The self-storage industry is a fast-growing yet very stable industry. While it may look like it is hard for the industry to develop technologically, there is a lot that technology can give. The self-storage industry needs maintenance, accounting, management, marketing, and technology.
The older ways of maintaining and running a storage unit proved to be highly time-consuming and a struggle. With developments in technology and its use in the industry, the top self-storage companies are giving the best deals on units and is now thriving. Technology helps the storage facility owners run their businesses more effectively and efficiently.
It helps them save time and money as well as create more opportunities to grow relations with their customers. It also makes the employees’ work easier and helps improve the security of the facilities. With all these points in mind, let us look at the many developments in technology that helped the self-storage industry grow.
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Mobile Applications:
In a world where time is important, the use of mobile apps to do your work is a necessity. Mobile tenant apps give your customers a lot of comfort and speed. They allow your customers to hire storage, set up automatic billing, and cancel contracts without speaking to anyone.
Compared to the old times, when the customers had to be present to sign the forms and get them approved by the banks, mobile apps made the process better.
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Robotics:
It was a French company that first used robots to help their facility owners in remotely interact with their tenants. The rest of the world saw this and began to follow it too. Robots are the best example of technological development. They provide a lot of benefits to the self-storage industry.
The robots can greet your customers, help them sign-up and give them a guided tour around the facility. They can also help the customer connect to live customer service in case of any problems. This helps you save money on the hiring of customer service. It also gives you the freedom to hire one person to manage two or three areas at the same time.
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Biometrics:
Businesses save money on labor because they use biometrics. In old times, staff was needed to let people into the facility. Biometrics use fingerprints and face recognition. This means that people can be let into the facility without a problem.
The only big investment would be a system that uses biometrics. Thankfully, these systems can usually hold thousands of profiles. Therefore, it is still a huge profit for the business.
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The Cloud:
You can manage storage units from anywhere globally by using cloud services. The cloud system is used in self-storage technology. Databases can be accessed safely. It is easier for customers to access data whenever they need it by using the cloud.
It’s also a cheaper method because it removes the need for somebody to fix the problem and restore a database crash. Cloud services have a built-in cloud repair system that’s so effective that database crashes are very rare.
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Online Leasing for Self-Storage Facility Searchers:
Self-storage technology can expand customer relationship management and the overall use of your facility for customers. The best advantage is a smaller amount of dependence on staff time while providing on-site and online lease-ups 24/7.
This process for self-storage can take either a month or a couple of hours. Regardless of how long it takes to find a self-storage facility, most of their process is online. One tool that helps with this is the real-time pricing and availability updates given by your operating system’s inventory data feed.
Self-Serve Kiosks:
The property management system can be easily combined with in-built software. This will help the facility owners and managers improve their customer service. It helps the customers access their spaces at any time they wish. Property managers can keep note of all operations. This is because these kiosks store and report all actions in their databases.
Remote Monitoring:
Remote monitoring allows the customers to monitor their spaces from the comfort of their homes. It also ensures that the managers keep track of and update all data regarding the customers’ spaces. It finds any problems in real-time.
This allows the managers or people in charge to contact the right people to fix the problem immediately. Self-storage businesses are growing in most big cities across the globe. It is obvious that they are here to stay.
People will always need a place to store their goods because houses are getting smaller and more expensive. The cost of storage may decrease in the future as a result of fully automated self-storage operations. If this occurs, the self-storage industry will experience another boom in growth.
