blog Archives • Smart Building Apps
 

Category: blog

SIMPLIFYING PROPERTY & PARKING MANAGEMENT WITH SMART BUILDING APPS

By on June 28, 2018 in blog

Published: June 14th, 2018

New to the CENGN community and eager to begin their project, Smart Building Apps is a growing Canadian company based out of Ottawa. Smart Building Apps is a software application designed to simplify building management and provide cost-savings to property managers. To complete their IoT project, Smart Building Apps will be implementing their product on the CENGN Cloud and then will drive heavy amounts of traffic to our servers to test its processing rate. By testing the requirements needed to support their solution when usage is increased, Smart Building Apps will have third party validation of the scalability performance of their solution in which they can take to clients looking for a durable, scalable solution.

Experience in the Property Management Industry
The leadership team at Smart Building Apps comes fully equipped with decades of experience working in the residential and commercial property management industry. Their previous involvement of providing security services to property managers gave their founder, Denis Condie, and the team at Smart Building Apps an inside look at the challenges property managers face on a regular basis. Through these insights, Smart Building Apps was formed and since then they have developed a suite of solutions property managers can use to simplify their job and life for their tenants. Through their app, property managers can send out building announcements, receive maintenance requests from tenants, and manage amenity scheduling. Within their suite of solutions is their smart parking solution, which is the software they will be testing at CENGN. This tool has been developed to specifically help residential and commercial property owners and managers easily rent out parking space.

Smart Parking
The smart parking solution allows its users to purchase parking spaces from commercial and residential parking space suppliers. After downloading the Smart Parking App, users enter their license plate information, parking duration, and pay – all through the app. Now that they are registered and have parked, a security company can use the registered information to check on each parking lot ensuring only authorized vehicles fill the spaces. This new way of paid parking is not only easier for space owners, it removes the cost of hardware equipment like gates and payment machines. As an added bonus, the application is also configured with Google Maps API, so users can see locations of available parking spaces and register their location when parked.

Project Setup
Testing the amount of data traffic Smart Building Apps will require to scale is the validation that large commercial property managers are looking for before they adopt the smart parking solution. This will let their potential clients know if the company is ready to handle their much-increased user requirements.

To setup the project, Smart Building Apps will be deploying their smart parking server and jMeter traffic generators on the CENGN Testbed. They have developed scripts to simulate traffic as a user moves through each phase of their application. During execution of the project, jMeter will send traffic through different website routes, replicating many users simultaneously using the application. By increasing the traffic load to be processed by the Smart Parking Server, Smart Building Apps will be able to determine how many users can enter their parking information on the app at a single time.

The CENGN Testing Advantage
As a company transitions from startup to growth stage, refinements need to be made to technology products and services to ensure they scale effectively. Ramping up the number of users creating traffic unveils unforeseen problems that never occurred when operating in the past. CENGN’s testing environment will allow Smart Building Apps to generate heavy traffic flow in a secure environment without losing service quality to a client.

 

Know more about Cengn https://www.cengn.ca/

Opportunity Knocks for Condo Boards

By on November 9, 2017 in blog

Smart Building Apps and BoardSpace just got SMARTER

Ottawa, Canada – November 9th, 2017

SmartBuildingApps.com, a provider of residential and commercial property management software announced today that it would be expanding its portfolio to include board management software from BoardSpace.

“We are thrilled to add BoardSpace to our software family and provide condo & co-op boards with tools for directors,” says CEO of Smart Building Apps, Denis Condie. “As soon as I met Pat Crosscombe, Founder and CEO of BoardSpace and she told me about her software for condo boards, I knew it was a no-brainer to integrate BoardSpace with my software.”

Since 1994, Denis Condie, a serial entrepreneur, has provided security services for residential and commercial properties through his company Response Security. He also learned firsthand from his customers their pain points in managing their buildings and witnessed these same concerns over and over again. Smart Building Apps was designed to meet these needs.

Pat Crosscombe is also the President of her condo board and was inspired to create BoardSpace for condo boards because of her continual frustration with getting minutes finalized, keeping track of who was doing what and the amount of time it took to find documents.

