 

Break the Bottleneck, Reimagine Your Close

Manual reconciliation is holding back your close—and your team. With AI-powered intelligent automation solutions, you can achieve faster close, lower error rates, and deeper financial insight. It’s time to move from reactive reporting to proactive financial control. 

In real estate, time is money—and accuracy is everything. 

For Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) finance teams, the month-end close isn’t just a routine deadline. It’s a high-stakes process involving truthful reporting across complex journal voucher (JV) structures, strict compliance demands, audit preparedness, and delivering actionable insights for the leadership to make capital allocation decisions. 

But when systems are fragmented, processes are manual, and close cycles unpredictable, even the most skilled finance teams face burnout and risk errors that can ripple across the business. 

This is why end-to-end (E2E) close automation, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), is no longer optional—it’s critical. It not only accelerates the close but delivers measurable financial, operational, strategic, and human benefits. Here’s how: 

1. Financial Benefits 

AI-powered E2E close automation directly bolsters the financial health of REITs. 

Cost Reduction 

According to APQC, organizations with best-in-class close processes spend 66% less per $1,000 of revenue on financial reporting than their peers. AI-driven automation eliminates spreadsheet chaos, reduces costly manual rework, and intelligently identifies recurring tasks and anomalies, minimizing human error. 

Improved Forecasting Accuracy 

Deloitte’s REIT research highlights that incomplete or delayed data is a top cause of forecasting errors. AI platforms enable real-time data validation and predictive analytics, providing sharper insights into working capital and lease-level forecasting. 

Reduced Audit Penalties and Restatements 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sanctioned REITs for weak documentation and internal controls. AI embeds compliance into workflows—enforcing threshold-based approvals, comprehensive audit trails, and role-based segregation of duties (SOD)—significantly reducing audit risks. 

2. Efficiency Benefits 

AI-powered E2E close automation helps streamline complex operations, shorten turnaround times, and scale smarter. 

Accelerated Close Timelines 

Ventana Research finds only 38% of companies close books within six days. REITs, due to transaction volumes and JV complexity, often take 10–12 days or more. AI-powered E2E automation can reduce close times by 30–50%, delivering faster financial visibility. 

No-Code, REIT-Ready AI Platform—No IT Dependency 

Unlike custom-built systems requiring IT involvement, AI-driven platforms like JIFFY.ai offer pre-configured REIT logic and no-code configurability. Finance teams can independently create and adjust rules, workflows, and exception handling—no tickets, no IT delays, full control. 

Unified Data Across Disconnected Systems 

Many REITs juggle multiple ERPs, lease management tools, and spreadsheets. AI-powered E2E platforms create a single source of truth, drastically reducing reconciliation time and errors. 

3. Strategic Impact 

Beyond process improvement, AI-powered E2E close automation unlocks strategic value. 

Scalability Without IT Bottlenecks 

AI platforms dynamically adapt to portfolio growth and JV complexities, handling complex ownership splits and diverse data without ongoing IT projects. 

Faster, More Accurate Board & JV Reporting 

AI automates data extraction, consolidation, and validation for key metrics like NOI, CAM recoveries, and capital expenditures—delivering investor-ready reports quickly and accurately. 

Better Capital Decisions, Sooner 

Real-time AI-driven analytics empower finance leaders with immediate insights, enabling proactive decisions on leasing, asset disposition, and capital allocation. 

4. Human Impact

The ultimate benefit of AI-powered E2E close automation? Restoring time and sanity to finance teams. 

Work-Life Balance & Burnout Prevention 

Manual closes mean late nights and weekend crunches. AI-driven automation brings predictability and sanity back to month-end cycles. 

Shift from Admin to Analysis 

By automating 30–40% of routine tasks, AI frees finance professionals to focus on strategic insights rather than transactional inputs. 

What E2E Close Automation Delivers for REITs 

Closing Thought 

Some tasks don’t need automation. The month-end close does. 

For REITs navigating growing complexity, compliance demands, and expanding portfolios, an AI-powered end-to-end close automation platform isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity. 

With a REIT-ready solution, finance teams eliminate IT bottlenecks and start closing better, faster, and smarter. 

For Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), the monthly or quarterly close isn’t complete until the reports go out—and they go everywhere. From property managers to Journal Voucher (JV) partners, auditors to board members, everyone needs a different slice of the data. The result? A complex web of financial and operational reporting requirements that must be met with precision and speed. 

But what does this reporting really entail? And why does it still drain time and resources, despite being a repeatable process? 

In this blog, we break down the most common reports REIT CFOs and finance teams generate—and why each is mission-critical. 

The Most Important Reports in a REIT Close—And What They’re Used For 

Property-Level P&L and Balance Sheet 

Gives asset managers and executives granular visibility into the financial health of each property—flagging anomalies, identifying ROI shortfalls, and guiding performance improvement. 

