Alister Maple-Brown is the CEO of leading property management software provider Rockend. In this video, he discusses how technology is revitalizing the property management industry and how Rockend is leading the change.

The challenges of property management

Statistics say that only one in four property managers say that they would be willing to promote the industry. Only 1 in 4 also believe that it is a good career to recommend for others.

However, 71% of property managers enjoy their jobs. So what’s the cause of the disconnect? How can they not recommend their jobs if they enjoy doing it?

Alister thinks that it is a challenging role. One where you are a broker between two groups of people that at times have very different perspectives on what's happening. An attendant wants a wonderful living experience, they want everything to be repaired all the time, while a property investor is wanting to make it in a return on their investment of the property and do it in the most effective way.

The property management manager is always in a very challenging position.

Property management is also one of the busiest parts of the real estate business. So unless you’re freeing up people to work on relationships with tenants and owners, property managers are going to feel frustrated.

When you have someone who sits in a broker star position its like an information bottleneck. So whether a tenant wants something done, or the investor wants something else done, it all goes to the property manager. Alister believes that we have to not only alleviate a lot of the bottleneck of information, but also make it available real-time.

Property managers should also be supplemented with their tasks. Their more mundane tasks can be taken over by something else whether that be AI or an outsourced employee.

This allows the manager to concentrate on what matters and what will make the most impact to the bottomline–helping the investor grow their portfolio and building a relationship with the tenant to ensure that they have a great living experience.

A big challenge that investors always have with property managers is the natural churn that happens in the industry.  So if we can decrease that churn so that the investor knows that they're going to go back to the same person every time, they will be more satisfied with your service.

How technology can help

Alister thinks that the industry and technology is on the path to help revitalize property management.  And so consumers, whether they be tenants and landlords, they want a similar experience. They want to know what they're getting and they want it fast. So what that means is either vast changes in offerings that they provide or a really quick adaptation to the new requirements that are coming from their customers.

Rockend is going through that process with the industry to understand how and where all the different avenues are going down. They’re right in the thick of it, their customers are trying different things and Rockend is hoping to supplement and complement those things.