Every day, HOA managers take on the responsibility of ensuring the smooth operations of their communities. With the constant stream of resident inquiries and the need to demonstrate your value to the board, it can be challenging to regain control of your day. This is the perfect opportunity to reassess your current processes and technology stack.

However, with the ever-improving technology landscape and so many software options available, it\’s easy to feel overwhelmed.  How do you identify the right technology partner that will help you boost operational efficiency and improve client relations? In this article, we share a list of 7 important factors to consider to make searching for new software easier.

1) Diverse resident communication & engagement options

Communicating regularly with residents is vital because it reduces frustration, helps you operate more efficiently, and leads to overall community satisfaction. Residents of all ages and backgrounds have their own preferred methods of staying connected. For instance, older residents, who may not be tech-savvy, tend to favor postal mail or phone calls. On the other hand, millennials prefer text messages. 

Does your current software or process ensure that everyone feels included?  If not, it\’s important to consider adopting software that offers diverse communication options.

With HOA management software, you can cater to the unique preferences of your residents by offering text messages, email, phone calls, postal mail, websites, portals, and community-only discussion boards. Everyone can receive important updates and stay connected in the way that suits them best. By letting residents choose how they want to hear from you, you can increase participation and alleviate the workload for your team.  

Here are some features your automated communication platform should include:

• Phone, text, email, and postal mailing options
• Distribution groups
• Resident communication & language preference
• Advanced scheduling
• Templates
• Message delivery analytics
• Invalid contact reports & troubleshooting
• Strong message delivery reputation

Pilera Communications

Pilera\’s all-in-one messaging tool covers every aspect of your communication lifecycle.  You can cater to every demographic with phone, email, text, and postal mailing options.

Our dynamic distribution groups automatically update as residents join or leave the community, so you know you’re reaching the right people. Plus, you can track the delivery of your messages in real time and know who opened a text or email or picked up a phone call. Our team monitors delivery reputation, guaranteeing your messages reach every time.

2) Eliminate repetitive tasks

Is data entry, managing repairs, or fielding board member tasks taking up a lot of time? If so, it\’s important to consider HOA software that simplifies your workflow and helps you regain control of your day. That way, you can focus on what matters most, such as improving client relations. HOA software enables you to automate time-consuming tasks like communicating with an entire community, storing and sharing documents, managing maintenance, tracking resident requests, and managing resident data. 

Here are some ways that HOA software can help you automate vital community tasks:

• Maintenance – Residents can submit work orders, which you can assign to your team and monitor for completion. You can send automated notifications to vendors, staff, and residents, keeping everyone informed.
  
• Document management – You can store and organize community documents such as CC&Rs, meeting minutes, financial statements, and newsletters.  You can restrict access to documents to staff, board members, tenants, and owners to increase security and ensure no unauthorized access to confidential documents. Residents and board members can then login and view documents, thus reducing calls to the office. 
  
• Events – Manage community gatherings and meetings more efficiently with features such as recurring events and email notifications. Residents can log into the portal at their convenience and stay up to date about the latest community.
  
• Architectural reviews – Residents can submit architectural change requests online and supply photos or documents.  You can assign ACRs to committee members to approve digitally.  Residents can track their requests online, reducing the need to contact the office for updates.  When you have one place to streamline your ACR process, you can reduce paperwork, speed up the review process, ensure compliance with community guidelines, and improve resident satisfaction.
  
• Online payments – Residents can make payments online, helping you create a predictable flow of operating income for the communities you manage.
  
• Voting –  Online voting or survey platforms eliminate the need for paper forms and manually compiling responses. With HOA software, you can conduct board elections and other voting activities securely online and view results instantly. 

How Pilera can reduce administrative burden

Pilera’s HOA management platform takes the burden out of managing important community tasks such as document storage, maintenance, ACRs, events, voting, and more.  In our recent client survey, 89% of managers say that time savings with Pilera freed them up to work on more strategic tasks for their communities. Having a single place to manage essential community tasks opens up an environment for managers, board members, residents, and vendors to all work together on their shared community goals.

