Why Scalable Tech is Crucial for Property Management Growth

Last month, Globe St. reported on the multifamily markets set to outperform in 2022, ranging from Phoenix and Las Vegas in the Southwest to Tampa and Atlanta in the Southeast.

While the pandemic put a pause on multifamily growth, it’s clear that demand in some areas is climbing higher than ever. So what can a property management company do to prepare for such a windfall, especially if they have properties across the growing areas as well as in other markets?

It’s all about scalability.

What is scalability?

In the tech world, scalability is a buzzword. Essentially, it refers to software’s ability to handle an increasing volume of information without slowing down or needing to be replaced. This is crucial in terms of saving time and money — you wouldn’t want to go through the purchasing process, implementation process, and training process every few years, would you?

Especially in multifamily, having tech that scales in tandem with a property management company’s growth can save countless dollars, hours, and headaches when you’re in a market that’s seeing a burst of activity. In other words, scalability is a must-have, not nice-to-have.

Here are three key areas property management companies should focus on when it comes to scalability.

1. Reporting

Accurate data is crucial in terms of showing company growth to higher ups, so it’s important to have a reporting system that can keep up.

A key factor in reporting that can scale is automation, something we focus on extensively at Knock. We’ve automated the reporting process, so you can have your critical reports delivered to anyone, anywhere – ensuring you’re prepared to answer every question with data. We also enable teams to sort that data in billions of reporting combinations, so you can provide exactly the numbers you’re looking for.

Our reporting also enables companies to turn each tour into a secret shop. Multifamily operators have typically used secret shoppers to evaluate which agents, procedures, or processes might be falling short. Secret shops are helpful, but their limited sample size runs the risk of skewing management’s perception. Knock Tours amplifies the benefits of secret shopping by providing comprehensive insight into every leasing interaction—not just one.

“Knock Tours gives us immediate visibility into data points across every tour,” said Pauline Houchins, Executive Vice President of Development and Property Operations at First Communities. “We have an accurate 360-degree view on our leasing operations to immediately help us zero in on improvements.”

2. Centralized leasing

In recent months, the apartment industry has started to see how tech that enables companies to centralize their leasing efforts is an easy way to ensure scalability.

“There are huge cost savings in centralizing parts of the onsite activity,” said Noah Echols, Vice President of Marketing for CARROLL. “We can dedicate less expense to resources for leasing tasks and focus more on resident experience. It’s a win for everyone.”

Echols says call centers have “tried to do something similar in the industry for a long time, but their lack of a connection to the local property limited their ability to drive positive results.” By using Knock’s Centralized Leasing Suite, CARROLL is able “to scale lead management tasks without the need of expensive and less-effective third-parties.”

(Listen to Knock CEO Demetri Themelis talk more about how Centralized Leasing is part of the future of customer experience on the Globe St. podcast.)

3. Integrations that scale are critical.

What good are all these tools if the tech stops playing nice with your other pieces of software? The foundation of any good scalable tech is the ability to scale integrations.

Take Knock. With seamless integrations across six major PMS platforms, our teams monitor integrations health 24/7.

Schedule a demo to see how Knock® can work with your systems.