Executive Summary
Nicholas Mourtos, the Board President of 101 Peter Street Condo, prefers to use concrete data to make informed decisions for his community. Package processing has always been a challenge for the building, and Condo Control Central’s Package Tracking feature was a key reason why he chose our software. The downtown Toronto condo houses many young residents who regularly shop online, and even with Condo Control Central (CCC), concierge was becoming overwhelmed with the number of packages that weren’t being claimed. Nicholas turned to the reports available to him on the CCC platform to identify the problem, and find a viable solution. He also used reports to help him better understand the incidents that were being reported in the building. With the help of CCC, Nicholas and his board have found a way to expedite package pickup in their building, reduce the workload for concierge, and increase revenue for the corporation.
About Nicholas
Nicholas Mourtos has been acting as Board President for 101 Peter Street Condo for 3 years. He is responsible for resolving strategic and operational issues that affect the community. Big changes begin with Nicholas and his team, and he relies on data to ensure he is making the best decisions possible. As a board member and a resident, Nicholas is passionate about creating a happy, productive living environment for his community.
Background Information
101 Peter Street Condo sits on the intersection of Peter Street and Adelaide Steet West. It is located in downtown Toronto, and surrounded by popular restaurants, commercial buildings and some retail stores. The building was registered in 2014, is 40 storeys high, and has a total of 429 units. The lively area attracts many young residents. The community has been using Condo Control Central for about a year. They made the switch after losing access to a different software suite that a former property management company provided them. They selected CCC because it offered core functionalities they needed at a price that all parties agreed with.
Challenges
As Board President of 101 Peter Street Condo, Nicholas wanted to create a condo community that balanced the needs of investors with those of the people who live in the building. In particular, Nicholas needed to find a cost-effective way to streamline certain processes, such as package tracking, and manage incidents as a team. Major challenges included:
Deliveries
Even though residents were being notified that their deliveries were ready for pickup, some boxes would be left in storage for more than a week. This created a shortage of space for newer deliveries, and frustration for concierge.
Increased workload for concierge
Due to an increase in online deliveries, concierge was devoting a lot of time to processing packages. The board needed quantifiable information about how many more deliveries were being made so that they could implement an appropriate solution.
Analytics
Before Condo Control Central, 101 Peter Street Condo had a few accidents where they lost an entire year’s worth of data. Their old manager had stored it on a local hard drive as opposed to accessible cloud software. Now data can be stored on Condo Control Central, and shared between the board, security and concierge, and residents. Nicholas was looking for a more comprehensive way to make sense of the data, particularly when it came to analyzing incident reports.
The Solution
Nicholas capitalized on the detailed CCC reports that he and his team already had access to, and manipulated the data in Tableau, a data visualization software platform. The data extracted from CCC helped Nicholas find the solutions that he and his board were looking for.
Problem-solving statistics
Instead of acting on guesses or hunches, Nicholas used the package tracking data that had been automatically stored on CCC. He could manipulate the data to break down how many packages were being received on a daily and monthly basis over the past year. When Nicholas created a visual representation of the numbers, the increase in deliveries was immediately obvious.
“[This exercise] drove the board to make a decision on how to increase our capacity or introduce a self-service type option with parcel lockers. It really came down to the realization that we don’t have enough space in our holding area. Condo Control Central was able to facilitate an analysis and enabled us to quantify the data by the number of packages per day.”
Nicholas also looked at a second set of metrics to determine how many packages their building was holding overnight. They were able to determine how many items were being picked up within 48 hours of arrival, and how many were being left in storage for 3 or more days.
These findings led Nicholas and his team to create a late pickup fee policy for the building. With the policy in place, residents should be more motivated to pick up packages from the parcel lockers within 48 hours of delivery. While the parcel lockers are an investment, Nicholas found that the corporation could have collected $20,000 last year by implementing a $2/day late fee. He expects that with this late fee policy in place, the corporation will be able to pay for the monthly costs of the parcel lockers, and have additional money left over to invest in other things.
Meaningful customization
To gain a deeper understanding of incidents that occur in their building, the security and concierge team took advantage of the details box in the online incident report logs. They began noting whether incidents were caused by long-term residents, or short-term Airbnb guests.
Nicholas and the board could later review the incident reports and search for the Airbnb keyword to identify any prevailing issues stemming from short-term renters. The property management team and security team can also use these reports to design and implement preventative and proactive strategies to minimize future incidents.
Accessible platform
The CCC platform has been very easy for everyone at 101 Peter Street Condo to use. The system was designed using real feedback from boards and property managers, making it the perfect sidekick for anyone who lives or works in a condo.
“It’s made managing everyday tasks that much easier for all of our employees. And we have a single point of contact for virtually all our processes.”
CCC has made security’s job much easier, and there are essential tools that enable security, property management, residents, and board members to collaborate.
Results
Since 101 Peter Street Condo began using Condo Control Central, operations have been improved and the entire community is more in sync. Here’s how:
Nicholas and the board
- Access to data that helps the board make smarter, fact-based decisions for their community
- Ability to review and analyze reports at any time
- A more efficient method of communicating and sharing information with residents, property management and concierge
- Documents are securely stored, easy to search, and the board won’t lose access to them
Security and Concierge
- Time associated with processing packages is nearly eradicated
- Most packages are claimed with 48 hours
- Customized incident reporting process has assisted in more informed decision-making
Residents
- Management is more keenly aware of disruptive incidents caused by short-term renters
- Notifications about new packages are sent to residents right away. Packages are kept safe until residents can collect them
- Residents are more engaged and appreciate that they can receive announcements or book amenities through the CCC platform
Final Words
“We used to rely on our third-party vendors to give us access to the information we needed. We didn’t have the ability to log on to the suite – we always had to go through them. Taking that into our hands was a win-win for everyone in the building.
A lot of the core modules on CCC are things that every condo is going to utilize. Whether you want to or not, you need a tool to fulfill all of the responsibilities that come with working for a corporation, or serving on a condo board.”
Want to know how Condo Control Central can transform the way your community operates? Contact us today, we would love to help.