“I am delighted to be working with Smart Building Apps and look forward to introducing our combined effort to condos, housing cooperatives, HOAs and community associations across Canada and the United States,” added Pat Crosscombe. “Getting minutes done is the board’s core requirement; BoardSpace makes minutes SMART – Simple, Manageable, Accessible, Reliable, Transparent. There is a synergy between our two brands that we feel will result in a great product for our customers. Our integrated software is available now.”

The market for software targeted towards condos is strong. There are over 350,000 condo corporations in Canada and the United States. In Ontario, condominiums account for half of all new homes (2013) and in the USA, the number of condominiums has grown at approximately 4% per year.

To inquire further about our software, contact Denis Condie (1-866-706-8476, smartbuildingapps.com, [email protected]) or Pat Crosscombe (613-790-0225, boardspace.co, [email protected]).

How to Nail your 2017 Budget – Property Management

By on November 7, 2017 in blog

The end of the year signifies a big push on budget for property managers, which can have many pitfalls. But planning ahead with vigilance means that your retention rates stay high and your reputation grows as a reliable property management company. Here are the biggest 5 things to make sure to stay on top of.

1. Communication

Ensuring that your building owners are on the same page, both at the annual budget stage as well as anytime something comes up. While you have an annual budget set, there is always unplanned changes and events that may change what needs to be allocated where. When you keep your owner in the loop they are more likely to be on board, instead of being shocked at a project going over-budget when they get the bill. Have a contingency plan in place, for example, if any project is quoted to be above a certain amount, always have the owner sign off before any work is started. Having things in writing leaves a paper trail that can be consulted at any time, a safeguard that any property manager will cherish.

2. Conduct Regular Inspections

Setting a recurring event in your calendar may be the saviour when it comes to preventative care, with the help of a property management software system. This can mean the different between disastrous water damage or just a small leak. Make sure you have a list of all the systems that need to be checked regularly for each building, including the age and vendor contacts you’ll need.Another helpful task to help with this is to have a building history, if you know the age of the water boilers, you’ll know about the time they need to be inspected for replacement. This also helps with seeing trends and prevent any further damage from faulty systems.

3. Plan for Emergencies

While we’d all like to think positively, there are things to be prepared for and emergencies are at the top of that list. Ensure you have all the contacts and vendors you need in case something happens. This also means making room in the budget for this, so that owners can rest assured that it won’t necessarily mean blowing the yearly budget (plus it makes it looks great if nothing happens and you’re under-budget!)

4. Review, Review, Review

Plan for quarterly reviews of the budget. Staying on top throughout the year means you can break up changes into more manageable pieces and takes notes for next year. Keep up with this with a calendar app, usually included in most building management software.

5. Research.

Take the time to go through your vendor list for ensure you are getting the best service possible. Find out what the current market rates are for them, as well as for materials, labour costs, as well as inventory items like appliances, flooring and any other item you’ll need regularly for amenity spaces and common areas.

With Smart Building Apps Financial App you have all the data you need to mart SMART decisions about your budget. Get your free demo now!

Joint Selling Venture Signed By Canadian and U.S. software service companies

By on March 27, 2017 in blog


Smart Building Applications and ClickPay have signed a mutual reseller agreement to offer the American market a comprehensive solution for the multifamily residential Real Estate industry. The partnership will help Smart Building Applications attract more customers and increase market share.

Smart Building Applications is known in the SaaS industry for such products as Smartbuildingapps, ParkandPay and Visitorparking. “We are very excited to work with ClickPay,” said Denis Condie, CEO, Smart Building Applications. “Teaming up with ClickPay to provide online payments for rent, association and amenity fees is an exciting development and will enable us to offer a one-stop solution for property management companies.”

“Smart Building Applications is a great partner and this agreement exemplifies their dedication to providing a holistic resident portal to property managers, associations and owners. The partnership reflects our desire to collaborate with companies that share our vision of service excellence,” said Emily Kramer, VP, Business Development at ClickPay. ClickPay is known for its total accounts receivable automation for the Real Estate Industry and has similar agreements with several other industry partners.

