Case study
Which block management tasks could be outsourced, and at what risk
Eight Asset Management, a new agency running on Blockman, worked with us to test which of a managing agent's processes could be outsourced. We mapped each one by who does it, what it costs, how specialist and repetitive it is, the risks, and the software an outsourced team would need.
2020
What we built
- Process-by-process outsourcing analysis
- Cost, specialism and risk per process
- Tooling needed for each hand-off
- Plan for wider research with other agencies
The challenge
Managing agents face labour costs rising faster than the fees they can charge per site. Some functions, such as out-of-hours cover and debt collection, are already outsourced. The question was which others could be, and what an agent would need to hand them over safely.
What we did
- 2020 — working sessions with Eight Asset Management to list its processes and who does each one
- Each process scored on cost, specialist knowledge, repetitiveness and risk, with notes on the tooling an outsourced team would need
What we built
A first-pass analysis of pre-sale enquiries (LPE1 forms), supplier invoices, lease reviews, handover from the previous agent, onboarding, posting service charge demands and company secretarial work.
The result
Some of the most repetitive work, such as LPE1 forms and supplier invoice entry, draws on data already in Blockman, so it could be outsourced given the right tooling. Other work, such as lease reviews sent to a law firm, would cost more than it saved. The next step was to repeat the sessions with other Blockman agencies.