Multifamily apartments have a high number of visitors and tenants, making building security not an added feature, but a priority. With burglaries and crimes on the rise, more tenants are looking for properties that have added safety measures. An Assurant survey found that nearly 54% of tenants are willing to pay more if the building has a security feature.
As a multifamily property manager, it is your responsibility to ensure the safety of your tenants. Apart from strong infrastructure and security personnel, you can also use technology to create a safer environment for your residents. These 4 tips will show you how to leverage property management software to enhance building security.
Access control
Advancing technology is creating new ways to enter a property. Instead of a traditional lock and key, you can use ‘digital keys’ to create a more secure entrance into a property. Using IoT, AI, and machine learning, you can configure digital locks that only allow authorized entrance. According to Grandview Research, the demand for such smart locks has reached 8.9 million units this year.
These locks can be opened in a variety of ways such as fingerprint scan or facial recognition. One of the most popular ways of ensuring access control is through biometric authentication. Doors can be opened through fingerprints or facial recognition systems. This is highly secure as the facial recognition system has a failure rate of just 0.2%.
Another common way property management software can facilitate digital lock systems is through QR codes. Each resident has their own QR code, using which they can access their apartment.
But these codes are not limited to tenants. They can also be shared with the domestic help and visitors, so tenants can authorize who can and cannot enter their properties. Property maintenance also becomes easier. Codes for maintenance staff can be validated for a certain time. That means, they cannot access the property outside a scheduled maintenance time.
A report by Markets and Markets found that access control systems are being increasingly implemented in the residential industry. Along with access security, they also help in the detection and prevention of other hazards such as gas leaks and fires.
Remote monitoring
Using surveillance systems has always been a norm in property security. But instead of monitoring through a room near the same building, property managers can now monitor remotely. Using property management software, surveillance videos can be viewed on mobile screens through an app.
Property managers can detect and take action against any suspicious activity even on the go. You can also use property management systems to provide remote surveillance as a service. If tenants choose to monitor their properties, they can do so even if they are outside the home.
Due to the pandemic, an increasing number of people have started shopping online. Remote monitoring devices can also ensure that your package has reached you safely. To prevent unauthorized delivery people from entering the buildings, property managers can provide remote access to a storage area where they can deliver the packages.
This helps property managers constantly monitor activity in a single place and also make sure that the tenants’ packages reach them safely.
Contact and motion detectors
According to iWatchLife, nearly 17.23 million devices such as contact and motion sensors were implemented in 2013, and the number has been growing ever since. Combining motion sensors with property management software helps you detect intrusions and suspicious activity without monitoring it constantly.
These sensors set off alarms when they detect contact or movement. If remote personnel are monitoring the property, these alarms can alert them to take necessary action.
You can configure these sensors to send messages to security personnel or even tenants to their mobile devices. Since most people carry a smartphone, detecting unusual activity becomes much faster. You can also choose to trigger an alarm system in the building to alert people nearby.
Digital communication methods
The primary way to ensure the safety of your tenants is to build a secure infrastructure. If a door lock is broken or a feature has stopped working, the building security is much more compromised.
While regular building maintenance covers these areas, sometimes a feature may go unnoticed. Tenants, who notice these problems, need a way to contact maintenance staff as soon as possible. You can utilize tenant portals to help them submit priority maintenance requests.
Instead of regular maintenance requests that take too much time to process, security requests get the first priority. By using digital communication methods, your staff can check and respond to such requests quickly.
As a property manager, it also becomes easier to keep track of such requests and ensure that the necessary repairs are made. Routine inspections and maintenance can also be logged in tenant portals, to give your residents a complete overview of the building’s security measures.
Using smart features
Other than these, smart home features such as doorbell cameras and motion-enabled floodlights keep the building secure. Doorbell cameras help view the visitor without opening the door. Property management systems can be integrated with features that alert you every time someone is at your door.
Using the camera, you can verify the visitor and choose to allow them in or not. Similarly, motion-enabled flood lights light up every time there is unexpected movement. Other features such as smoke alarms and remote locking feature also help you enhance the security of your property.
Integrate security features in your property management software
Property security is a priority for every property manager. At Assetsoft, we understand the safety requirements of your buildings and tenants. Through state-of-art property management software such as Yardi, Procore, and MRI, we can integrate the required features in your property management system.
We can also help you implement additional security features through the latest technologies such as AI, machine learning, and IoT sensors. With intelligent RPA automation, we can help automate robots to complete all those repetitive but important tasks.
To know more about our services, contact Assetsoft!