Consolidated Financials 

These are essential for external stakeholders and public disclosures—often required for SEC filings and NAREIT compliance. Roll-ups must be precise and compliant across multiple entities and accounting standards. 

JV/Partner Financial Summaries

Joint ventures add another layer of complexity. Reports need to reflect equity splits, ownership terms, and cash distributions, customized to each partner’s view of the data. 

Investor or Board Packages 

Presentation-ready reporting packs with high-level trends, forecasts, and KPIs. These drive executive discussions, capital planning, and investor confidence. 

Rental Income Tracking Reports 

Tracks what’s been billed vs. collected, broken down by property and tenant. Delays here can impact cash flow forecasting and investor reporting. 

Occupancy/Vacancy Rate Analysis 

A crucial operational metric directly tied to asset value and lease-up strategy. Helps asset managers measure leasing success and predict future NOI. 

Lease-Level Income & Recoveries (CAM) 

CAM reconciliation can become a legal and financial headache if miscalculated. Lease-level tracking ensures every tenant is billed per terms, and cost allocations are auditable. 

NOI (Net Operating Income) by Property 

A core profitability metric used in asset valuation, refinancing decisions, and internal performance benchmarking. 

Tenant Aging & Delinquency Reports 

Essential for accounts receivable and collections teams to identify at-risk tenants and prioritize follow-ups. 

Capex & Tenant Improvements (TIs) Tracking 

Used to control development budgets and support lease negotiations. Accurate TI reporting can impact tenant satisfaction and lease economics. 

Intercompany & Related-Party Reporting 

Ensures regulatory compliance and financial transparency, especially for complex REIT structures involving multiple entities. 

Regulatory Filings (e.g., SEC, NAREIT) 

Required public filings with stringent timelines and formatting guidelines—accuracy is non-negotiable. 

The Challenges Behind the Reports 

While these reports are business-critical, creating them is anything but smooth. Most REITs still rely on spreadsheet-driven workflows that are highly manual and error-prone. 

In a recent Deloitte survey, over 50% of finance leaders reported that data fragmentation and lack of automation were the biggest contributors to delays in reporting accuracy and timeliness. 

Here’s what slows REIT reporting down: 

• Data scattered across ERPs, rent rolls, lease systems, and spreadsheets 

• Manual mapping of lease data to GL structures for accurate reporting 

• Inconsistent updates from property managers or partners, which delay key data inputs 

• Complex ownership structures and JV arrangements that don’t fit standard reporting models 

• Poor integration between operational KPIs and financial metrics 

• Time-consuming reconciliation efforts between source data and final statements 

• Difficulty producing audit-ready investor reports on tight timelines 

• Inconsistent data formats and naming conventions, creating rework each cycle 

• High risk of errors in CAM recovery allocations 

• Limited visibility into exceptions or discrepancies until it’s too late 

Why REITs Are Turning to Reporting Automation 

Modern REIT finance leaders are shifting away from reactive reporting toward AI-driven automation solutions that offer: 

• ✅ Centralized data consolidation across ERPs, rent rolls, lease admin, and GLs 

• 📊 Pre-built REIT report templates for P&L, CAM, JV summaries, and more 

• 🔍 Real-time exception tracking and alerts to catch anomalies early 

• 🧠 AI-powered mapping and validation to eliminate manual reconciliations 

• 📁 Audit-ready documentation and investor formats—done in hours, not days 

With an AI-powered reconciliation solution like JIFFY.ai, REITs can transform their end-to-end close process—delivering reporting that’s faster, more accurate, and more insightful. 

In Summary: Reporting Should Be a Strategic Asset—Not a Bottleneck 

CFOs need reporting to do more than check a compliance box. They need it to drive decisions, build investor trust, and highlight opportunities across the portfolio. 

But if you’re still relying on spreadsheets and email threads, you’re at risk of delivering late, inaccurate, or non-compliant outputs. 

It’s time to adopt AI-powered automation that’s built for REIT financial reporting—and finally close with confidence. 

For many Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) finance teams, closing the books isn’t just a deadline—it’s a recurring challenge. With complex ownership structures, multi-entity consolidations, and high-volume journal vouchers (JVs), the end-to-end periodic close often feels like a maze of manual tasks, version control headaches, and last-minute surprises. 

At the centre of these challenges are journal entries—the linchpin of every financial close. Whether it’s recurring accruals, reclassifications, or one-time adjusting entries, journals are both high-impact and high-friction. Despite their importance, journal entries are often the slowest-moving piece in the close puzzle. 

The Journal Bottleneck Is Real 

Based on industry observations, journal entry bottlenecks are a major contributor to close delays. Common challenges include: 

• Manual Overload: High-volume recurring entries like lease income, common area maintenance (CAM) recoveries, or interest accruals still require significant manual effort. Each manual touchpoint increases the risk of errors and slows down processing. 

• Spreadsheet Chaos: Relying on disconnected spreadsheets makes it nearly impossible to track statuses, approvals, or history in real time, leading to missed steps and duplicate entries. 

