How to Address the Top 3 Smart Apartment Challenges for Property Managers

Property managers serve an important role of supporting residents who live on the property and stewarding the property to meet prospective residents’ expectations. As property managers rise up to address smoothly implementing smart technology on the properties, they must also confront perceived challenges. By understanding these myths around the challenges and what the truths are, you will be able to see that smart isn’t scary!

Below are some of the top perceived challenges for property staff around smart technology (these are based off of survey responses in the Parks Associates Research Project on “Smart Home & MDUs, the Property Manager View):

1. Problems that can come up with technology

What comes to mind when you think of technology problems? Wi-Fi connection issues, a glitchy application, etc...However, a majority of property managers indicate superior user experiences with the smart devices installed on their properties. To break this down, their positive attitudes towards smart device installation and set-up included feeling that training staff how to use the devices was easy, the cost to troubleshoot initial problems was minimal, tech integration/set up with a vendor was simple, teaching residents how to use the devices was easy, and more.

To make sure that the process is as smooth as possible, prior to the installation, decision makers and property managers can ensure that the smart apartment vendor will provide engaging training for property staff, quick response times for customer support, and other systems and processes that will make sure the process is as smooth as possible.

2. Wondering if the investment will pay off with resident retention and recruitment

Property managers want to keep current residents happy, and bring in more happy residents. Retaining current residents reduces time and effort spent on turn, and recruiting new residents quickly decreases costs spent on vacant units. Can smart technology help with this?

Yes, properties offering smart technology and property-wide Wi-Fi do well to stay competitive. Specifically, multifamily properties that house students and seniors are almost all planning to offer bulk internet services in some form in the next 12 months.

3. Offering Wi-Fi could allow issues with cybersecurity and misuse

With any technology, there are risks of badly-intentioned people taking advantage of system vulnerabilities. One-third of multifamily properties offering Wi-Fi experience problems such as maintaining connectivity and managing credentials.

Fortunately, there are audits that check for the security measures of an organization’s systems. Companies can choose to go through these audits or not, so organizations that do seek them out care about security and can share unbiased, third-party audits with prospective customers. Compliance with other emerging security and privacy standards such as SOC 2, GDPR, and CCPA can help alleviate these concerns. To learn more about the SOC 2 report compared with the ISO, read more here.

By addressing the myths around the top three smart apartment challenges for property managers, we can see that smart isn’t scary.

Do you have more questions about smart technology? Learn more by contacting us today.