3) Stability

Whether doing on-site visits, working in the office, or at a meeting, it\’s important to have reliable tools to work uninterrupted from anywhere. We recommend choosing software that is known for its stable and reliable performance.  Before investing in software, research user feedback on review platforms like Capterra to understand what your peers like and don\’t like about a particular software vendor. Then, schedule a demo with your interested software providers to help you understand how they can solve your challenges and serve as a technology partner you can rely on.  

Pilera has a 99.9% uptime, so you can count on uninterrupted access to the platform.  Our platform is also built with other measures in place, such as fault protection for communications and a responsive design so you can work from anywhere.

4) HOA Management Software that grows with you

The industry is continuously evolving, and so should your software. Consider choosing an HOA software solution that updates its platform regularly, is responsive to market changes, and can adapt to your needs.

One of the common myths about finding new software solutions is that a software provider may offer more features than you need. This often results in you overpaying for features you don\’t need, potentially diminishing the value you provide to your clients. Choosing a software provider that can tailor its offerings based on what you need is important. That way, you can feel confident that you\’re getting value.

At Pilera, we are committed to providing our customers with the best tools to improve their workflow. Pilera regularly rolls out new features, enhancements, and bug fixes on a monthly basis.  We continue to develop many new features backed by our client\’s feedback, such as discussion boards, bulk ticket creation and editing, and more. Our software is designed to cater to the unique requirements of management companies and associations of all sizes and processes. With our a-la-carte model, you have the freedom to choose the specific products that meet your needs. As your business grows, you can easily add more products to further streamline your operations.

5) Proven customer service, training, and onboarding:

The right technology partner should be there to assist you with questions when you need it, right from onboarding and throughout your journey. In the beginning, it’s essential to have comprehensive onboarding and training so you can start managing your communities more effectively. On-demand and responsive support helps you to get quick resolutions to your questions, so you can focus less on getting help and more on the tasks that matter. It’s important to ensure your chosen software solution offers many ways to get help when needed.  These include self-help options such as videos and help articles.  It’s also essential to have rapid email and phone support for detailed questions.  

Pilera’s support team is highly regarded for providing exceptional service in a timely manner, at no additional cost.  We also offer many ways to get help via phone, email, a self-help knowledge base, and videos.  Our onboarding team guides you through the rollout process and provides extensive training to help you get started.  

6) Visibility & security:

You’re working with a lot of community and resident data daily, so security should be a top priority.  Choosing a software provider that is built with security in mind is vital.  Look for a software solution that offers password-protected portals and different permissions levels.  That way, the right people in your organization can access only what they need.  

Pilera is built with industry-standard security from the ground up to keep your community’s data safe.  Our cloud-based platform is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has been proven to work in the toughest situations.  Our team is on call 24/7 to handle any security or stability issues.   

7) Value for Money:

Maximizing the value of your software is essential to improve operations and grow your company. Digitalizing all your community processes, such as communications, document storage, resident data management, forms, and voting, can reduce paperwork, time, and money.  Through task automation, you can allocate more time and resources towards other important aspects of community management, improving productivity, keeping your team happier and organized, and enhancing client satisfaction. View community management software as a positive long-term investment for your company rather than an expense.

Pilera\’s community management software helps you automate repetitive tasks and provides on-demand access to important community information. In our recent client satisfaction study, managers report getting one day back per week on average.

Resource: Community Management Software ROI  

Conclusion:

Choosing the right HOA management software can help you boost efficiency, improve resident satisfaction, and create stronger client relations. Your chosen software should be easy to use, flexible to meet the needs of diverse communities, reliable, and secure. In a tech-driven world, where communication is critical, and residents expect quick and accurate updates, HOA software plays a vital role in the success of your communities. By considering the factors above, you can find a software provider that will cater to your specific needs, optimize your workflow, and achieve ROI – leading to happier residents and less stressed management teams.

