Digitalisation in Community Management

Aayush Puri, Head GCC - ANACITY, gives an insight into the roles digitalisation plays in the Community Management sector

The real estate sector has been relatively slower to climb on the digitalization train. It’s a deficit that the sector has since addressed with alacrity as technology changes the face of every segment.In the GCC region, Dubai Land Department has led the initiative, delivering a whopping 1.4 million
digital services in 2020, ranging from Registration and renewal of Ejari contracts to no-objection certificates. 

These services form a crucial part of the DLD’s vision for Smart Dubai, playing a pivotal role in creating hyper-efficient and seamlessly connected public services. While DLD smart services will further facilitate ICT (information and communications technology) adoption in the real estate sector, when it comes to last-mile delivery of services, the needle of responsibility moves to OAMs and community managers. This is where digital community management solutions have been driving the change, ensuring that digital services reach our homes and communities through easily accessible digital platforms. 

Digitalising our daily life
When it comes to community management, digitalization can play a powerful role in optimal resource management, streamlining services, and improving the overall quality of life. In Dubai, this change is now being driven by digital apartment management solution providers. With a bouquet of services to streamline apartment management, these platforms bring digital transformation to our doorstep, changing community governance and resource management. 

These digital platforms can resolve some of the long-standing challenges in property management while ensuring improved efficiency. Where earlier apartment managers had to coordinate with different departments and software for daily operations, software solution providers like ANACITY bring all internal and external stakeholders on a common platform. This integration has been instrumental in streamlining community operations, such as complaint redressal. 

Under legacy systems, a resident would go through multiple channels to register a complaint. The staff had to check the service registry for the day’s roster and the manager would then have to follow up individually. A community management software brings all these stakeholders on one platform where the resident can register their complaints, the staff can assess their roster, and the manager can follow through. The platform also makes it easier for the resident to escalate a complaint or for a manager to check its progress. 

For OAMs, the platform goes one step further through a centralized command center where they can track multiple communities. It also offers them acentralized mechanism to broadcast key communication. This integration of all multiple community operations on one digital platform revolutionized community management, creating cost and labour-efficient solutions. 

Power of data 
One of the biggest challenges in community management is the handling of data. This includes resident information, vendor invoices, maintenance billing, asset records, and more. In legacy systems, this data was stored in silos where retrieval of information was both cumbersome and time-consuming. In many cases the storage was manual and unorganized, creating delays. The digitalisation of these records on the cloud created an easily accessible medium which also boosted transparency. 

While data integration on one common platform streamlines overall operations, automation has further driven the power of information. Today, we can automate time-consuming tasks like billings and collections, ensuring better resource management as well as reducing the chances of unnecessary delays. We can harness data in many other critical functions that can further improve asset and financial management. For instance, we can track inventory to pinpoint any gaps or ensure timely maintenance.

Rapid adoption
The last few years have undoubtedly been a pivotal period for the apartment management software industry. Health concerns have driven the need for operational systems that can support contactless and remote management. With innovative solutions that could help in managing COVID guidelines, community management software solutions saw rapid adoption across the board.

 This expeditious digitalisation is also driven by the government’s Smart Dubai vision. With the government propelling tech transformation in the region, we have seen the emergence of new players and innovations in the industry. This has created a charged energy with a push for more and more groundbreaking products and services within the industry. This transformation has largely been led by the industry players who see a niche category for digital transformation. 

However, as technology becomes omnipresent, users have moved from adoption to expectation. In other words, people not only want but expect digitalisation of support services, from security to housekeeping. Tech support is now the default for most people and as we move forward community managers and support staff will also expect tech solutions in their area of operations.  

Leading with innovation
The consistent uptick in tech adoption has been further driven by SaaS-based companies that pushed the envelope through innovative features to further improve user experience. For instance,ANACITY facilitated a contactless move-in process through end-to-end e-approvals for documents.Integration with DLD as part of Smart Dubai solutions also allows us to improve the life of the average citizen. For instance, guests can just tap in their Emirates ID when entering an apartment complex to record a digital copy. This reduces the chances of any accidental misplacement. As the GCC region moves toward a highly integrated tech ecosystem, digital solutions form the bedrock of the service industry where different players can come together to drive change and improve efficiency in delivery. For instance, many suppliers saw the benefits of contactless deliveries during COVID. Similarly, digital platforms can help in increasing the reach of service providers. Today, B2B services rely completely on tech support to reach residents or to automate billings. 

However, there are still challenges that we have to overcome when it comes to complete digitalisation. Despite its many advantages, many OAMs and apartment managers still see these solutions as optional, ‘good-to-have’ but not necessary. As awareness grows and our digital ecosystem is further enhanced, tech-enabled solutions such as automation, AI, cloud, and predictive analytics will become increasingly vital in maximizing ROI and providing value-added services to users. It will also become necessary in managing emerging threats and ensuring sustainability in operations. 

About the author
Aayush Puri is the founder and CEO of ANACITY GCC - a PropTech-driven community management solution. Aayush Puri launched ANACITY with a sharp focus on the demanding Middle Eastern markets. The platform currently caters to over 600,000 households in 6,000 communities across 80 cities globally. Aayush is known for speaking on the topics of technology,software development, entrepreneurship, and infrastructure management. In his diversified
career, Puri has gained over a decade’s experience and has worked with multiple renowned firms like JLL, Ruffalo Noel Levitz, Net Impact, Mphasis, and others. He specializes in software development, outsourcing, IoT, AI, and big data.