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08 Mar

The Future is Now: Condo Management Tools and Technology

By Angie Norman Condo Board Management

Your condo building isn’t just a place to rest your head – it’s a place that an entire community of people call home. It’s also a business, managed and facilitated by individuals who need to be able to communicate quickly and reliably both with each other and with the larger condo community as a whole. After all, it’s important that board members and community members alike know what’s happening to stay on top of key events, requests, and even maintenance that impact their homes – and, by extension, their quality of life. 

But what happens when there’s a lack of clear communication in your condo community? A sense of frustration, in our experience – and one that (understandably!) grows with each fumble, foible, and flummox. We could bring in some other choice “f” words to make our point here, but instead, let’s focus on how to avoid these aggravating scenarios altogether by exploring a means through which to boost communication and connectivity throughout your condo corporation and community: condo management software. 

The Ins and Outs of Condo Management Software

Okay, First Off – What Is It?

Condo management software, online portals, and communication tools are increasingly becoming the first point of contact through which condo boards implement systems, change processes, and communicate updates throughout their building. By leaning into these sorts of forward-thinking technologies, condo corporations and management companies are able to fast-track communication and streamline countless administrative items. 

The result? Far fewer headaches resulting from managing something as complex and complicated as not only a condo corporation, but an entire community of residents to boot – all while generating costs savings by no longer having to print and distribute newsletters, handouts, bulletins, and the like via paper mail. 

How Much Communication Can One Condo Community Really Need?

You might be sitting there, reading this, thinking, “Well, that sounds great, but we’ve already got some pretty great communication in our condo community,” and if that’s the case, we applaud you! However, even with that said, as a condo management company with extensive experience engaging and communicating with boards, we really haven’t met a condo community that couldn’t (or didn’t!) benefit from the boost a condo management tool can offer. 

With condo management software and online portals facilitating connection throughout your building, a greater sense of open conversation and general community feeling starts to quickly take hold as well. In our experience with this increased level of community communication, your condo board and residents can expect to see:

  • 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.

Not too shabby for simply learning to use something that amounts to a glorified smartphone app, hey? Speaking of which…

Easy, Peasy, Condo-Management-Software-Squeezy

While you really can’t go wrong by integrating a well-designed management tool into your condo corporations repertoire, it’s worth noting that like condo management companies themselves, not all condo management software is created equal. If you’re looking to invest in a new platform for your board and tenants to engage with, you’ll want to make sure it’s one that’s both intuitive to use and suited to your community’s unique needs. This will allow you to:

  • Encourage more interaction and involvement from your condo building residents,
  • Easily integrate into other technology that your board and condo building currently use, and
  • 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.

That Sounds Great from a Community Standpoint – But How Does It Help Our Board? 

While condo management software is great for communities, by far the biggest benefit of these digital tools that we’ve witnessed here at Catalyst is the increased functionality they bring to boards themselves. While the positives are many, these three benefits are the ones that strike us as key:

  • 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, diminished influence from other board members during voting, and more.
  • Capturing information in a more formal manner. No longer are full-on discourses happening over the course of a long, hard-to-follow email string. Conversations are maintained through online forums, 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.

Enough Suspense – Which Condo Management Tools Are Worth Their Salt?

As we mentioned earlier, some condo management tools are definitely built better than others. At Catalyst we’ve researched, vetted, and have had long-term success with four excellent online portal systems, each helping to improve the communication within the condo buildings we work:

Each of these tools has proven their worth to us across a variety of different conditions and condo corporations. Take a moment to explore them, find the one that feels like the best fit for your board, and give it a go – we bet it won’t be long until it starts to feel like the sort of thing your condo community couldn’t live without anymore! 

Technology is great for condo boards, particularly those who are struggling with connections.  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 Condo Management Ltd to learn more about how online portals can change your condo board and community today!