Catalyst Management Condo’s Conversation Starters

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10 Aug

Building Your Condo Community with Technology

By Angie Norman Community

Your condo building isn’t just a place to rest your head. It’s a place that multiple people call home, coming together as part of a community. Just as with every community, it’s important that you know what’s happening to stay on top of key events,requests, and maintenance that impact you. But what happens when there’s a lack of clear communication in your community? A sense of frustration, perhaps?

This is where condo management software comes in, particularly in the form of online portals that improve processes, systems, and communication. Online portals are increasing the way that condo boards implement systems and processes throughout their building, streamlining a number of communication and administrative items, removing a number of headaches that come from managing the comfort of people’s homes, not to mention the costs savings by no longer having to print and distribute communications via paper mail. In working with a number of clients, we’ve identified three key benefits our condo communities experienced after implementing their personal online portal.

Increased Communication

With online portals, increased communication throughout your building brings a greater sense of open conversation and general community feeling as well. With this increased community communication, your condo board and residents should experience:

  • A more inclusive community, as all unit owners are included in relevant conversations about what is going on in the building,
  • Diminished tension and decreased hostility because the portal shows what is happening in the building and when, allowing people to have an increased awareness around what is happening in the building,
  • Less concerns with people calling with common questions on specific projects in the building because the portal houses answers to these questions, and
  • More proactive and productive conversations as your board and management company are able to inform and update easily and efficiently.

Ease of Use

It’s important that you find an online portal whose functionality is easy to use. By having an online portal that’s naturally intuitive, you’ll be able to:

  • Encourage more interaction and involvement from your condo building residents,
  • Easily integrate into other technology that your board and condo building currently use,
  • Have a system that is relatively instinctive and easy to understand, improving response times for both your condo board members and your condo management company.

Of course, all online portals have their pros and cons. At Catalyst Condo Management Ltd’s we’ve researched, vetted, and worked with four excellent online portal systems, each helping to improve the communication within the condo buildings we work. The four that we’ve primarily worked with include:

If you’re curious about which portal might best work with your board’s needs, we’d be more than happy to chat about what you’re looking for and if any of the above portals meet your criteria.

Improved Functionality of the Board

While we’ve heard a number of benefits condo online portals bring to the condo buildings we support, by far the greatest benefit we’ve witnessed is the increased functionality of the condo board. Once we find the online platform that best supports the board’s needs, we’re able to help integrate the software with the day-to-day functionality needs of the board.

Such things that online portals improve include:

  • The ability to vote, specifically allowing for remote voting on issues. This typically sees a quicker response time for voting issues, less worry about whether or not someone can or cannot attend a meeting, less influence from other board members when voting, and so forth,
  • Capturing information in a more formal manner. No longer are full conversations happening in a long email string, where you have to remember to “reply all.” Conversations are captured and stored within online forum conversations, allowing members to more easily search a specific topic and find the information they need.
  • Easy creation of a work order or PO for your management company, allowing the process for notifying any building issues to be streamlined. This allows for minimal lead-time, increasing efficiency with building work and maintenance.

Technology is great for condo boards, particularly those who are struggling with communication.  If you or your condo board are looking for ways to improve your condo building’s efficiencies, communication, and community engagement, integrating an online portal could be just what your condo needs. Contact Catalyst Condos Management Ltd today to learn about how online portals can change your condo board and community.