The rising trend of tenant facing technology in corporate real estate (CRE) has resulted in a slew of new technology platforms hitting the market. These glitzy apps and programs have all the indications of a modern and magical solution that will solve every tenant related challenge faced by property managers. These tenant apps boast the latest features and reporting dashboards, but what do they actually do for your team?
In order to breakdown the function of each platform, it is important to recognize the two distinct categories: tenant facing platforms and operational tenant automation platforms.
Tenant management platforms help property managers manage tenant requests, work orders and accounting systems. These platforms offer technology solutions to automate property management tasks and processes, while improving overall efficiency. Property teams opt for these platforms as an attempt to alleviate the pressure of their expanding workloads/scope of work. The thing is, technology shouldn’t just be used to make it easier to manage your building. It should also be used to engage your tenant base and make their lives easier.
Tenant facing platforms generally serve this purpose. They are the property apps that list building amenities, news, events and promotions for existing and prospective tenants. These apps are designed to communicate to/with tenants. The best solutions also report analytics regarding app engagement and usage. Property teams offer these apps to accommodate tech-savvy tenants in their building and embrace the innovative technology in the industry. Unfortunately, many property teams add to their workload by implementing these platforms because information and digital communication must be maintained.
So, which platform is the most valuable for property teams today? The answer is tricky because property managers often need both. They need each solution to be tailored to their needs. However, many property managers adopt new technology that does not actually solve their day-to-day problems. Custom solutions are not the trend for most CRE Tech startups. Most platforms are pitched as catchall solutions for every problem, when in actuality, they are not.
It is important to make sure that new tenant technology solutions actually solve the problems they’re intended for. It seems straightforward, but it can be easy to get distracted by shiny features and capabilities. The easiest way to stay on course when choosing new technology is to carefully define the problem your team faces.
For instance, if your team cannot maintain reliable communication with tenants and have an abundance of forms and documents that are not easily accessed, then the right type of solution would create a digital repository for information and offer alternate modes of communication, like push notifications. If your team is trying to hack existing technology outside of its intended purpose, like using work orders for On-Demand HVAC requests, then you need a solution to manage On-Demand HVAC requests. Just because the technology can be applied to a problem, doesn’t mean its the most efficient way to solve it.
Genea offers custom software solutions for some of the most renowned property management teams across the nation. We focus on solving the challenges that property managers bring to our attention and automating these challenging processes to ease workloads. The emphasis is always on providing the best customer service and solutions and not simply compiling the most impressive and exhaustive lists of features that there is no express need for.
If you are interested in Genea’s software and services for your property team, schedule a product demo.