A joint effort will be necessary to implement the plan. Initially, ClickPay will provide Smart Building Applications with payment portal facilities and with sales support in the US. As the plan unfolds, Smart Building Applications will deliver a co-branded property management application and will collaborate on sales and marketing opportunities. Both parties bring strength and industry expertise, which together allows each to expand their product offerings to their existing clientele making delivering more value to their clients.

About Smart Building Applications

[ezcol_1third]smartbuildingappslogo
[/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end]

Founded in 2008, Smart Building Applications is the maker of the popular software applications Smartbuildingapps, ParkandPay and Visitorparking. Their property management, tenant portal and parking apps are known for reducing time constraints on property management staff by virtualizing day-to-day tasks that are handled by software applications. The company’s mission is to reduce the burden and reduce costs to the management company while increasing the tenant experience and service level. For more information about Smart Building Applications, please visit www.smartbuildingapps.com

[/ezcol_2third_end]

About ClickPay

[ezcol_1third]Partner-ClickPay
[/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end]

Founded in 2007, CLICKPAY, A DIVISION OF NOVELPAY, LLC. CLICKPAY is known for its complete Real Estate receivables platform. As the leading provider of innovative billing and payment solutions for the multi-family and commercial real estate industry, ClickPay offers fully integrated billing, payment processing and software services to accelerate the financial performance of its customers by reducing operating costs, creating operational efficiencies, and boosting resident satisfaction. These services provide property owners and managers with a customizable, electronic solution to bill and collect from their residents including online payments, lockbox, on-site check scanning, paper statements and ebilling, and currently employs over 75 people in several locations across the United States. For more information about ClickPay, please visit www.clickpay.com.

[/ezcol_2third_end]

Why Property Managers Need Property Management Software

By on March 24, 2017 in blog

Why Property Managers Need Property Management SoftwareProperty management is a lot more difficult nowadays. Every aspect of a residential, commercial, or parking real estate must be managed. If space is rented or leased, that also needs to be tracked. There can be a lot of information that needs to be managed, from owners’ and renters’ personal information, to payments and notifications.

Smart Building Apps is a cloud-based software system for property managers. It can assist in managing hundreds or thousands of properties.

Why Property Managers Need Property Management Software

The days are gone when you could manage a business merely through books. But how are you managing your property now? Are you using an Excel or Word program that likely has outgrown itself through a vast amount of recorded information? Perhaps you’re uncertain how to track all this information and then access it quickly?

Our software has been designed to assist property managers in saving time, money, paper, and storage space. The information you require is at your fingertips. You can also go in and update records in a timely manner, rather than filling out a form and doing it later.

Your entire team will be able to access the latest and most up-to-date information. There will be no back-and-forth because someone forgot to update addresses due to the old system being too difficult to use.

Green Compliance

Many companies today choose to obey green compliance. That means minimizing their impact on the environment, and preventing the mass dump of paper into the landfills. With our software you won’t need to print out endless piles of papers, then have to store it in a big filing cabinet.

With Smart Building Apps, you won’t need to print out reports and details for all of your commercial, parking, or residential properties. Our system can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Simply log in online to find the information you need.

This also guarantees that information is always up-to-date, and that labor costs are minimized as you don’t need to hire anyone to file all day long.

How the Smart Building App Works

Our software is cloud-based, and that means you simply type in the URL to our company, or click on a bookmark or link. You sign in with your credentials and password. You can do this on any laptop from anywhere in the world.

You do not need to download anything in advance, or do any upgrades to your current servers.

If you’d prefer to log in with a tablet or smartphone, we also have apps to do that. This is to log in directly to monitor an individual or certain number of properties.

Get an Estimate Today

Not only will you save time and money, but you’ll also more effectively run your business, and reduce office face time. This live system will track your entire team, leading to timely updates of valid information. This will all result in happier residents who are confident in what you do.

