![\"Crittenden\"](\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2014\/03\/Crittenden.jpg\")
ve made fast food and Amazon Prime among the most popular innovations of our time. Are you offering your residents instant gratification?<\/p>\nAchieving renter happiness might be tied to the same desires that have made fast food and Amazon Prime among the most popular innovations of our time. Are you offering your residents instant gratification?<\/p>\n
That was one of the technology trends discussed on a panel at the recent Crittenden Multifamily Conference in Dallas, Texas.<\/p>\n
Industry experts John Pendergast<\/strong>, senior vice president of client services at Yardi; Ray Thornton<\/strong>, senior vice president of information technology at MAA; and Tom Bumpass<\/strong>, managing director and chief information officer for Greystar Realty Partners, participated in the panel that focused on the past, present and future of multifamily technology.<\/p>\n With advancements in the areas of cloud services, business intelligence, single stack solutions and mobility, there\u2019s enhanced opportunity not only to improve resident\u2019s experiences, but to foster a more collaborative working environment at the home office.<\/p>\n With the move of most management platforms to a cloud-based environment, creating a true partnership between the IT department and the business and marketing specialists \u201cIt\u2019s not enough for the IT group to be a support for the operations and marketing teams. In order for businesses to be successful today, there has to be a partnership between the technology group, business\/operations group, and marketing group. That means all the groups are working together throughout the process of meeting your business needs. They\u2019re a collective team,\u201d said Pendergast (pictured, left).<\/p>\n Delivering a successful business intelligence solution is one area in which such collaboration is especially important. When Greystar Realty Partners developed their internal BI solution, the business and IT sides of the firm worked hand-in-hand. Now, adding additional data points into the system is a much faster, less complicated process.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re closer to being able to deliver the solution today because they worked together all along,\u201d Pendergast said.<\/p>\n The development of cloud-based single stack solutions is another game-changer for the multifamily industry, providing a long list of benefits. Tom Bumpass, Chief Information Officer for Greystar, expects companies to focus their technology needs around the offerings of one strong vendor going forward.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is due to consolidation in the industry of many of the point solutions; better economics when products are bought under a common brand; better workflow and integration across the resident lifecycle process especially for online self-service functions; and better access to information for analysis when the data is housed with a single vendor,\u201d Bumpass said.<\/p>\n Thornton concurred that most major industry property technology vendors are now presenting product offerings as a single stack model, and it may reduce choice for some companies who were used to the \u201cbest of breed\u201d approach. However, there are also many positives to be gleaned from choosing one provider.<\/p>\n Pendergast emphasized that a single stack offering can create ease-of-use advantages for the end user.<\/p>\n \u201cThe workflow for the user is much more seamless. Everything is built together. Instead of going to three different programs for three different things, clients go to one program and get the benefit of all three,\u201d Pendergast said. \u201cFor BI, the point solutions create a data aggregation problem. With a single stack solution, data aggregation is much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n The single stack solution not only creates easier workflows and better business intelligence, but enhanced services for residents.<\/p>\n The days of going to drop off your rent check at the leasing office are essentially over, the panelists concluded. Meeting consumer demands for instant gratification means offering the technology to pay rent online, schedule recurring rent payments, even renew a lease \u2013 all from the privacy and comfort of your own apartment.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat consumers want is self-service. They want to log-in online and pay their rent, they don\u2019t want to call anybody, or write a check. And when they want to pay their rent, they want to pay it now,\u201d Pendergast said.<\/p>\n The panelists and attendees concluded that the wait is over \u2013 both for residents who demand enhanced technology and conveniences and multifamily firms who are eager to deliver \u2013 and reap the benefits of business intelligence along the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Achieving renter happiness might be tied to the same desires that have made fast food and Amazon Prime among the most popular innovations of our time. Are you offering your residents instant gratification? That was one of the technology trends discussed on a panel at the recent Crittenden Multifamily Conference in Dallas, Texas. Industry experts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":413,"featured_media":9998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[589,76,40],"class_list":["post-10083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-multi-family","tag-technology-2","tag-yardi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"pendergast_015_VISA\"](\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2014\/04\/pendergast_015_VISA-200x300.jpg\")
within your firm is an enhanced focus that can produce enhanced efficiency, processes and results.<\/p>\n