A lot can go wrong when multifamily owners and operators try to implement new technology. Here is some advice from leading apartment experts to help get the most from new tech solutions.

Lesson No. 1: Understand the Problem

To pick the best technology, real estate leaders need to deeply understand the problem they are trying to solve. Make sure the technology being considered has the capability to help.

“Have a prioritized list of what you want the new technology to do,” says Shawn Mahoney, senior adviser at RET Ventures and the former chief technology officer for GID. “You really need to know what is important to you and stick to that list.”

It is easy to get this wrong—even when executives seem to have asked all the right questions.

One apartment company bought a new customer relations management (CRM) tool believing that they could add fields to the data they entered. However, the CRM could not include these new fields in the reports it generated. “As soon as they installed it, they realized they could not sort their data in the way that they wanted,” says Mahoney.

Another company bought a property management software system believing it could be customized. However, whenever the software needed an upgrade, all the customizations broke down. “You had to recreate all the customizations and test them. It took two months in a test environment. So you effectively couldn’t upgrade,” says Mahoney.

To expose problems like these, real estate executives should have vendors show them step by step how the new technology is likely to work for them. “You would have what they call a ‘scripted demonstration,’” says Mahoney. “You really have the demo, and they show you that the technology can do it.”

Lesson No. 2: Streamline Your Technology

Whenever apartment pros seriously consider a promising, new technology, they should also consider what this new technology could replace.

“There is often redundancy in solutions that we purchase,” says Jackie Impellitier, vice president at ZRS Management. “We purchase it for one reason, but it ends up being able to serve multiple purposes.”

For example, the company found it could customize its cloud-based CRM system to fulfill other functions. The system now handles risk management and provides a database of training materials for employees.

“We asked, ‘What else could we replace and funnel into this one solution to make it worthwhile?’” says Impellitier. “We were able to save on three or four technology contracts.”

To find other opportunities to streamline their technology, apartment companies should conduct a census of the tech they use, says Impellitier. “There is such a thing as technology fatigue with the million different software applications to keep up with and all the usernames and passwords.”

Lesson No. 3: Test Tech With Different Teams

Apartment companies should test out new technology in a variety of situations.

“Pilot it in different properties,” says Louis DeVos, vice president of residential property management for Woodmont Properties.

One of these properties should be managed by an experienced, adaptable team to show off what a new technology can do. But the pilot should not just include the most battle-tested problem-solvers. They might avoid problems and misunderstandings almost without thinking about it.

A strong pilot would include at least one more property. “It would be maybe a team that has had more turnover, and the lead of the team would be someone who was new to the property or new to the role,” says DeVos. “The residents should be more vocal, so there will be more communication.”

Give this second team extra support to help them succeed, too. Hopefully they will identity problems such as badly written instructions that don’t make sense to a reader without decades of experience. Then this team can help find solutions.

Lesson No. 4: Don’t Give Up Too Soon

Even after apartment executives carefully select a new technology, they may feel disappointed when they finally start to use it.

“They have a thorough request-for-proposals process, pick a winner, start the proof-of-concept pilot, maybe the initial launch … then they could get frustrated,” says Jamie Gorski, chief experience officer for GID-Windsor Communities. “They get frustrated because it doesn’t always work as well as they expected.”

Maybe it takes longer than anyone thought to integrate a new technology with other systems. Maybe a new technology costs more than expected to customize or fails to reach certain benchmarks. Give the technology company you hired to create this solution a chance to make it work as well as it can.

“They aren’t perfect. They aren’t going to be. It’s iterative,” says Gorski. “Form those good relationships, and then work together.”

Bonus Lesson: Don’t Overwhelm Your Teams

Executives should not inflict too much new technology too quickly on their teams. Top leaders should listen carefully to the people who will be using the technology.

“If the on-site property management teams are not able to absorb any more change—or if it is not the right time to absorb change—then whatever you put in place is not going to work,” says Woodmont’s DeVos. “So don’t spend time doing it.”