Modern gated communities are no less than luxury resorts with several facilities at hand for the benefit of the residents. Spread across acres of land, these communities boast state of the art clubhouses, gyms, swimming pools, game rooms, theatres, outdoor sports areas like basketball courts or tennis courts. Gated communities are made keeping in mind the overall well being of each and every resident. Hence, the green walking/jogging tracks and a host of facilities available at hand. Unfortunately, while these facilities are the major draw for homeowners to invest in gated communities, most of them are unaware of the process to utilise these facilities to its full potential. The optimum usage of facilities not only gives the deserved ROI to home buyers but also augments community revenue. This is where community management software comes in handy.
We are well aware of the high maintenance charges paid by the residents of gated communities. It makes no logical sense to pay high maintenance charges, if one is unable to use what they are already paying for. Moreover, a gated communities facilities are assets of the community that can always be leveraged to earn more revenue. This will eventually bring the pressure of maintenance down for the residents. Therefore, it is useful to incorporate a community management software to ensure this amazing community asset is taken full advantage of without causing inconvenience to the residents.
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What Is A Community Management Software?
Facility management of a gated community can become a challenging task if handled entirely manually. “To err is human” and this is where a management software can drastically cut down the chances of errors and cause optimum use of the available facilities.
Any facility is going to be booked by several people within the span of one day. Managing bookings seamlessly is a mammoth task if done manually. To add on to that, community/society management demands a separate section of account books altogether. With a community management software in hand, a lot of these meticulous details are taken care of by the algorithm leading to smooth handling of the community facilities.
What is the ROI if I use this?
Facility/Community managers or management committees choosing to implement such a software must always ask the question of what shall be the return on investment. The objective of this software is to reduce losses and augment revenues. One of the commonest causes of losing revenue on facilities is erroneous booking of facilities. With a manual system, double bookings are often a problem, leading to cancellations. There are two problems with this – loss of revenue from at least one party and losing goodwill of the affected parties. These software are designed to entirely prevent such an issue. Users can easily check availability of the facilities on their preferred date and time and book likewise. The software is usually integrated with online payment gateways assisting in easy payment of the facility booked, wherever charges are applicable.
With a streamlined process in place, it also allows to open these facilities to people who are not residents of the gated community, thereby increasing the revenue that can be earned through the facilities.
More On Revenue Augmentation
Ease of booking facilities go a long way to bring in more bookings in a given time period. This takes care of a higher inflow of users. The result being even after the costs to maintain the facilities, there’s a higher amount saved. Considering that a community management software makes this work well organised and efficient, even with a huge resident count, the facilities can be opened to outsiders for use in return for a fee. How is this done? Data analysis.
Community management software are more often than not SaaS based. With a cloud at the backend, these software can store enormous amount of detailed data always available for instant recall by facility managers as well as management committee members. It helps to give an insight into peak usage hours of each facility. At the same time, it can be tracked how many residents use facilities on an average day. Therefore, based on this data, it is easy to come to a conclusion about when to open the facilities for non residents.
Just in case, any facility is underused by residents, they can always open it to non residents for optimum use. A gated community is not just a residential area. To achieve financial sustainability and the goal of lower maintenance for residents, assets of the community must be viewed as potential business investments. Facilities are the best revenue generators in this regard.
Opening community facilities, bring in another pointed question. Is it not a security concern for residents?
Ideally, it should not be. Every gated community must mandatorily have a strong, practically foolproof security system. Usually community management software come with a comprehensive solution to provide all round management services including security and facility management among other things. No visitor should be allowed in the premises without prior verification. The community management software in itself can record details of outsiders coming in. This software can easily integrate with hardware devices like biometric solutions, RFID card readers or special access control doors, thereby securing the premise from untoward incidents.
The bonus? These hardware integration can even stop defaulters from using the facilities till they clear their dues. No fund leakage.
Society/Community Management Software & Accounting
With an app version for both front as well as back end users, community management software is a powerhouse of all things related to your facilities. Every payment made can be instantly tracked and available for immediate recall from the servers. With the option of adding multiple members in the back end, there is increased transparency in the books. This software is built in accordance to the format preferred by auditors to go through the finances. Taking into account the fact that calculations and entries are mostly not manual, reconciliation of the books is usually flawless, thereby saving time and energy and a lot of money on accountants.
One can even track expenses and income through facility booking and figure out the best financial model for managing their facilities while accruing maximum profit.
ADDA has a dedicated platform for all your community management needs. Coupled with ERP and GateKeeper, the brand’s Society/Community Management module can help any residential community to get the most out of their facilities. Click here to check us out. You may also want to read 7 Reasons Why Having A Society Management Software is A Must