Patrick Ghilani and John Ensign

There isn’t a corner of commercial property management that MRI Software doesn’t touch. The Solon, Ohio-based company provides software to owners across asset classes, handling everything from lease management and rent collection to work orders. 

Last year, MRI Software earned over $800 million in revenue with about half coming from residential properties, while staying profitable, according to CEO Patrick Ghilani. This year, it’s on track to make about as much, while again remaining in the black.

“This is a company that’s been around since 1971,” Ghilani said. “You couldn’t survive for 55 years without being profitable.”

MRI Software’s executive team isn’t worried about AI, which some on Wall Street think could replace software as a service (SaaS) products, including those from MRI Software. The thinking goes that instead of outsourcing, customers will create their own software using AI and cutting SaaS contracts. 

“We went from card-punch mainframe machines to AI, but our mission hasn’t changed,” Ghilani said. Only “the tools change.” 

John Ensign pointed to the initial hype over Microsoft’s Excel, which was released in the 1980s. “Everybody was doing spreadsheets,” he said. Then people realized that “the effort and pain to maintain it is huge, and it’s not our core competency.”

This year, the company notched a big contract with Bank of America to service the properties within the institution’s asset management division. MRI Software itself is looking to take advantage of AI. Ghilani said the company laid off employees this year to focus on research and innovation. 

MRI Software, which is owned by three private equity firms, reportedly explored a $10 billion IPO last year but failed to go public. Yet, Ghilani isn’t concerned, saying “we’re in no rush for a liquidity event. Our focus is continued growth.”