NetFlow Technologies - Cloud for Real Estate

Cloud for Real Estate

Innovative real estate investors continuously seek new ways to enhance their competitive edge, streamline the acquisition process, and enhance tenant and customer satisfaction. Many firms turn to cloud computing and cybersecurity to help them maintain their edge and elevate service.

While various technology advances have proven to streamline operations, provide efficient mobile computing solutions, and reduce costly network downtime for investment companies around the world, each firm must evaluate their unique situation and the associated benefits and risks of technology investment before upgrading their work environment.

This guide will help you get started.

Data Security & Customer Convenience

The modern real estate company is secure, efficient, and technologydriven. Advances in technology and changing customer behaviors are driving mobile experiences, payment security, and connectivity.

Cloud computing relies on centralized, hosted computers, servers, and telephone systems to provide you with time-saving benefits and costsaving efficiencies, including:

Mobility: Access your email, spreadsheets, payments, accounting systems, and payroll records from a laptop, tablet or mobile device from anywhere around the world
Security: Centralizing your server operations in the cloud through Microsoft Azure and Office 365 provides redundancy, access control, and security that individual workstations cannot provide
Convenience: Customers expect a wonderful retail experience that includes in-store treatment, the purchasing process, and ongoing marketing.

Case Study: Real Estate Network Modernization

Problem: A real estate company engaged consulting services for assistance with securing their user access of Office 365 when outside of the computer network. With increased user account hacking occurring in the corporate world, they are seeking a proactive solution that will help protect the integrity of the user account credentials due to end user BYOD access. While they had a couple of user account issues with being breached, they had not experienced an organization wide issue with this yet and need to avoid it due to sensitive data being accessed by the employee accounts.

Proposed Solution: Azure Active Directory Conditional Access was proposed to the customer to solve this need. The configuration being set with corporate Trusted IPs along with enforcement of Multi Factor Authentication on all platforms and apps in use with Office 365 would require users to set two step authentication with an option of their choosing and would also require this anytime they are not connected to the corporate network.

End Result: Azure Active Directory Conditional Access was implemented and users now had to use MFA anytime they wanted to authenticate to Office 365 outside of their corporate perimeter network on all devices apps, and browsers. This in turn had produced the desired result of reduction of attack surface as it has become more difficult for hackers to obtain user credentials and use them for malicious purposes against the company from external locations. This also aided the customer with their security audit of their environment, improving their overall evaluated score for compliancy.

Empower Your Data With Microsoft

Gone are the days when a retail office must rely on multiple expensive servers and providers to manage applications like email, phone, file storage, payroll, and accounting systems.

Your technology provider can offer flexible, flat-rate solutions that reduce hardware maintenance and empower your staff, including:

File Sharing:Share files and restrict access to specific users track views, and set time limits on accessibility, all from your mobile device, laptop, or workstation.
Security: Immediately restrict system access to terminated employees and counter parties, and add new users on a flexible licensing and computing plan, without having to wait for hardware deliveries, repairs, and setups.
Customized Support:Your technology provider can provide flexible support by leveraging partner relationships and worldwide engineering teams.

Is The Cloud Right For Your Firm?

There are risks to migrating to a cloud computing platform. Primarily, your network’s speed and performance relies on the internet to perform. This means that you must have a speedy internet connection or the option to upgrade at an affordable rate.

You are also relying on third party providers to maintain and protect your systems in their data centers at a level that suits your performance and risk profile.

Explore Your Opportunities

When it comes to evaluating your firm’s performance needs, cost-savings opportunities, and benefits of technology investment and leveraging cloud computing, it is all about choosing the right technology partners to help you achieve your goals.

At our firm, we leverage over 20 years of technology expertise to help your CPA firm build an action plan, risk profile, and investment roadmap to assist in your decision.