Technology Changes the Industry

Advances Tackle Common Management Problems

When I started my association management company in 1980, we kept the account history of our homeowners on ledger cards and wrote checks using a “One Write” system. We really were pushing the envelope when we decided to use a Polaroid camera to take pictures of violations. In 1981, we took the plunge, spending $4,000 for an Apple III with all the necessary components.

Things certainly have changed. Today, my Treo PDA phone has more RAM, storage and computing power than that old Apple III. It’s also one-twentieth of the cost, counting inflation. In today’s world, technological improvements have allowed us to do a better job both faster and easier. With the coming of age of the Internet, this has taken a quantum leap forward.

Banking and Technology

From the advent of association-specific banking services until now, the focus has been on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of deliverables (lockbox, statements, setting up accounts, etc). Today’s “Industry Specific” banks are looking for new ways to improve the workflow and efficiencies of the management companies they work with. Some of those advances are as follows.

Check 21. This was the big news of last year. The key points touted at this time last year were the imaging of all checks, the elimination of cancelled paper checks and the reduction and virtual removal of the “float” – the time it takes for checks to clear and for deposits to be received. Many banks now provide their customers with a check imager. The management company simply images the checks and sends the image to the bank for processing.

Positive Pay. Fraud is becoming more and more prevalent. You now can send a file of the written checks to your bank. If a check is presented that is not in this file, it will be rejected.

Software Integration. Rapid progress is being made on this front. Most banks have the ability to send the lockbox upload file to the management company. Now we are seeing banks team with software companies for much more integration. Soon to come will be:

• Real-time reconciliation of your checking accounts. No more end of the month reconciliation backlog.
• Integration of money transfers.  Do the transfer in your own software and the bank is automatically informed
• Bill Pay also is very close to being perfected. Banks have been offering bill pay to their retail customers for a couple of years now. Because of most associations’ requirement for dual approval and the issue of getting the information from the check into the management company’s computer, this service has not been offered to management companies. Soon your vendors will be able to go to your website and post their invoice. Upon posting, an e-mail will be sent to all the parties who need to approve the payment. Upon approval, payment will be made in the form of an ACH, no more checks.

Online Services. This continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The ability to go online and see account activity in real-time, view cancelled checks, see past statements and limited cash-management services are available through most banks. The ability to pay assessments online is also on the rise.

Next Generation Caller Identification. Soon your computer will tell you more than just who is calling before you answer the phone. Imagine having all the information about a homeowner on the screen before you answer the phone. This feature also will help companies track time spent on a particular client.

Document Delivery. Several companies already deliver documents using the Internet. These services are used for resale and loan questionnaires. Homeowners can get copies of condo documents, meeting minutes, budges and any other document you wish to deliver. There are even special newsletter programs that will allow you to deliver your e-newsletters over the Internet.

Is technology the answer to all our management problems? Not as long as there are barking dogs, brown lawns and speeding drivers. However, when these technologies become easy-to-use, the efficiency and simplicity they offer will be key drivers in the end for true customer satisfaction. In what is being called the “Experience Economy” (think Starbucks and Amazon.com), client expectations about service have grown exponentially. Technology is a tool that helps us not only to meet, but also exceed client expectations. That translates into client delight, which means client retention….and that makes everyone happy!