Part 1: Improving the resident experience
Part 2: Simplifying violation management
Executive Summary
Coryn is the Director of Office & Member Services for E. HOA, a large association located in the beautiful state of California. The established community is accustomed to a superior level of service, and part of her job is to keep elevating E. HOA’s offerings to residents. Coryn and her colleagues realized that some processes were detracting from an exceptional resident experience, and they were hoping to find a way to change that.
On the administrative side of things, E. HOA staff were spending too much administrative time in violations tracking. Things come up daily in a community that has more than 500 single-family homes, and staff are expected to issue violations promptly.
In this two-part case study, you’ll find out how Condo Control’s Announcements, Amenity Booking, and Violation Tracking features helped E. HOA elevate resident services and streamline violation management.
About Coryn
Coryn is new to E. HOA, but she has already made a tremendous impact on the association. Coryn was hired because she has prior experience in transitioning databases. E. HOA had resident data stored in multiple systems, and one of Coryn’s main jobs would be to centralize all of it. She was also tasked with finding a software system that would offer value to residents and help the association manage data more efficiently.
Background Information
The community, located in California, consists of over 500 single-family homes. The association prides itself on providing exceptional service and care to the residents. Residents have access to several premium amenities, are very invested in their association, and are proud to call this place home.
Part 1. Maintaining Expectations and Elevating Services
Good resident service doesn’t just happen. It takes a lot of work and planning from multiple E. HOA teams.
“Our goal is to continue to give [residents] a high level of service with what we have, and keep building on what we have,” says Coryn. To do that, the association must assess the effectiveness of current processes and offerings, and make changes when necessary. There were a couple of things that could be improved upon to enhance the resident experience, including:
Getting alerts out
E. HOA did send out weekly e-blasts using an email marketing software system, but there was no standardized way to get sudden notices or alerts out to each resident. This made it difficult to notify them if an unexpected repair needed to be performed or an amenity needed to be closed for an afternoon.
Reserving amenities
Tennis courts are popular at E. HOA. However, residents would have to make bookings through an administrator. When Covid hit, residents were suddenly required to book timeslots for the pool as well. While this safety precaution was welcomed by the association, it also meant residents had to go out of their way and coordinate with E. HOA staff to secure a spot.
Maintaining accurate data
Having two databases made it difficult for staff to know what information was accurate and which numbers and email addresses were old. Sometimes, reports that the team ran contained the wrong information. While they could manage with fixing errors and updating two systems, it wasn’t conducive to managing their staff’s time effectively.
Solutions
After doing some research, Coryn settled on Condo Control. She chose this platform because it would help with the data organization initiative, but it also had features that would help elevate the resident experience. The overall aesthetic of Condo Control stood out to Coryn as well. “It’s very easy to use and it just looks clean. It was something we felt comfortable presenting to our residents.”
Announcements
“The announcements feature is huge. It was a little sleeper feature. I definitely did not expect that we’d be using that so much,” shared Coryn.
The image above captures the number of announcements that were created by E. HOA in 2021.
Now if staff need to get a sudden notice or alert out to residents, they have that instant ability. People get the information they need right away. They’re not met with an unpleasant surprise or sudden disruption. “Now that we have it, I can’t imagine not having it.”
Not only has communication improved, but the association has saved over $13,000 by sending out documents and forms electronically.
Condo Control gives owners the option to receive items electronically, and most E. HOA residents have agreed to this arrangement due to the speed and convince it provides. E. HOA has proven that it is possible to cut costs without having to sacrifice great service.
Amenity bookings
With the addition of Condo Control’s amenity booking feature, residents can now book a tennis court by themselves. Amenities can be secured at any time, and owners can even book using the mobile app. They don’t have to be on the premises to make a booking, and that’s really convenient. The recreation staff save a lot of time, too.
Software integrations
Condo Control integrates with a number of different software vendors so that clients can cut down on manual data entry and so they don’t have to keep switching between platforms. E. HOA was very happy to learn that Condo Control could integrate with its access control vendor. This way, Coryn and her colleagues wouldn’t have to continue updating two separate databases.
Part 2. Simplifying violation management
Violation management is an issue that impacts virtually every HOA. The better an association is at enforcing rules, the less likely residents are to intentionally break them. Enforcing the rules is key to maintaining property values and setting expectations. However, violation management can use up significant resources if infractions are manually logged and tracked.
No quick way to manually issue violations
Staff were typing out new letters every time a rule was broken. While it’s very important that they enforce the rules, this process was also taking up a lot of their valuable time.
Solution
Condo Control’s Violation Tracking feature was another big draw when Coryn was researching software options. This tool would help speed up the violation management process and cut down on a lot of manual labor.
Violation tracking
The HOA uses the violation tracking feature everyday.
The Violation Tracking module automates so much of the violation management process that staff find they’re able to really stay on task and close violations quickly. Coryn says that having templates ready to go has saved her team a significant amount of time.
Results
Condo Control has augmented several processes for E. HOA staff and residents. The additional convenience and automation have helped Coryn and her colleagues provide the level of service that owners have come to expect.
Coryn
- Has a system that allows her to consolidate and organize data
- Able to instantly communicate with residents
- Can do her job more efficiently
Residents
- Can book amenities on their own
- Aware of what’s going on in the association
- Have access to a portal that meets their expectations
Staff
- Have saved valuable time since there are fewer manual tasks to complete
- Can enforce rules fairly and systematically
- Have saved money on print and mailing costs
- Able to access multiple tools from one user-friendly platform
Final Words
I think the more people get used to [Condo Control] and the more features they learn about and use, the more evident it is that this platform is a huge asset.