As we continue to move into the age of artificial intelligence and automation, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a task or industry untouched by new technology. The apartment industry is no exception. In fact, technology is playing a major role in improving communications between residents and a property’s team of employees.

For residents, the property’s maintenance staff often becomes the most important team members. In this new age of automation and AI, technology offers incredible ways to make maintenance practices more efficient than ever before.

Below, we explore three ways technology can help differentiate a property’s maintenance staff.

 

1. Work Order Notification

Traditionally, residents submitted work orders through the front office. The office would then send the request to the maintenance team. This system worked well—except when it didn’t.

Now, mobile technology allows residents to send work orders directly to the maintenance team. Notifications appear instantly on maintenance staff’s mobile phones, enabling them to pick up requests in real time.

For larger properties, this shift saves the front office valuable time by cutting out the middleman. It also helps the maintenance crew by reducing unnecessary trips to the office before tending to their next issue.

 

 

2. Resident Feedback

Chatbots are becoming common in businesses that seek customer feedback. Apartment communities can use this same technology to measure a resident’s satisfaction with a maintenance request.

Once a work order is complete, the system can send the resident a text on their mobile phone. The message asks them to rate the job in areas such as quickness, friendliness, and effectiveness.

This type of feedback plays a key role in managing an efficient and accountable maintenance team.

 

 

3. Maintenance Accountability and Performance Measurement

Maintenance is a big part of the cost of running a successful multifamily property. By implementing a tracking software for maintenance work orders and resident feedback, a property manager can see clear reports, patterns,  and identify places of weakness. Maintenance tracking software can save a property a substantial amount of money by identifying and clarifying recurring problems or poorly performing maintenance team members.

On the flip side, this type of software can highlight top performing maintenance team members that might be due for a promotion or a raise in pay to keep them feeling appreciated and loyal to their positions.

There are many companies that specialize in maintenance automation software. These tools can benefit a large, multi-property company or an individually-owned apartment community. It’s time to upgrade your maintenance staff and their capabilities in 2019, and the main reason may not be what you think!

 

 

4. Employee Retention

Millennials, today’s driving work force, prefer working with technology over tedious paperwork. According to a survey done my Multifamily Insiders  it was reported that many millennial maintenance team members have left previous maintenance positions because of the lack of technological advancements in their day-to-day work activities.

Technology is not just for improving the efficiency of your current maintenance team, but it’s also for ensuring the future of your maintenance workforce.

 

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay