3 Value-Added Strategies Timber Holding Companies Should NEVER Miss Out On

We just got back from the “Who Will Own the Forest?” conference at the World Forestry Center in Portland, and, of course, were blown away by the location, the content, and the people.

In particular, Clarence Neese and I were captivated by the conversations regarding investment outcomes. We are, after all, in the business of helping TIMOs maximize their timberland portfolio value.

From the platform, as well as in the hallways and over dinner, we heard time and again that the possibility of getting strong returns in this economy are, at best, slim.

While we’ve seen first-hand the economic hits that TIMOs and timberland REITs have taken as a result of slow housing market recovery and low stumpage prices, we have to respectfully – and strongly — disagree.

Stronger returns are possible.

How?

By leveraging technology-based solutions to:

• Automate processes, including error-prone manual tasks
• Increase efficiencies
• Streamline operations
• Eliminate duplication of data and effort
• Capture and organize information into secure and searchable forms and formats

Here, we offer three technology-based, value-added strategies every forestry investment manager needs to know.

1. Improve transactional value.
   When it comes to acquiring and disposing of timberland investments, yours are only as good as your due diligence. A technology-based solution like Orbis’ LITAS^SM can help you collect, organize, and confirm data and information from a wide variety of sources. As one of the most comprehensive land acquisition tools in the timberland industry, LITAS processes should be an integrated part of land purchase and sale transactions, especially for title insurance applications.
3. Automate record keeping.
   Avoid information overload, displaced records, loss of data integrity, and more with a technology-based solution like Orbis’ Atlas Land Records. Because it’s cloud-based, Atlas helps you improve accountability and security of information, so you increase both data reliability and accessibility.
5. Simplify tracking and reporting.
   From non-timber value for hunt leases, to property taxes, to carbon management, Orbis’ technology-based solutions and software applications can help you increase efficiencies and administration with secure, convenient, cloud-based operations. Our solutions can help you reduce both overall manhours and burdensome manual processes to improve overall efficiency and satisfaction.

It’s Never Too Late To Start

Even if you’re not leveraging available technology right now, there’s no better way to make a leap forward than to take a single step – a step as simple as automating property tax payments or cleaning up timberland investments records.

The point is, start somewhere, start now.

It’s easier than you think to implement innovative, technology-based solutions to reduce accounting, tax, and land records errors, and improve accuracy. Moreover, dependable, searchable, secure data can help you make smarter business decisions, and achieve bigger, better, bottom line returns.