Here Come the Avatars and the VPAs to Multifamilty

I have seen the future at work today. In our industry! Already working. Really.

Two technologies that are at work transforming what is happening at property offices are: “Avatars” and “VPAs”.

What is an “Avatar”? This is best described as a software ‘robot’ – that sits on your computer screen desktop (it is about 2 inch square) and does:

·         Instant ‘Drag and Drop’ document capture

·         All your document filing

·         Document search and retrieval

·         Document ‘tagging’

·         ‘Links’ to your back office systems like your “GL accounting system” to instantly find and present the related document such as an invoice for instance for instant viewing just by clicking on the G/L entry

No need to ‘log-in’ to a document management system. The “Avatar” sits there, always ‘hot and ready’ to go to work! The document storage system runs, transparently, in the background.

Since a significant amount of office time is spent handling paper (average 30+% of staff time), having a software “Avatar” do the paper handling is a huge staff time gain. And, of course, an “Avatar” does immediate and accurate filing and takes no time off.

Virtual Property Assistants. Most property offices invest in what are called MFPs (multifunction printers). A smart company I know has built a ‘tablet screen’ driven MFP that is customized to the multifamily industry’s use case. This means that the MFP is now customizable to your multifamily business processes. One touch buttons clearly designate document ‘types’ and the business process to be followed for capturing documents and getting them to the right file folder or person or place to take action or approve. This ‘virtual property assistant’ operates at a level above what just sending or e-mailing does and it can invoke automatic work flows. Just touch the right button for the right multifamily document type and the rest automatically happens. It even has controls for direct and accurate filing into the correct file folder.

Very cool!

The point is that with such a device the time and expense of scanning is reduced or eliminated, copying costs are reduced and the costs of shipping document packages are eliminated. The virtual property assistant does all the work. At the speed of light. Why ever buy a conventional MFP?

Using a virtual property assistant rather than a conventional MFP, reduces costs, increases business efficiency and frees staff time at the property.

Using just these two technologies would be like adding more than a day a week to staff time availability. The world of property management automation is happening – say hello to “Avatars’ and “VPAs” – your future staff.

They are here and working.

As always, if you would like to know more about or see these technologies just send me an e-mail at mike.radice46@gmail.com and I will arrange it for you.

Mike