There is one question our team is asked frequently, and lately at pace. What cloud based system should I move to? Palace, Console Cloud, PropertyMe, Property Tree, Managed, Our Property and RE Vault PM make up the current list of cloud based property management solutions. Will this be it? Not by a long way, there are more to come.
The bigger question which should be asked before considering cloud based software is, what do you want from your property management business?
Legacy System Console and REST account for the majority in the old school software space. Last year Rockend made an announcement that it will no longer support their REST product and that all future integration and development will be tasked to its cloud based Property Tree product - surprisingly, a move that did not spook the majority of their customers. Console followed suite at the beginning of this year, announcing via email to its client base that they were all now on permanent contracts, there is an early termination fee and prices were increasing. The fact that there are still around 200 businesses in our network on these systems is amazing to me! But perhaps not! When you consider that new cloud computing systems vary greatly in their offerings.
Where to now? If you would like to continue on with traditional property management but would like to reduce tech costs, Property Tree is a great product for you. If you are of the belief property management should be a CRM first and trust accounting second, the new RE Vault product will be ready to go in November this year.
But are we looking to continue traditional property management? Do you know the experience a client in your property management business receives today? Does this come before cloud computing?
Property management businesses have long suffered a slim profit margin but the combination of today's super sized customer experience expectation and a rumored decline in fees challenge, are driving the motivation for tech companies to solve this property management game now.
It’s exciting, it’s moving fast, but you are going to have to pick your path. Do you move to safe ground in the cloud for now and wait for the tech solution that will finally deliver clients what they want? Or is the solution so close it’s not worth two migrations and you stay with software for now?
