Condo Media - March 2011 - 30

COVER STORY

Hard to Quantify
But he can’t easily quantify the return on the sizable investment the company has made, McBride admits, because cost savings aren’t the only or necessarily the most important measure. For example, he explains, while automation has clearly reduced the number of employees required to perform some tasks, it also has enabled them to do more than they were doing before. So payroll costs haven’t declined, but the company has been able to manage more properties and offer more services without hiring more employees. Calculating a reduction in operating costs is easy; but how do you assess the value of money the company hasn’t spent? Time management studies analyzing “how much paper individual employees are pushing how quickly” would no doubt quantify how much more the company is doing with how much less because of its reliance on technology. But McBride doesn’t see any need to spend the time or money required to document what he knows: “We know intrinsically that there is value in what we’ve done.” While the company’s customer surveys don’t ask specifically if technology “is making our clients happier,” McBride says, “we think it is allowing us to provide better service” — a level of service that McBride says, community associations have come to expect. Associations do expect and appreciate some of the benefits technology provides, DiSchino agrees, but they don’t necessarily expect all the bells and whistles that constantly changing technology can offer, nor are boards as impressed by advanced technologies as some companies assume. It is the service that technology enables a company to provide, not the technology itself that interests association boards. “Boards want their financial statements to be timely and complete and they want [easy] access to their financial information. But I don’t think they care how that happens,” DiSchino says. For that reason, he hasn’t replaced his company’s accounting system, even though

there are “slicker” more-option-laden alternatives. “We have a good, timetested accounting software package that allows us to tailor our financial reporting to the needs of our clients,” DiSchino says, “I haven’t had a single client ever complain about the technology we’re using.”

Communication: “The Best Investment”
What association boards do complain about (often and loudly) is communication, or the lack of it, with their management companies. This is one of the problems — often the major problem — boards cite when they decide to switch managers. So it isn’t surprising that McBride says communicationsrelated technology solutions have been “the best investments for us by far.” Many of the software programs Dartmouth, Barkan and other firms have acquired to increase their operating efficiency also have improved the quality and delivery of the information they provide to clients. Programs that process and track work orders, for example, allow managers and their staffs to respond immediately to questions from owners and possibly anticipate their calls. A manager who can say, “You must be calling about your repair request,” before the owner has asked the question will demonstrate both efficiency and a level of concern the owner is going to appreciate, McBride says. While the good will and customer satisfaction that response creates may not show up directly in the company’s profit-and-loss statement, it will be reflected in customer service evaluations and client retention rates. “It’s all about communication,” McBride insists. “I can tell you without a doubt, if not quantifiably, that by being able to communicate more frequently, more openly and more effectively with boards and residents, and by being able to share information more effectively internally, we’ve been able to deliver improved client satisfaction.” Many community associations are using communications technology to

reduce the number of in-person meetings board members and their managers must attend, saving money for the associations and time for everyone involved. At Barrington Management, senior property manager Elaine Alexis, CMCA, AMS, is encouraging board members to hold more meetings via conference calls during the day rather than in a meeting room at night. Although these virtual meetings hardly qualify as new technology, they are effective, Alexis says, because night meetings can tend to be more of a social event. “Board members chat a bit more than we would like.” Telephone meetings held during the workday, usually during the lunch hour, tend to be “more focused and more productive.” Board members also are more likely to prepare for these meetings in advance, Alexis has found, because “they know they have a limited time to get through the agenda.”

Scrimping and “Skyping”
Connolly has become a huge fan of Skype — a video calling service through which participants can see as well as hear each other. That’s an advantage over traditional conference calls, Connolly says, because “I don’t think people are always focused on conference calls. They’re doing a hundred other things — eating, checking their e-mail, playing with their dogs.” The video camera makes people at least appear to be concentrating on the meeting. Skype is an example of the low-cost (the service is free) technologies that appeal particularly to the smaller communities that Connolly’s firm manages. Another that has proven popular with many of his clients is Windows Live. An alternative for communities that don’t have their own Web sites, this is an information-sharing platform on which boards can post notices, association documents and general information. With only 25 gigabytes of space, the functionality is limited; the program won’t accommodate pictures or a

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CONDO MEDIA • MARCH 2011
Condo Media - March 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - March 2011
