Executive Summary
Val Khomenko is the Regional Director at Regional Group. Val’s portfolio is quite diverse; he cares for a number of small and large condominium communities. Some buildings are brand new, while others have been designated as heritage properties. Val was looking for a more efficient way to communicate with owners and residents. He also wanted to update some of the older, slower processes that communities were using. Val decided on Condo Control due to its ease of use and utility. The Announcements and Amenity Booking features have proven to be particularly helpful. Messages and bookings are sent instantaneously. With Condo Control, Val and his team have been able to create a stronger sense of community and keep residents connected and engaged.
About Val
Val Khomenko has been working in Ottawa for the last two years, and has worked in the condominium industry for the last seven years. He is an enthusiastic leader, and is diligent about ensuring his clients are cared for.
Background Information
Val is responsible for multiple condo communities located in Ottawa. Some buildings attract more renters than others, but each condominium is unique. Ottawa does see a lot of renters; there are several federal government workers and students who don’t live in the city full time. It can be challenging to communicate with these demographics, especially when they’re not in town.
Challenges
As a multi-portfolio manager, Val’s to-do list is endless. He must budget his time and make sure he’s not falling behind on tasks and requests. Before finding Condo Control, Val would have to copy and paste email addresses from a spreadsheet to send out notices and updates. He would sometimes have to do this for hundreds of residents.
Timely Communication
If Val needed to send out a message, he would first have to copy and paste resident emails from a spreadsheet. If there was a mistake in one of the email addresses, he’d have to spend even more time trying to find the error.
Val wasn’t happy with this system, but he knew something had to change when a couple of floods threatened the safety of his communities. “We just didn’t get to the computer in time and we didn’t have the ability to [send messages] through a phone. We had to react quickly before the community-wide announcement was made.” Val and his team were able to prevent any serious issues from occurring. The outcome could have been a lot worse, and he was relieved that it wasn’t, but having a way to contact residents right away would have been better.
Slow Amenity Booking Process
Residents were still filling out paper forms and submitting cheques to secure amenities. This is a slow and tedious process, and can discourage residents from using the facilities available to them.
Sharing Information and Documents
Val’s communities didn’t have a forum where they could communicate and connect with each other. Residents would also need to ask management for forms or documents, which meant his team was printing out the same items over and over again.
The Solution
Val had managed communities that used Condo Control before he invested in the software platform. When doing his own research, he found that Condo Control was the most user-friendly. Val felts that the feature-rich platform would have the ability to benefit all of the different communities that Regional Group serves. Val also appreciated the fact that Condo Control is a Canadian company.
Announcements
Val and his team can create and send messages instantaneously using Condo Control’s Announcement feature. They can even send messages through their phones. Announcements can be customized, and there is an option to send notices to a select group, or the entire building. Best of all, no more copying and pasting email addresses to new messages. All of Val’s contacts are already available in Condo Control.
Online Amenity Booking
Clients have told Val that an online amenity booking system was something that they’ve been waiting for. “The amenity booking for the gym has increased by at least 60% since the booking software was released,” reported Val. Residents can pay through Condo Control for amenities, too. This simplified process ends up generating more revenue for the corporation.
The Amenity Booking feature was also a key deciding factor for reopening amenities during the 2020 pandemic. Condo Control gave Regional Group the ability to contact trace, create timeslots, and revise capacity limits. It helped them execute a safe reopening strategy.
Digital File Storage
Board members can store and access items like governing documents, minutes, materials for various meetings, and any other condo material that they want to store in the File Library.
It’s very straightforward, and folders and subfolders are available to those who have permission to view the folders at any time. The items will always be there. No one has to email or print out the declarations or insurance certificates, and that saves Val’s team a lot of time.
Results
Using Condo Control, Val has the tools he needs to communicate with each of his communities. He doesn’t spend so much time on repetitive tasks, and has modernized processes for his clients.
Val
- Manages his portfolio more effectively
- Can provide more information to residents without doing more work
- Stays in touch with communities even if he isn’t in the building
Regional Group
- Gained a competitive advantage
- Can provide a superior level of customer service
- Able to provide solutions to a variety of different communities
Residents
- Can safely book and enjoy amenities
- Able to access documents on their own whenever they need them
- Experience a stronger sense of community
Final Words
“The addition of the Condo Control platform has been a very helpful tool for Regional Group. It has allowed us to streamline our processes in order to better serve our clients and continue to provide the highest level of customer service.”