So you’ve gotten rid of most of the filing cabinets in the office. Most of your property information – tenant details, financials, maintenance requests – is all somewhere on your computer, whether it’s in property management software like Yardi, or in a spreadsheet.

But let’s be honest – while most property management organizations like yours have gone paperless, the tech platforms used (Excel, property management software, tenant portals) still leave much to be desired.

For example:

• How often do you find yourself sending via email a spreadsheet that becomes inaccurate the moment you save it, because the data in it is constantly changing?
• Have you wasted countless hours exporting info from multiple systems and mashing it together in a single spreadsheet?

The proliferation of PropTech has made it easier than ever before to find a paperless solution for something you used to keep in a filing cabinet. But property management is continually evolving, and the next wave is no longer just about going paperless, but about choosing the right systems that work for your team.

In this post, we’ll go through 3 questions you can ask yourself (or your team!) to prepare for this industry change. Think of it as pre-work so you can identify the biggest areas for improvement in your business.

1) What due dates do your property teams need to be aware of and organize their work around?

Document expirations, local law due dates, yearly and monthly inspection schedules, seasonal upkeep work – these make up the day-to-day work at many of your properties. You also probably have a sense for exactly how you want each of these situations handled – that’s called your company’s Standard Operating Procedures.

Identifying the way you want processes done, and on what schedule, is a critical step because technology can help you automate the reminders and enforcement of your SOPs. For example, when it’s time for your yearly Fire Safety Audit, each property team gets a notification with exactly what procedure they need to follow, and completes the associated work on time – so nothing slips through the cracks.

2) Where do you keep the most updated tenant roster and contact information?

Residents are the bedrock of your business, but often the information about a resident’s previous maintenance requests, preferences, or past communications is siloed, preventing different departments at your company (maintenance, accounting, etc.) from getting the full picture.

Think about what information a staff member should have on hand when communicating with a tenant about moving out, or an ongoing maintenance issue. If your staff is spending hours combing through previous emails to find that information, there’s bound to be a disconnect – and lots of wasted time.

3) How do you manage a cross-team project? 

The make-ready process. Renovating an entire floor. Yearly local law inspections. When multiple teams at your company are working towards the same goal, are there endless email chains and spreadsheets? Is there visibility into what steps need to be taken by which team and when?

Project management doesn’t have to be painful. Visualize what you’d like upcoming projects to look like when it comes to efficiency, visibility, and accountability, and seek out tech that helps you reach those goals.

Simply going paperless is a great first step for any property management business, but it’s no longer enough to stay competitive in the property management space. Start thinking now about how you would improve your business processes, and engaging and integrating with tech solutions that can help. When you’re evaluating tech, think about the 3 questions we’ve gone through here to find solutions that will make your work more streamlined, and your team more efficient

About InCheck:
InCheck is mobile-first technology that ensures your team knows when work needs to be done – and gets it done the right way. Enacting your company’s Standard Operating Procedures – inspections, workflows, and processes – is easy with InCheck’s desktop and mobile apps. To learn more, visit sitecompli.com

Learn how InCheck by SiteCompli can automate your property operations — from task assignments to inspection walkthroughs.