We’re lucky to live in a time where technology has evolved to the point where many tasks that were once time consuming and manual have now been automated. In the early days of property management, owners operated at a much smaller scale. Oftentimes the hardest task was collecting rent. Marketing and advertising consisted mostly of classified ads and word of mouth, which were typically enough to keep units filled.

However, as urban centers began to explode with growth and the portfolios of property management companies moved beyond local and regional holdings to large national groups with tens of thousands of units under management, more complex solutions were needed. In the 1990s, property management software started being used by more and more multifamily businesses. While this did help with organizing the process, it did nothing to eliminate the manual tasks that still took a long time to complete and report into the property management software.

Fortunately, that all changed about a decade ago. It wasn’t that long ago that almost every rent payment was made via check, but in the last decade that payment method became the exception rather than the rule with adoption of online payment methods for paying rent.

Think of all the time saved not having to be in the office to collect, input, and process payments. It might seem small in the grand scheme of things but it’s a big win, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Programs like AI powered Chatbots, powerful accounting and budgeting software, to robust CRMs that allow you to track leads more accurately across the entire renters journey, many of them driven by automations, are just a few technological advancements released in the past few years that have streamlined property operations.

There are a number of areas where AI and automations are having a positive impact on multifamily businesses. Over the course of this blog post, we'll highlight a few.

Automating rent collection and accounting practices

Rent collection used to be a burden for site teams is now one of the easiest tasks for them to accomplish. Sending in a paper check is now the exception rather than the rule, and if you can get residents to sign up for automated rent payments when signing the lease, you’re well on your way to reducing bad debt and delinquent accounts.

But rent collection is just one piece of the puzzle. Automations can significantly reduce both the labor cost and time associated with the accounts payable process. Some Entrata customers have been able to reduce costs per invoice from $15/invoice to just $2.90 through automating invoice intake and utilizing virtual cards to reduce processing fees some vendors might charge when using other payment methods.

Streamline resident communication and management

Next up, AI can drastically improve engagement with residents through automated notifications. These can be for things like payment reminders, announcement of community events, and making residents aware of maintenance that might be happening on the property.

Speaking of maintenance, AI can help bridge language barriers that may exist between maintenance workers and residents by automatically translating work orders to their preferred language. This reduces the likelihood of miscommunication while helping ensure the work is done right the first time.

Finally, AI can help you sift through resident feedback and reviews and prioritize them for follow up based on the sentiment of the post, while also automatically sending a personalized response to the resident. Personalized responses are an effective way to build strong, long-lasting relationships with residents. They show that you are actively listening and take what they are saying seriously. But more importantly, responses to reviews act as a megaphone of your company’s culture and resident experience for future renters that might evaluate your properties.

Optimizing maintenance and operations

There are AI solutions out there that streamline the process of submitting, tracking, and resolving maintenance requests. With the use of natural language processing, chatbots can read, route, prioritize, and respond to maintenance requests from residents. Having the ability to prioritize on the fly saves time and ensures major problems are solved more quickly, while ensuring the right technician is sent down the first time. Automated workflows will notify residents to keep them informed of timelines, when maintenance workers will be at their apartment, when everything is resolved, and finally collect feedback and reviews once the work is completed.

Having a streamlined workflow for maintenance requests ensures that requests are resolved as quickly as possible and reduces the amount of time residents are inconvenienced by not having access to their apartment.

Making the most out of your data

Your properties produce massive amounts of data each year. Is that data going to waste or are you making the most of it? There are two emerging technology tools that every multifamily business that wants to make data-driven decisions should implement—Business Intelligence and Predictive Analytics.

For the uninitiated, business intelligence is the process of taking your business’ raw data and transforming it into something that is easily consumed, actionable, and can be used to improve decision making. This is referred to as data visualization, which enables you to make the most out of all of your data because you can see trends, notice how often specific events are occurring, and identify connections between what your teams are doing and the end result.

Predictive analytics differs from business intelligence in that it not only identifies trends, but makes recommendations on how to proceed, whereas business intelligence aggregates large data sets and visualizes the data to give you a better understanding of what has happened. Simply put, business intelligence gives us a view of the past and predictive analytics provides a look at the future.

Learn more

To learn more about how to implement automations and AI solutions at your properties, check out our latest ebook, Automate Your Way to Peak Efficiency.