What is Property Management Software, Anyway?

By Building Engines

October 28, 2016 · 3 min read

Here is a more relevant question: “How do you measure success?” (We’ll get to the “What is Property Management Software” question in a bit! – Trust us, it’ll make sense.)

A typical commercial property management team measures success based on the following performance metrics:

Speed and quality of service
Ability to control costs
Tenant satisfaction and retention
Quality and safety of property and equipment

But be honest: how often do you really think about performance measurement?

Most likely, not very often. That is, not unless something has gone very right – or horribly wrong. And that’s to be expected when the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality is the norm.

But the thing is if property management teams want to be successful, operations performance measurement has to be constant, consistent, and precise. Anything but would be a poor representation of your operations performance. That’s a huge problem if you intend to learn from your data. (Which should be everyone.) How, you ask?

It hides the true nature of your day-to-day workflow processes and systems, and offers no actionable way to improve.

Enter: Property management software.

More than just a work order system

So what is property management software, anyway?

Contrary to popular belief, property management software provides more than just work order software management tools. At least, this is the case if you’re looking at the right platform.

A modern property management software platform seamlessly connects property teams with the activities, data, and insights they need to improve operational efficiency (work orders, inspections, and maintenance), mitigate risk, improve tenant satisfaction and engagement, and make informed decisions more quickly.

In other words, property management software helps you not only measure success, but build upon it.

Your whole team can use it

If/when you decide to evaluate property management software platforms and providers, consider your team. Not just how they might use the software, but whether or not they can use it intuitively. This is especially necessary if your team follows the “if it ain’t broke” philosophy.

Remember: Successful technology adoption and onboarding contributes to your long-term success!

Your goal should always be to improve and streamline your team’s processes and workflow. If you select a software platform that complicates it, you are doing more harm than good!

An example of such a complication would be selecting one of any number of old-fashioned property management software platforms that require logging into and learning multiple disconnected, disparate systems. It is a pain for your team, and likely limits the quality of actionable performance insights you can gather.

It’s built to work where you work

Modern property management software platforms meet their users where they are. And more often than not, that means in-the-field with smartphones and tablets.

The best systems make it possible to access mission-critical data while on-the-go, helping your team perform regular work tasks in as few steps as possible. This includes being able to access and interact with stored work data, even in areas of little-to-no wireless access – like the basement of a building!

It promotes adoption of industry best-practices

Property management software can do more than measure your success. It can also help inspire rapid adoption of industry best-practices through the automation of complex, repetitive processes.

Some examples include improved: