Utilizing Technology in Asset Management
The Best Way to Avoid Being Left Behind
By Bryan Lysikowski
As a construction professional, it is critical to stay up to date with the latest technologies and industry trends, especially those that can increase productivity and overall efficiency. Ultimately this will allow for the ability to quickly identify what products or trends will be worth investing your resources to implement. If a company wants to remain competitive in the SFR construction and service industry, they need to adopt the available beneficial technologies, or they may get left behind.
As new technologies emerge in the SFR service industry, organizations can struggle to keep up with them all. Implementation and adoption of these new technologies can take a considerable amount of time and resources, so it is critical that companies in the SFR space toughly vet and test out these new products before going down this path. And while embracing new technologies may require significant upfront investments, they can also save time and money and potentially provide a competitive advantage and provide you with new opportunities for growth.
The best practices for implementing new technologies apply universally to most organizations; however, the benefits and the “why” can vary drastically from one entity to another. One thing that does not change is the fact that technology can and does improve how teams work by reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and adding value for customers.
Adopt, Embrace and Invest in New Technologies Quickly
The construction industry has been historically slow to adopt new technologies. Luckily, this is starting to change as more organizations realize how impactful these technologies can be to their bottom lines. Before deciding on which technologies to adopt, they should research various available products. In the research phase, product demonstrations, hands-on testing, and understanding best practices will help determine which options would work best for you.
After researching and completing a thorough evaluation, companies should adhere to a three-step process to incorporate the new technologies: adopt, embrace, and invest. Once you have decided to invest in and adopt new technology, it is important to ensure that staff will embrace it at all levels. Educating staff and providing adequate training will be a critical step to having a successful implementation. This will not only ensure that the modern technology is used correctly but will also help employees understand the overall benefits and ultimately embrace the changes. Adoption also requires an investment of the organization’s resources of both time and money, so it is vital to make sure that budgets include adequate allocation with these investments in mind. While it can be easy to focus on only the direct cost of the selected product, you must also account for training, professional services, equipment, implementation, and ongoing maintenance.
How Do New Technologies Affect the Bottom Line?
Here are some ways technology can help organizations in the SFR space increase efficiencies in their existing workflows.
Help Streamline the Acquisition Process
By utilizing mobile devices and 3D photo imaging cameras, platforms like Matterport allow an asset to be digitized and sent back to the primary office instantly. Experienced estimators can utilize the data’s measurement capabilities to create complete construction scopes and cost estimates without in-person visits to the asset. This process allows for estimators to be centralized and eliminates the need to find a reliable estimator in each market where clients are acquiring properties and reduces the need to make multiple trips to an asset. It can also help reduce the time it takes to get estimated costs for repairs, which enables clients to make acquisition decisions sooner.
Collaborate Quickly and Effectively
Using technology while at the asset makes it more efficient for contractors to collaborate with the clients, asset managers, tenants, owners, and other stakeholders in near real-time. These communications can also provide real-time feedback to contractors or team members still at the asset who may have questions or issues while in the field. All communications are logged and can be helpful when dealing with tenant-occupied properties when accurate notetaking is not only needed but required. This process can be further facilitated with web-enabled or mobile apps and allows instant data collection, document sharing, and reporting. Other common systems used in this manner are bid management platforms that utilize mobile devices with alerts and notifications, online bid rooms, video meeting platforms, and GPS check-in and tracking. These solutions can help increase real-time communication and collaboration among teams and stakeholders, allowing for reduced timelines between project milestones.
Simplify and Automate the Information Capturing Process
In-field staff can use mobile devices to check-in and out of a property, provide photos, and property condition reports and then wirelessly send this information instantly from the field to the client or back-office staff. Mobile data collection while at the asset eliminates the need to complete physical paperwork after leaving the job site and reduces the likelihood of missing critical data that would result in a time-consuming return trip to the property. Real-time collection of data also streamlines the back-office process and allows for quicker transmission to the client. Information can be directly integrated into the organization’s system of record, which decreases the likelihood of errors and eliminates the inefficiencies involved in paper-based forms.
Ensure Teams are Meeting Compliance and Documentation Requirements
Using technology solutions to manage project communications and documentation allows organizations to better meet compliance regulations and documentation requirements by enabling them to be completed more accurately and efficiently. Digital photos, video, 3D imagery, and project-related documentation can be stored in document management systems. These systems can then be accessed in multiple ways and can be shared with all stakeholders. These solutions can save a significant amount of time since all stakeholders can access the documents without typical delays in making off-line documentation requests.
Access Real-Time Data with Mobile and Cloud-Based Solutions
Cloud-based document management systems, paired with mobile devices, help improve the efficiency of asset-related workflows by making all related documents easily accessible no matter where you are located. Contractors can easily access scopes of work, photos, contracts, and other essential documents in real-time while in the field, eliminating wait times that can cause delays and can help avoid costly mistakes from happening.
The Best Way to Avoid Being Left Behind
Though many professionals in this industry may be reluctant to embrace and adopt new technologies, they can drastically improve efficiency at all levels. By researching, testing, and understanding which solutions will be most beneficial, then getting teams to embrace these new solutions, organizations can scale in ways that would never be possible otherwise. Staying ahead of the curve and adopting only the most relevant technologies will increase your efficiency and keep you at the forefront of the industry, which is exactly where you want to be.
