5 must have goals for Smart Communities in 2023

As a property or community manager, staying up to speed on the skills, tech, and tech skills you need to ensure your community is smart can be challenging. Whether this is the implementation of high-tech building automation tools such as energy monitoring, CO2 monitoring, HVAC system, security, parking and garbage management or ensuring innovative and necessary measures are taken to create a sustainable and future-proof community.

That's why we have made the below list of the must-have smart goals for your community in 2023.

1. Innovate with Smart Access Control

There are several issues with traditional access cards for parking. The cards can be easily replicated without authorisation causing security issues for your community, are made of plastic and can cost residents a fee to replace.

Installing Automatic Number Plate Recognition Technology (ANPR) can remove these parking headaches from your community. Cameras store vehicle number plates and trigger barriers to open on entry and exit. Creating a seamless experience for residents and allowing Community Managers to have instant analytics on parking usage and control over the activation and deactivation of vehicle access.  

Another way to innovate your access control whilst also increasing your communities’ sustainability is Wireless Access Control. Residents are provided with an app that works with Bluetooth Proximity for access. This solution also prevents the unauthorised sharing/copying of access cards.

Finally, a Visitor Management System will significantly improve your communities’ entry management and security. A PC, tablet or smartphone with a VMS installed can easily capture entries of visitors, deliveries and household help, automatically notifying the resident via the community app.

2. Connect with a Community App

One-way community management software applications innovate how Community Managers connect with their tenants is through seamless and easy-to-access quality feedback. Tenants can easily report maintenance issues, and the maintenance team can address the issues quickly. A community management software application allows residents, owners and community managers to interact in real-time, allowing problems to be resolved fast and efficiently and insights to be gained.

3. Increase efficiency and customer experience with automated accounts

Numerous systems can make managing paperwork and community accounts a headache. Community Management Software allows Community Managers to automate their reporting processes and make informed decisions. Residents can also view and pay their bills, view their previous transactions and access their statement of accounts, all through a single mobile application.

4. In-Unit Services

Traditionally, Property Management and Facilities Management companies ensure common areas are cleaned and well-maintained. However, historically they have not offered in-unit services. This demand is generally met by small sub-contracted companies.

Having multiple sub-contracted companies handling in-unit services such as mechanical, electrical and handyman services can cause unnecessary communication gaps.

To reduce these communication gaps, Property Managers and Facilities Managers should provide multi-channel communication to their customers. Where they can send correctly documented tickets with relevant images.

5. Improve Business Intelligence with interactive data visualisation software

A comprehensive tool that provides data analysis and visualisation is essential for efficient and cost-effective community management.

Thanks to tools like MS Power BI, community managers can optimise their performance and productivity in many ways.

For example, Power BI stores all community management data in one location instead of spread across multiple systems, therefore allowing easy access for all staff members. Power BI also allows data to be easily filtered and modelled to the team's needs and turned into eye-catching visualisations effortlessly.