Cromwell reduced risk by replacing their in-house spreadsheets with Forbury
Achieving a consistent modelling approach across their assets
Cromwell Property Group
Real Estate Investment Management
HEAD OFFICE: Brisbane, AU
OPERATIONS: On three continents, with a global investor base
TOTAL ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT: $11.6 billion across Australia, New Zealand and Europe
PLATFORM: 440 staff in 28 offices across 14 countries
Lachlan Stewart
Portfolio Manager
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Before working with Forbury, Cromwell used a myriad of Excel documents built in-house by individual valuers. Cromwell began working with Forbury Commercial and Lachlan recalls;
"A focus for us was to have a consistent modelling approach on assets, and between the team, to provide comparable outputs to access new opportunities and the existing portfolio."
Lachlan undertook thorough research and exploration of options on the market. Our team took Lachlan through a demo prior to purchase and we asked him what made Cromwell Property Group choose Forbury. He said;
"The product's ease of use and scalability, using the excel base, allowed for a level of customization in the outputs that could be easily adapted to the evolving business needs."
— Lachlan Stewart
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A New Approach
We recently spoke with Lachlan Stewart from Cromwell Property Group to discuss property, valuation software, and how business was progressing with the Forbury product.
Lachlan held senior analyst roles in the commercial real estate industry prior to taking up his current position as Portfolio Manager at Cromwell. Like many commercial and retail valuers, Lachlan and his team were looking for a solution that was transferrable within the organisation and a reliable model that integrated into their business seamlessly.
Enter Forbury
Forbury is the market leader in APAC, used by around 140 real estate groups completing over 600,000 valuations and feasibility studies a year.
The Forbury suite (Commercial & Retail) meant Cromwell could transfer from the models they had built in-house and take the team onto a standard system across the organisation. Excel provided enough familiarity for the Cromwell team to intuitively work with the Forbury system and get up and running easily. Full integration to the Forbury model has reduced the risk within the business because all staff are working on a fully supported and progressive modelling tool. Implementing Forbury enabled Cromwell to remove ‘key person’ risk from the business.
The focus on innovation and continual development has been a core function valued by Cromwell. Our teams work closely together to continue to develop the product based on Cromwell’s specific needs. Lachlan acknowledged that the engagement with our developers is a notable difference in our company, and we find that working closely with Lachlan, who is an expert in his field, helps our team understand the nuanced and bespoke requirements of the Cromwell group.
