SmartCrowd's digital transformation with Pluto

SmartCrowd is a fractionalized property investing company, a concept that democratizes property investment by allowing multiple investors to collectively own and benefit from rental income. This case study sheds light on how SmartCrowd used Pluto to streamline and optimize its expense management while managing a portfolio of over 100 properties in the UAE.

Introduction

SmartCrowd revolutionizes real estate investment in Dubai, providing an affordable and hassle-free way for individuals to invest in income-generating properties collectively. 

As MENA's first regulated crowdfunding platform, SmartCrowd simplifies the investment process, allowing users to browse pre-vetted opportunities, invest seamlessly, and track their portfolios through a digital platform. Regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), SmartCrowd stands out for its market-leading returns, offering an average annualized return of 10.70%. 

Investors benefit from an all-digital experience, security, transparency, and a track record of consistently outperforming the real estate market.

The Challenges: Managing 100+ Properties With a Traditional Approach

SmartCrowd faced significant challenges in managing the expenses associated with a vast portfolio of properties. As the number of properties increased, the complexity of tracking payments, service charges, and government fees became overwhelming. 

They used the traditional approach to manage expenses, which included:

• Credit Cards: The company relied on a single credit card to make payments for all properties. This approach quickly exhausted the credit card and caused administrative headaches. 
• Excel Sheets: The team spent hours maintaining the Excel spreadsheets to track expenses for each property.  

This approach was not only time-consuming but also prone to errors.

The Solution: Digital Expense Management Platform 

Pluto helped SmartCrowd streamline its internal processes. SmartCrowd replaced its traditional methods and digitized its entire expense management system with Pluto and deployed following Pluto’s solution: 

1.Pluto’s Physical Corporate Cards 

SmartCrowd used Pluto’s physical corporate cards to issue separate cards to individuals for specific tasks. In the past, the company used a single credit card to make payments for all properties, including service charges and land department fees, causing administrative challenges.

With Pluto, each person had a dedicated card for specific expenses. This gave them visibility into the expenses, even on a per-property basis. Additionally, they saved about 40 hours per week, which was earlier spent on organizing Excel sheets and tracking expenses. 

It is much easier to have oversight over all the expenses… Our team saved a minimum of 5 hours per week cause making a sheet, putting the property names, then we have monthly expenses and track them.. It’s not just paying right; it’s using that information later.

Ambreen Manzoor

2.Expense Insights 

With 100+ properties to manage, SmartCrowd had a lot of expenses on a single card which later had to be categorized and tracked onto Excel sheets. 

Pluto enabled SmartCrowd to consolidate all the expenses on a digital dashboard and get detailed insights that could be tracked down per property. As a result, the team could pull out better information.

Insights help us plan how much expenses we can incur… that is very important for us because we can’t be using one property’s funds for another property, so we have to keep it separate. 

Ambreen Manzoor

Streamline Expense Management With Advanced Reporting

Pluto resulted in significant time savings for SmartCrowd, an estimated 40 hours per week, by digitizing its entire expense management system. Pluto replaced their old systems with physical corporate cards and digital expense management systems to simplify spending and tracking. SmartCrowd could easily categorize the expenses, which streamlined financial reporting for each property.

In fact, SmartCrowd looked forward to expanding its usage with separate cards and tags for each property and syncing with its accounting software.  

What Has Been Your Favorite Part About Pluto? 

Pluto has helped us a lot because we have 100+ properties now, so managing the expenses was getting really difficult… The customer experience has been good, like proactively the physical cards were given.

Ambreen Manzoor

‍

She was particularly impressed with Pluto's customer support team. Whenever SmartCrowd reached out for assistance, the Pluto customer support team promptly addressed its queries and provided quick solutions. This responsiveness was invaluable in ensuring a seamless experience for the finance team.

Conclusion

As SmartCrowd continues to expand its utilization of Pluto's solutions and further integrates them into its operational framework, this successful collaboration serves as a testament to the transformative impact of technological innovation in optimizing intricate financial processes within the real estate investment domain.

If you're seeking to streamline your company's expense management and revolutionize your approach to financial oversight, join the ranks of successful innovators like SmartCrowd. Sign up for Pluto today to unlock a world of simplified, efficient, and empowered expense management solutions tailored to meet your unique business needs. Experience firsthand the seamless integration, proactive support, and transformative capabilities that Pluto offers, empowering your team to focus on growth and financial success.