Tech Talk

Accruent unveiled new products—some upgrades to existing solutions—at its annual user’s conference, held April 10-13, in Santa Monica, Calif. The technology is designed to take real estate project management (RPM) to new heights and “help retailers become winners in the race for space,” said Mark Zygmontowicz, managing director of predictive analytics for Troy, N.Y.-based MapInfo, an Accruent technology partner.

Accruent 7, slated for phased releases throughout this year and into the first quarter of 2008, includes the company’s next-generation lease-administration tool—“a culmination of a three-year effort to create a 100% Web-based product,” explained Mark Friedman, CEO of Accruent.

The lease-administration solution, along with the company’s other RPM applications, is powered by alignment with strategic partners. Functionally, Business Objects—seamlessly embedded in the 7.0 application—and Microsoft Office create a user-friendly environment that allows users to operate within the comfortably familiar Word, Excel and Outlook setting as they manage leases, site selection, project management and other real estate departmental activities.

MapInfo has partnered with Accruent to add powerful predictive analytics to the RPM mix, and CoStar Group, Bethesda, Md., is integrating site information and data that will allow users to search available locations—even competitors’ sites—within any given market.