Smarter HOA Management with Pilera

Pilera Software is the premier community and property management software that has helped thousands of community managers enhance communications, improve customer service, and manage compliance and operations. To learn how Pilera can help to improve efficiency and reduce costs, book a personalized demo. Discover how you can communicate with residents 30x faster and regain work efficiency by 25% with Pilera today!

A successful HOA management company is one that can build positive long-term relationships with its association clients, establish credibility in the industry, and grow over time.  Success, however, doesn’t come without planning, seeing the big picture, and attention to details. What does it take to reach the pinnacle of success in your HOA company? In this article, we discuss what makes an HOA management company successful and how to position your company for it.

Be adaptive to an evolving community landscape

The age-old adage of the only change is constant rings true in the HOA industry as it is constantly evolving.  New technology such as drones, security cameras, the Internet of Things, and mobile devices have become popular among homeowners.  The rise of Airbnb and short-term rentals, electric vehicles, increase in emotional support animals all come with regulations that need to be followed.  With all these changes, HOA management companies must be able to anticipate the impact on associations they manage, as well as on their company.

How you can adapt to the changing landscape in the HOA environment:

• Keep an eye out for industry trends and events.  The best way to do this is to subscribe to local news outlets, technology news, or industry news sites.
  
• Create a risk management plan for your business.  This document should assess trends or events that could negatively impact your HOA company.  Outline a plan detailing responsibility, the budget, how success will be measured, and how the plan will be communicated.  Revisit this plan every 6 months and make adjustments as needed.
  
• Connect with your association clients regularly on what challenges they are facing, that may have arisen due to a change in the economic, political, or technological climate.  Identify ways to adapt to those challenges and educate the board about them.

Anticipating changes and adapting accordingly enables management companies to stay ahead of the competition, establish themselves as an industry expert to prospective associations, and better assess and be prepared to handle risks that arise.  

Hire and retain quality staff

According to Unicom’s research, hiring and retaining quality staff is the biggest challenge that management companies currently encounter.  A lack of quality candidates in the market and not meeting the increased demand for community managers are likely driving factors. 

How to build and retain a professional management team:

• Hire community managers who have obtained certification or are in the process of doing so.  Educational classes help managers to develop the skills and gain knowledge of best practices they need to provide quality services to associations.  Many trade organizations such as the Community Association Institute (CAI) and the California Association of Community Managers (CACM) offer a wide range of programs to get accredited.  These programs cover topics such as finances, governing, ethics, risk management, leadership, and more. Don\’t just stop at accreditation. Provide your employees with professional development opportunities for continuous learning.
  
• Having enough staff on board to manage your portfolio of communities is critical so that staff aren\’t spread too thin and they can dedicate an optimal amount of time toward managing their associations. Your average client size, total number of communities, and complexity in managing each community will help you in designating community responsibilities to your staff. Through Pilera\’s community management software, you can now download a ticket analytics report that will help you make informed staffing decisions such as shifting employee workload or if you need to hire another community manager.
  
• Build a positive company culture that will help retain employees long after they have joined. Community management is a challenging and demanding job, therefore, a company culture that emphasizes transparency, collaboration, and respect goes a long way.  Positive company culture will better serve your company in decreasing employee burnout, disengagement, and churn.

When you are able to successfully build and retain a professional team of community managers, you’ll experience less employee churn, increased productivity, satisfied managers (because it’s often a very tough and thankless job), and happier communities.    

Make a concerted effort to provide great customer service

Managing HOAs is all about people and community relationships. Thus, a great customer service operations should be at the center of any management company.

How to deliver customer service your associations will appreciate you for:

• Associations employ your company services to improve their operations.  Actively listen to what your boards and residents have to say, be empathetic toward their concerns, and be responsive.  
  
• Asking your clients for feedback and taking action on it, shows that you value their opinion and are flexible in working with them. 
  
• An HOA management software helps you to efficiently manage all ongoing items for the associations you manage.  Through Pilera, management companies can nurture relations with clients across their entire portfolio with communication, maintenance tracking, resident portals, and more.

