Manage the Exceptions, Not the Invoices

Manage by exception

Good PropTech should change the job, not just the screen. Routine invoices should be captured, checked against the contract, matched to the correct meter and property, coded to the right fund and schedule, and prepared for payment under the managing agent’s agreed controls. Only exceptions should need specialist attention: perhaps the VAT rate is wrong, an invoice is duplicated or consumption has suddenly jumped.

But the aim is not to replace a property manager’s pile of routine invoices with a smaller pile of problem invoices. With the right blend of technology and expertise, the software flags the issue, an energy specialist investigates it and deals with the supplier, and the resolved invoice returns to the normal workflow. The property manager becomes involved only when their building knowledge or a decision is genuinely required.

Bad data, faster mistakes

There is an important catch. Automation does not repair bad information; it repeats it. It merely amplifies the instructions and information it is given. Attach a meter to the wrong building, legal entity, fund or schedule and technology can misallocate the cost with impressive speed. Proper mobilisation and accurate data therefore matter every bit as much as the software.

At Signature Energy, we processed more than 50,000 invoices in 2025. At that scale, there is no room for “that will probably do”: the process must cover what happens when something does not follow the rules.

The Nottingham test

Ibuprofen was discovered in my home town of Nottingham in the 1960s by Dr Stewart Adams and his team at Boots Pharmaceuticals. Its appeal is simple: it targets the problem, does its job quietly and lets you get on with your day. Good technology should work the same way. It should handle routine processes in the background, identify what needs attention and stop a minor irritation from becoming a full-blown headache.

Integration, not another login

Managing agents do not need another impressive dashboard, login and source of information to monitor. A polished portal achieves little if somebody must re-key its information elsewhere. Energy data should flow into the property management and accounting systems they already use. Our integration with MRI Qube is one example, but the principle should apply across the market: technology should be shaped around the managing agent’s workflows, not the software provider’s preferred process.

The test is simple. How many manual steps have genuinely disappeared? What happens when an invoice is wrong? Is there a proper audit trail? Does the information reach the correct accounting system? Most importantly, who takes responsibility for resolving the exception? If the answer is still “the property manager”, the burden has been digitised rather than removed.

Good process design anticipates the next step, so we have applied a little process engineering of our own. Turn the magazine over and you will meet a managing agent still waiting for an energy supplier to answer the phone. Please don’t disturb him: his call is apparently important to them and should be answered shortly!

Martin Davis, Managing Director, Signature Energy