Have you felt it? That buzz sweeping through CRE? Tech, tech, TECH! Everywhere I turn, I see articles like CRE Tech Trends for 2015; events like CRE // Tech Intersect, DisruptCRE and Realcomm (dedicated solely to emerging and established technologies); and new resources for CRE tech News.

The tech wildfire is spreading rapidly because there is (finally!) broad acceptance that a competitive advantage is lost or gained based on your technology tools and partners. Those who want to maintain their relevance in property management and operations must stay apprised of the latest tools and technology and be willing to make investments in the ones that will benefit their owners, employees and customers most.

But the one technology that has its tentacles in almost all parts of property management is building operations software. Which is why it’s one of the easiest ways to implement positive change quickly. A good property management system will be used and beloved by tenants, make your employees more efficient, and deliver data-driven intelligence that will give you the real time visibility to locate problems and make improvements quickly.

If you don’t already have a system, or you have an old and uninspired one (which is equally as bad!), take out your smartphone and start a list for yourself that begins something like this:

7 Reasons I Need Property Management Software…

1. Mobility & Online Access – I need to be able to work and manage my property on-the-go. In order to do this, I need to have all my documents, tasks, work orders, maintenance histories, tenant information and building data in the palm of by hand- accessible from anywhere.
2. Tenant Service – It’s not just “work order management” any more. We need to  give tenants visibility and control, measure their satisfaction, and benchmark our team’s performance against service goals.
3. Visibility & Control – No more managing with a rear-view mirror. I need to know what’s going on in my building in real time so I can make quick adjustments and reduce the stress of putting out fires.
4. Operational Risk Management – A property management system can help reduce our exposure to liability and resulting loss.  It will keep employees and tenants safe by helping to manage COIs, emergency pre-plans, and incident tracking.
5. Data – A good property management system can help us automate, capture and track everything happening in our building. It will churn out this data as immediate alerts and trend reports, and help us make smarter, quicker decisions.
6. Centralization – We can’t keep working from disparate systems. We need to integrate all our functionality and reduce the number of databases and systems required to do our job.
7. Cost Efficiency – A new system will help me do more with less and reduce costs.  Improved PM, better capital planning, less tenant turnover, a better accounting integration, and better COI and incident management are all results that can improve the bottom line.

Does this list ring true for you or your team? Would you like to learn more? Click below to get a free, custom demo of our all-in-one Property Management Software and learn how you can start seeing improvements today.