• No Standardized Workflows: Inconsistent JV formats, varying approvers, and ad hoc processes mean time is lost clarifying responsibilities instead of progressing toward close. 

• ERP Friction: Manual ERP posting isn’t just tedious—it delays downstream processes and makes real-time reporting nearly impossible. 

• Email Bottlenecks: Email-based approvals are a black hole. JVs get stuck in inboxes, approvals are delayed, and there’s no audit trail—just a mess of threads. 

• No Visibility or Oversight: Without dashboards or alerts, there’s no way to track which entries are pending, rejected, or approved, leading to missed deadlines or duplicate effort. 

In a REIT environment—where JV complexity, lease-level income, and cross-entity reporting are the norm—these bottlenecks multiply fast. 

Why It Hurts the REIT Close 

For REITs, the impact of journal entry delays goes beyond inconvenience. When JVs are stuck in limbo, it: 

• Stalls downstream reconciliations, consolidations, and board reporting. 

• Increases the chance of missed or incorrect partner allocations. 

• Leaves the business exposed to compliance risks and audit findings. 

• Saps the finance team’s time, pulling focus from higher-value strategic work. 

Manual journal entry processes also introduce unnecessary cycle-time volatility—the close timeline swings wildly based on effort, not execution. 

The AI-powered Automation Advantage: Reimagine Journal Management 

REITs that are embracing close automation powered by artificial intelligence (AI) are seeing transformative results in their journal processes. With an AI-driven journal management solution, you can: 

• Achieve up to 90% straight-through processing for recurring and rule-based journals. 

• Eliminate spreadsheets with centralized, standardized templates and workflows. 

• Route entries via automated, threshold-based approvals—no more inbox chasing. 

• Post directly to the ERP from one system, with full audit trail and control. 

• Track all entries—submitted, pending, rejected—in one dashboard. 

Because automation surfaces issues early, you also reduce review effort and build confidence in your numbers from day one. 

From Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs 

At JIFFY.ai, we believe the journal entry process shouldn’t hold you back—it should push you forward. Whether you’re managing 100 properties or scaling across portfolios, the ability to automate journal creation, validation, routing, and posting unlocks new levels of speed and accuracy. 

In fact, global REITs using our AI-powered Journal Management solution have cut multiple days off their monthly close process by streamlining journal entry workflows. It’s not just automation for efficiency—it’s transformation for scale. 

Ready to Break Free? 

If you’re tired of firefighting through the close or struggling with JV approvals at the eleventh hour, let’s talk. We’ll show you how leading REITs are automating their journal process—and reclaiming control of their close with the power of AI. 

There are two sides to the conversation around enterprise process automation. On the one hand, there is incredible hype surrounding Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence-enabled intelligent automation, with investments expected to cross $12.6 billion by 2023. On the other hand, between 30% and 50% of technology projects fail — not due to flaws in the solution, but due to poor management.

If you have been struggling to unlock the expected value from your investments, or if you have been hesitating to embark on that ambitious automation project, but remain convinced that business process automation holds potential for your enterprise, chances are that you might be impacted by these pitfalls or influenced by these prevalent myths.

Myth 1: Automation is too expensive

Companies believe that a “big bang approach” to automation is the best, involving a sizeable capex.

Pitfall: Business leaders rip apart and rebuild processes from scratch using automation scripts, which are non-modular and cannot be reused.

Fact: You don’t need to automate the entire enterprise — or even an entire line of business — at once. A micro-services approach that breaks down process monoliths into manageable and automation-ready parts helps to achieve quick wins and keep costs predictable.

Myth 2: Automation is too risky

Companies suspect that automating business processes will add fresh risk vectors — e.g., APIs and data connectors.

Pitfall: Departments or sectors handling sensitive data are not expected to gain from automation efficiency, and only tasks that add lesser business value (therefore, lesser ROI-friendly) are automated.

Fact: Adopting the right compliance standards and regular audits make business process automation as secure as any other digital transformation project. Specifically, businesses must ensure ISO27001 for industry regulations and SOC2 to fulfill customer expectations, and not keep automation restricted to low-value tasks. 

Myth 3: Automation is too large-scale

Business process automation is perceived to be suitable for large enterprises only.

Pitfall: Small and mid-sized businesses stay with manual processes as they believe process automation will take too long to unlock benefits, or that the costs outweigh the gains.

Fact: There is a direct correlation between the success of small and mid-sized businesses and their automation maturity, McKinsey has found. As long as they have low to medium variability tasks that occur frequently, organizations of all sizes can gain from automating business processes.

As you can see, these myths and pitfalls can hold back the true potential of business process automation, even if there is organizational readiness and the requisite digital maturity. In our new eBook titled How to implement intelligent automation for scale and unlock its true potential, we discuss these issues in more detail, and outline recommendations for getting started with enterprise automation and also for keeping the automation engines running without friction for the long term.

Download the eBook