Why Medium Sized Property Management Companies Succeed When Using Smart Building Apps

By on February 8, 2017 in blog, Uncategorized

Managing a number of properties can be time consuming, costly, and requires a lot of paperwork.
However, what if there was a way for property managers to keep up with each of their properties while saving time and money? No, it’s not too good to be true. In fact, property management software like Smart Building Apps have become the newest, and greatest way to manage properties right from your device of choice.

Today we want to share with you why Smart Building Apps aid in the success of property management companies and how your business can benefit from them. Not only will we be sharing our favorite property management tips but we’ll also show you how success is merely at your fingertips.

Portfolio Management

Keeping track of all of your properties can take up a lot of desk space, computer space, files, and paper. Because going green is now the latest trend on the business front it’s only natural that property
managers find a way to go green while keeping up with their properties in order.

Billing & Invoicing

Why complicate the billing and invoicing process when Smart Building Apps make it so much easier? Not only do building apps offer property managers a paperless structure, they also give managers a safe and secure way to process payments from their tenants.

Maintenance Management

If you own an apartment building, office building, or any other kind of commercial building then you know maintenance requests come in on a regular basis. Because it’s important for you to get to those maintenance requests in a timely manner while keeping up with your own maintenance requirements, Smart Building Apps allow for an increased, effective workflow for you and your maintenance team.

Tenant Database

Because property management software like, Smart Building Apps are user friendly and provide a quick and transparent setup it becomes easy to keep track of all of your tenants. Keep them in one place without having to go through a bunch of paperwork. Most building apps even offer tenants a
survey to take at the end of their lease.

Vacancy Tracking

Keeping track of all of your vacancies can be a headache, especially when you manage multiple
properties. However, because Smart Building Apps are optimized for most devices and provides a rich data history and internal notification system knowing when you’re going to have a vacancy coming up makes it easier to rent out properties in a timely manner.

Tenant Portal

Tenant portals have become extremely popular in the last few years. With Smart Building Apps your tenant can have a place to submit maintenance requests, use the easy to use messaging system to ask questions, and overall feel well taken care of because of the convenience of using the tenant portal. Happy tenants, happy property manager.

Expense Management

If you’re not correctly and efficiently keeping track of your expenses you’re probably spending more than you need to. With Smart Building Apps not only do you become more productive, you also
become more decisive with how you are spending.

SMS Notifications

By on December 6, 2016 in blog, Uncategorized

Start sending notices to residents and staff via SMS short messaging system. Timely notifications alert you to any activity within the property management software system. This is an opt in service available for residents and management.

Smart Building Apps is an all-in-one cloud based property management software system. Our software helps you manage hundreds of properties saving you time and money. Hence, our cloud based system allows you access from anywhere in the world. So, monitor one or multiple properties just as easy. Learn to reduce office face time and start to enjoy the benefits of a live tracking system.

We learn there are a handful of must-haves. The ability to easily collect rent. Manage maintenance requests. Advertise to new tenants. The challenges of a robust accounting. Reporting and document management. Everyone can met our features requirements. Therefore, we test each app for ease of use and customer service.

**COMING SOON**

Payment Portal | Smart Building Apps

By on December 5, 2016 in blog, Uncategorized

Our Payment Portal is a fast, reliable, secure and convenient feature for residents. Payments can be processed for amenity bookings, rent, application fees, guest suite payments, HOA fee and maintenance fees. Online transaction methods include echeck, EMT, check scanning, debit and credit card.
**COMING SOON**

Maintenance Requests

By on November 30, 2016 in blog, Uncategorized

Our Maintenance Request/Work Orders app allows residents to schedule a repair or report a maintenance concern for their unit. Include a description of what needs to be repaired and grant access to your unit without the need to be home. Request your free demo today and get started on a simple and easy property management solution.

GPS Action Tracker

By on November 24, 2016 in blog, Uncategorized

Our GPS Action Tracker application gives all property managers piece of mind when it comes to managing their staff. PM’s can simplify their workload and begin tracking their team based on their interactions with the software. Sign up now and get started today with our all-in-one software system.

Building Solutions

Parking Solutions

Security Services

The Social Stuff

Contact Us All Apps Blog Privacy Policy