Scott Floyd is the national sales manager at CAPREIT, a leading multifamily real estate company. He remotely oversees 16 properties across 10 states, and he says one thing makes his job possible: automation.
Floyd recently joined a pair of industry experts from SmartRent for a webinar titled “Tailored Automation Strategies for Smart Operations and Smart Communities.” During the webinar, he talked candidly about how automation saves his maintenance technicians massive amounts of time by handling (and elevating) calls, eliminating paperwork and detecting problems before they happen.
And those are just some advantages of automating operations in multifamily communities. If you missed the webinar, you can watch the replay or keep reading to learn about its key takeaways.
How automation helps CAPREIT get things done
CAPREIT deploys SmartRent’s Answer Automation, Work Management, and Single Sign-On across its portfolio. The company recently implemented smart home technology at its build-to-rent community, which will have no on-site staff. CAPREIT is one of SmartRent’s first customers to integrate Self-Guided Tours with Answer Automation, allowing prospects to schedule and take tours without site-team assistance.
Floyd said his teams at CAPREIT have experienced four benefits from implementing automation:
1. They get an organizational view of each property
Using a centralized task management and mobile maintenance platform gives Floyd accurate and invaluable views of the organization.
“Being able to go in and look into every property and see with detail what’s going on, where they’re struggling or succeeding, and how long it’s taking to get work orders done allows me to do what I do from afar,” Floyd said.
2. They eliminate delays through tool integration
Everyone at CAPREIT uses the same integrated tools, which improves efficiency.
“It’s all real-time,” Floyd said. “There’s no lag. There’s no delay. There’s no going from this system to that system. Having it all integrated together … you’re getting to that task instantly.”
3. They save time
Most of Floyd’s team members have adapted quickly to using automation tools. Because they’re all using the same system, some maintenance personnel make a game out of comparing how quickly they complete work orders.
Automation also saves time by handling and escalating calls and eliminating paperwork. Plus, using smart locks means maintenance personnel don’t need to go to the office to pick up keys. The time savings add up.
“I’ve found by implementing all of this, each technician saves 10 to 15 minutes per work order per day,” Floyd said.
4. They find problems before they happen
CAPREIT’s maintenance teams deploy smart leak and humidity sensors to detect problems before they cause property damage.
“We’re finding the problem before the resident even reports it,” Floyd said.
How automation benefits community operations
Across industries, employees at companies that have embraced automation and AI are 90% more likely to report high productivity. Alex Mauro, senior director of product at SmartRent, laid out three specific advantages multifamily companies can achieve by embracing automation:
1. Streamline administrative tasks
From leasing to maintenance requests, automation frees staff to focus on more strategic initiatives. Automation tools, including task management and smart-home technology, reduce manual labor, minimize errors and increase operational efficiency.
2. Reduce the impact of staff turnover
Automating routine tasks reduces your dependence on individual team members and ensures continuity in operations during personnel changes. Automation also creates standard, well-documented processes to make onboarding new staff members easier.
3. Enhance the resident experience
From online lease applications to automated rent payments and maintenance requests, residents benefit from automated processes that create convenience and efficiency. Automated communication tools for work orders and community events provide a more seamless resident experience.
SmartRent’s Smart Operations Solutions
SmartRent offers many automation tools to help communities streamline operations, and the company continually innovates new solutions. Mauro provided an overview of SmartRent’s available solutions and offered a sneak peek at what’s to come in the near future.
Walk & Talk
With both English and Spanish capabilities, this AI-powered voice assistant revolutionizes task creation in the field.
“It works as easy as talking into your device and saying, ‘There is a water leak in unit 104,’ ” Mauro said. “From there, the mobile app will be able to identify the category, subcategory, and place where the leak is and fill in all that information.”
Mauro said the tool eliminates 70% of the taps typically required for task creation.
Templates & Boards
Templates streamline the make-ready process based on resident move-in and move-out data. The system automatically creates work orders to save time and ensure a smooth transition for new residents.
The Boards feature turns the task list into an electronic make-ready board, providing real-time status updates and enhancing collaboration among team members. It replaces (and improves upon) the office whiteboard. “No one bumping their hand into it or running their hand across it is going to delete your data,” Mauro said.
Assets
This tool within the Work Management software automatically links assets to tasks and creates a complete history for each one. Thanks to built-in workflows, replacing assets is simple, keeping your asset management accurate.
Answer Automation
This automated answering service ensures prompt responses to urgent tasks. It allows communities to set their own escalation rules to notify designated users by phone when an urgent task arises.
“Answer Automation follows the chain until someone accepts the task, ensuring that urgent matters are addressed promptly and efficiently,” Mauro said.
Future roadmap
Mauro said SmartRent’s future focus is on automation. Her team is working on a rules engine that will use “if this, then that” conditions to automatically generate work based on specific criteria. “It will allow us to close the loop on tasks,” she said.
SmartRent’s product team is also investing in AI solutions. “We’re going to build on the functionality in Walk & Talk,” Mauro said. “Our goal is to … make user interfaces more intuitive. Users will be able to do actions by simply explaining what they want to do in plain text.”
Bottom line: Automation improves operational efficiency
The experts who participated in the webinar agreed that automation in community operations saves time, prevents costly damage and offers countless other advantages. CAPREIT and other communities are already experiencing the benefits of automation, and your community can, too.
Floyd put it this way: “By being able to drill in and see trends, you can forecast things coming up, provide the best resident experience and make sure your teams aren’t getting burnt out.”
Watch the on-demand webinar to listen to the entire conversation about how embracing automation can make your multifamily community operate more efficiently.