Calvis, a leading IT and management consultancy for the professional services sector, has been appointed by Pinnacle, an asset manager, developer and operator of distribution facilities across Europe, to manage the selection process for the installation of property management and finance systems into its growing business operations in Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Germany.
Specifically, the systems will provide Pinnacle with an enhanced capability to capture, analyze, control and manage property and financial data and processes, in a manner that supports its pan-European growth plans while recognizing the differing regulatory requirements of each country in which it operates. The new systems will also support Pinnacle’s increasing number of investment clients and their diverse informational needs.
As part of the assignment, Calvis will be evaluating specialist vendors that offer both property and finance functionalities. The Pinnacle assignment will follow Calvis’s traditional vendor selection approach, which includes four distinct phases: solution discovery, selection, pilot and implementation. The final phase of the project is expected to be completed towards the end of 2009.
Pinnacle is owned by Arcapita Industrial Management, the logistics warehouse specialized real estate investment management subsidiary of Arcapita Bank, a Bahrain based institution.
Justin Chuter, a principal in Arcapita’s London Real Estate Investment team, said: “We are in the fortunate position of having a large, focussed pan-European portfolio and the ability and desire to grow our portfolio even in these difficult economic times. This has enabled us to seize the opportunity to implement a new technology platform that will build on a solid foundation for managing the existing portfolio and enhance our capacity to exploit emerging opportunities in the future. Calvis were recommended to us and have been key in guiding us through the process both in terms of their understanding and interpretation of our business needs and their extensive relationships with our peers and the software vendor community.”
Chris Lees, executive director at Calvis, said: “This particular vendor selection engagement provides us with some interesting regulatory and legislative challenges. We need to pay special attention to the flexibility of each proposition that we evaluate. From the conversations that we are having with similar organizations, companies are increasingly seeing the benefits of a robust, single source, pan-European service offering such as the one being provided by Pinnacle. Therefore, it will stand us in good stead to have this type of exposure with a high profile global brand such as Arcapita.”