One avenue — the value of unified experiences in PropTech
In many multi-family buildings, property managers send pre-resident welcome emails with a variety of links and important move-in information. This method of on-boarding tenants is representative of the disjointed rental experience: to move into a building new residents must navigate multiple service providers, chase down a wide variety of important policy and account information, capture credentials for tenant-facing technology, coordinate move-in times and secure elevator access. Each check-list item represents a fragmented and stressful process ahead of unpacking boxes and adjusting to a new space.
These experiences continue once residents move into their units. Renters are likely to face an incoherent mix of resources for core rental tasks: antiquated web portals for rent payment, support phone-numbers for maintenance issues, and separate applications for community events and package notifications. Disconnected technology and services lead to resident dissatisfaction and a possible “no” once renters hit potential renewal dates. Who wants to manage so many accounts, phone numbers and important emails?
The future is a connected, seamless experience
The future of property management is a unified digital experience in buildings. By unified, I mean one credential, easily accessible payment methods, vendor integration directly in the user application, and connections to property management systems; one platform with a variety of embedded services. Unified also means software that provides continuous value throughout the unique life stages of residents: future-resident, resident, and renewal. Really great unified digital experiences capture life-cycle needs and are far better than a collection of disjointed tools and services across multiple digital products.
Examples of unified digital experiences in the wild
Outside of real estate, the best digital experiences simultaneously connect the latest technology infrastructure and deliver a single, well-designed interface for users. Examples of great unified experiences are:
· Payment vaulting for ride share services. I use Uber/Lift every single day and never have to re-enter my credit card information. Payment gateways connect to the rideshare app, and fade into the background to power my credit card transactions. Sign up was simple and each new branded service (e.g. Uber Eats) maintains my credentials and payment sources.
· Unified communications for meetings and demos. My team uses Zoom and can schedule video presentations directly in Microsoft Outlook: two separate providers that integrate seamlessly to maximize our productivity.
· Music streaming providers and platform services. My Spotify, Soundcloud, and Apple Music accounts connect directly to my Sonos Speaker App. Sonos quickly validated my various accounts during setup. I never have to enter my username and password again.
· HubSpot activity reports directly in Slack. Our business development and support teams use HubSpot to manage important customer details. We also use Slack to chat internally. HubSpot directly integrates to provide notifications on customer related status changes.
· Apple Car Play. The Maps program on my iPhone syncs with my car’s technology platform to make a seamless transition from phone to car. When I step into a new car with Car Play, the car conveniently asks me if I want to use the service.
The unified digital experience in multi-family real estate
Like the technology above, the future of property technology is a consumer-grade, connected digital experience for all elements of life in a building. Imagine, for a second, moving into a new apartment with a three-step unified digital experience:
1. The management company just approved your lease and you receive a welcome to a custom digital journey (the new-age welcome email). Your important resident information flows right into the welcome note.
2. You easily tackle all the stressful tasks from all the disparate suppliers through one central digital flow. No more support calls, customer service emails, account setup, etc.
3. You’re invited to the next stage of the digital journey, which is a mobile-app/remote control for life in your building. You’re pumped about this new building and its modern approach to renting. This is the start to a successful lease and a likely renewal.
This new age digital process is the direction that PropTech is heading. For too long, renters have maintained significantly lower expectations for building management than most other services in their consumer and professional lives. While beautiful new buildings, premium locations, and top of the line amenities are enticing, a guaranteed streamlined digital experience, full of time-saving conveniences, can be just as compelling.
Today, companies like Livly are partnering with the latest technology providers, creating connection points to the most essential services, and implementing clean, unified user experiences into property technology. We’re working with owners and property managers to digitally transform their rental offering. We expect that residents in Livly buildings will start to make lease decisions based on the digital platform offered in that property.
For more information on Livly and the value of unified digital experiences, please connect with us at www.livly.io