When we asked one of our clients, Hillcrest Property Management, about what excellent customer service means to them, they said it means “treating each of our clients as if we lived on their Property ourselves.” Read more about how Hillcrest Property Management excels at customer service.

Exceptional customer service, when built on trust and transparency, will help your company sustain a positive reputation in the industry, gain clients that will want to stay with you, and increase retention from existing clients. 

About Pilera

Pilera Software is the premier community and property management suite that has helped thousands of community managers and back-office personnel enhance communications, improve customer service, and manage compliance and operations.  May we help your community achieve these success stories?  Book a demo to see how Pilera’s community management suite can help your company. 

Community associations are constantly growing, with more residents desiring a sense of community and shared responsibility. Communication with residents is critical to ensure a community runs smoothly and improves the resident experience. Residents expect to receive information about HOA dues, meetings, events, policies, maintenance, emergencies, and other important community information at the tip of their fingers. With many businesses using texting/SMS to connect and engage with their customers, should your community start using text messaging too? In this article, we’ll describe the 4 ways text messaging benefits your community. We\’ll also briefly talk about the benefits of HOA texting software.

Vital in sending emergency or urgent notices

There\’s no time to waste when there’s an emergency or a situation where residents need to be notified at short notice, such as roadblocks or maintenance work.  While email and phone calls are effective methods, there’s nothing as immediate as a text message.  Where it may take days for residents to receive physical mail or a few minutes to send out a voicemail, they\’ll receive text messages instantly. 

It’s important that your communication software can handle sending a large volume of emergency messages at short notice.  Pilera’s communication platform is designed to stand the toughest tests.  Our platform has fault protection and retry algorithms to ensure fast and reliable delivery.  Features like reverse 911 functionality allow you to send emergency text messages to residents, bypassing their communication preferences.  

Cost savings

Traditional communication methods, such as postal mail, can become expensive over time.  More modern means like texting can improve operations and staff efficiency. Because text messaging is much quicker and easier to implement, it can save communities hundreds or thousands of dollars annually. With HOA texting solutions, it takes only a few clicks to message a group of residents or your entire community. Features in Pilera, such as templates and unit-based distribution groups, save you time when messaging the same group of individuals.

Convenience

According to Pew, 1 in 3 Americans prefers to receive text messages from a business, irrespective of the message.  Studies also suggest that 85% of individuals prefer a text message over a voice call.  Most adults own a mobile phone, making text messages the most preferred way to receive a message. HOAs can use text messaging by encouraging residents to choose how they want to hear from you. With Pilera, residents can receive messages like text, email, phone, or mail. Additionally, Pilera\’s language translation capabilities allow residents to choose from over 100 languages to receive their text messages.

Highest open rate

Ensuring residents receive your messages on time is vital to your community’s communication efforts.  Postal mailings often take time to reach residents, and even so, residents may not open their mail consistently every day. Email sending is a cost-effective way to reach your residents; however, 20-30% of them are opened. Text messages, by far, have the highest open rate than any other medium of communication. 99% of text messages are opened and read within three minutes of receiving them, making them one of the most effective ways to reach your residents. 

Your communication platform should confirm that your residents have received your message.  In Pilera, confirmation delivery analytics on whether someone opened a message will be available to you after you send a message.  

Improve your communication efforts with HOA text messaging software

Although various modes of communication, such as postal mail, email, and phone calls, all have advantages, text messaging is a faster and more direct way to reach residents. It’s a cost-effective alternative to postal mail.  With the highest open rates of any mode of communication, you\’ll see increased resident engagement and improved operations.

Pilera\’s automated communications platform lets you quickly send text messages and know with confidence that your residents have received them. If you\’d like to learn how Pilera can improve your communications today, email us at [email protected] or request a demo.

About Pilera

Pilera Software is the premier property management software that has helped thousands of community managers and back-office personnel enhance communications, improve customer service, and manage compliance and operations. May we help your community achieve these success stories? Contact us so you can see how Pilera’s community management suite can increase work efficiency for your company.