General trends in technology over the past decade are beginning to have a big impact on HOA management. Very few software titles catering to the needs of property management were available up until fairly recently. If you attend conferences technology topics are inevitably on the speaking agenda, and trade show floors are dotted with software vendors (it’s not just landscapers, law firms, and banks filling all those booths anymore).
Two major trends are having the biggest impact on property management companies; cloud computing and mobile technologies. Let’s take a moment to consider each of these trends:
Cloud Computing
“In the cloud”, or “hosted” are terms that simply mean, on another computer or server, accessed remotely. Dropbox, and iTunes are common examples of the cloud in our everyday lives. The trend of putting everything in the cloud is saving businesses on IT hardware and personnel costs. Rather than maintaining everything on an internal server, companies are able to offload file storage and maintenance of expensive hardware to external vendors.
Mobile
Consider all of the gadgets made obsolete by smartphones (check out this link to see a list of, “50 Things Your Smartphone Replaced”). The near ubiquity of smartphones and their power to replace so many of the rad tech toys of the past have driven a trend of mobility. While we might enjoy streaming videos and catching Pokemon on our phones, this trend has had a powerful impact on businesses. A host of mobile applications make work more productive with anytime access to files, emails, and client data in the cloud.
The mobile trend for property managers is easily seen in the growing number of mobile apps and mobile websites for conducting property inspections, communicating with homeowners, and managing vendors. These apps help automate inspection and other tasks and ensure a more uniform enforcement of HOA rules.
We’re at an exciting point where current and future trends promise to transform businesses and our lives. The HOA industry has been slower than some industries to adopt new technologies, but property management companies no longer have the luxury of waiting; being competitive means staying on trend with technology. Download the HOA Technology Trends eBook to learn more.
Tags: Software Mobile App HOA cloud