CUSTOMER STORY

Bringing Visibility to 10,000+ Locations Across 25 Countries

Background

Amplifon is a global leader in hearing care with approximately 10,000 hearing centers in 25 countries and they have been rapidly expanding their corporate retail presence in the United States. Michele Caputo, Senior Vice President of Corporate Retail, joined the company in 2020 to help build and scale the division as part of a broader strategy to modernize the industry and strengthen the company’s direct retail footprint.

When the U.S. corporate retail organization launched in January 2021, his team began with roughly 160 locations. In just a few years, the portfolio grew over 20% annually to more than 400 stores, bringing with it significant operational complexity. Caputo realized that in order to scale, his team needed something different,  because every new store added another lease, landlord relationship, set of lease deadlines, and operational dependencies that had to be coordinated across real estate, facilities, finance, legal, and operations teams.  

Amplifon’s goal was to grow the network in a way that remained both sustainable and scalable, and achieving that required stronger visibility and control over the company’s real estate portfolio as it continued to grow.

Challenges

As Amplifon expanded its corporate retail footprint in the United States, the complexity of managing its growing real estate portfolio increased just as quickly. What began as a manageable set of lease obligations soon became a network of hundreds of locations, each with its own lease terms, critical dates, landlord relationships, and operational considerations.

Like many growing organizations, Amplifon initially relied on spreadsheets and manual internal tracking processes that over time became more difficult to integrate with Oracle, their global ERP system. While these tools worked during the early stages of the portfolio, the company recognized that continuing to scale would require incremental resources select a more adaptable software platform to ensure consistent visibility and coordination across the enterprise.

Even with dedicated team members overseeing renewals and lease management for roughly 160 stores, the manual tracking created limitations. As the portfolio grew and acquisitions accelerated, maintaining complete visibility into deadlines, documents, and obligations across hundreds of locations became increasingly challenging. 

At the same time, Amplifon’s expansion strategy involved evaluating new markets, acquiring independent operators, and opening additional locations. These opportunities often required reviewing multiple leases and location agreements within tight timelines. 

“When you’re moving quickly on acquisitions or evaluating multiple locations, it’s not always easy to immediately see every potential risk within the lease structure.”

As Amplifon’s portfolio grew, strengthening portfolio management became a key step in ensuring the company had the decision architecture in place to continue expanding while maintaining strong operational oversight.

A global leader in hearing care with approximately 10,000 hearing centers in 25 countries.

Miracle-Ear, Inc. is a leading hearing aid and hearing care provider, operating through a network of both franchised and corporate retail locations across the United States. As a subsidiary of Amplifon, a Milan-based global leader in hearing care, Miracle-Ear is backed by a powerful international presence spanning approximately 10,000 hearing centers in 25 countries.

Solution

To support the continued growth of its retail footprint, Amplifon implemented Leasecake as a centralized platform for managing its lease portfolio and real estate operations. The goal was to move beyond static tracking tools and establish a system that could provide real-time visibility, reduce risk, and scale alongside the company’s growing  network of locations.

Leasecake brought Amplifon’s lease data, documents, contacts, and key dates into one unified system. Instead of relying on manual processes maintained by individuals, the platform created a single source of truth that could be accessed across teams—from real estate and facilities to finance and executive leadership. With hundreds of locations and multiple internal stakeholders involved in managing them, having a reliable, shared system became essential to keeping operations aligned.

Caputo notes that one of the first things that stood out was Leasecake was a very approachable intuitive platform for their fast-moving retail organization.

“Something I remember from the beginning was that it was easy to use. That was important for us because many different people in the organization need to access the information. At the same time, we were able to tailor the dashboards to the needs of the moment, which meant the system could evolve with us as the business grew.”

The platform’s flexibility allowed Amplifon to adapt reporting and dashboards based on what the organization needed most at any given time—whether that meant tracking upcoming lease expirations, monitoring maintenance activity, or reviewing key operational metrics tied to specific locations.

Leasecake also became a valuable decision-support tool for leadership. Caputo frequently references the platform when evaluating investments, store improvements, or lease negotiations, allowing him to quickly verify lease timelines and obligations before committing resources.

“If someone on the team says a store needs refurbishment or we need to make an investment, I can log in and immediately check when the lease expires. If it’s three years from now, that leads to a very different conversation than if the lease is ending soon. Having that information available instantly makes those decisions much easier.

Beyond portfolio visibility, Leasecake strengthened collaboration across the teams responsible for acquisitions, integrations, and day-to-day operations. When new stores are acquired or opened, multiple departments must coordinate simultaneously—from HR onboarding employees to facilities installing equipment and real estate teams negotiating lease assignments. By centralizing lease information and location details, Leasecake ensures everyone involved is working from the same information.

Finance teams also benefit from direct access to accurate lease data through the platform.  With Leasecake, stakeholders can access the most current data themselves, improving accuracy and reducing administrative effort.

“For someone in my position, one of the biggest advantages is that multiple teams can access information directly and quickly. Instead of asking for files or waiting for updates, they can log in and see exactly what they need. That saves time and improves the accuracy of the information across the organization.”

The platform’s integration capabilities further enhanced operational efficiency. By connecting Leasecake with Amplifon’s financial systems, including Oracle, the company streamlined rent payment management and improved the accuracy of financial reporting tied to its real estate portfolio.

Caputo highlights that the relationship with Leasecake has also been defined by a collaborative, partnership-oriented approach. As Amplifon’s needs evolved—whether through portfolio growth, system integrations, or expansion into new markets—the platform evolved alongside them.

“What I like most about Leasecake is that we can grow together. Both sides are open-minded to partner, to understand what the need is today and where the need is going to be. That willingness to evolve with the customer makes a real difference.”

As Amplifon continued expanding its corporate retail network, Leasecake provided the structure, visibility, and flexibility needed to support that growth—helping the company manage hundreds of new hearing center leases with greater confidence and efficiency.

“It saves time and money —100%. I’m a happy customer because if something is working, it’s worth being shared. In an organization like ours, many different teams rely on the same real estate information. Now people can simply log in and access the information themselves. Finance, real estate, legal, and operations can all see the same data at the same time. For someone in my position, that’s extremely valuable because it removes a lot of the friction around sharing information and helps the entire organization work more efficiently.”

Michele Caputo

Senior Vice President of Corporate Retail

Results with Leasecake

Reduced lease risk across a large portfolio

Leasecake provides centralized visibility for all stakeholders, including real estate, facilities, finance, legal, and the operations teams, with shared access to lease terms, documents, and critical deadlines across Amplifon’s growing retail footprint. By consolidating key information into a single system of record, these teams can more confidently manage cash flow, renewals, obligations, and negotiations—helping reduce the risk of cash flow impacts, missed deadlines or overlooked provisions as the portfolio scales.

Global implementation

The success of the platform was observed by global leadership during their visits to different countries which led to a confident recommendation and rollout in Canada, to ultimately having Leasecake implemented globally as a best practice for managing lease portfolios at scale.

Generated measurable operational ROI

Caputo estimates that with a system like Leasecake in place, a single real estate manager can now effectively oversee approximately 200–250 stores because lease data, deadlines, and documents are centralized in one platform. Scalability, given personnel cost, can be more efficient. Also, avoiding one missed early termination provision can save hundreds of thousands of dollars because managing large portfolios requires significant administrative coordination across real estate deadlines, reporting, and financial tracking.

Lease Management Software 3 years in a row

Lease Management Software 3 years in a row

Lease Management Software 3 years in a row