S1 Ep. 10 Evolution of Smart Apartments with PointCentral

Episode transcript:

00:00.37
rkgaulden
So Mike thanks for joining the podcast today. Absolutely so one of the things that I'd be curious talking to you a little bit about is I didn't have the opportunity to go to optech this year but you know I think there's some topics coming out of it one of them in particular that you and I chatted just briefly about is.

00:05.70
Mike Branam
Um, thanks, good to be on Robert.

00:19.99
rkgaulden
Kind of this whole Proptech world and how it's kind of changed or evolved over time. Um, you tell us a little bit about you know what? you guys see in that space and then you know where point central kind of fits in and how you're helping solve for some of those problems that propte is is surfaced on. Ah. And multifamily.

00:37.74
Mike Branam
Um, yeah, yeah, I'd be happy to you know?? What's what's really interesting is you know I've been in Multifamily Prop tech you know before it even had sort of a term so 10 years ago at Optech you know there was we were scratching the surface on. This type of technology or at the time it was really more hey Smart apartment technology. What does that look like for our space and what's really exciting to me is having been to every optech since is you know Now, It's not a matter of like hey is this going to to be a thing in our industry. It's yeah, it's accepted that it is. It's just how how fast and how broad is it getting and the example that I like to to give is you know, rather than just the behind the door technology of Smart thermostats and smart lights and smart locks. What we've seen and I think the pandemic really drove this. Was more of this outside in approach right? So you know Now there's there's technology and opportunity that extends to the perimeter of a community and works its way all the way in and you know I think it's a really exciting time for. Groups to sort of Untangle or um, you know, just unwind their technology stack and really make it more seamless and simplified into perhaps just a single solution that incorporates all of these different technology touch points. So You know.

02:06.33
Mike Branam
When we go outside in you know we talk about gate or intercom access and then we get into the actual access control of the building and all the way to to the resident door and that has to feel especially for the resident and the property staff. Like a single experience you you don't you don't need a credential for the intercom then the separate thing for access control and this third thing for the door. It has to be unified and with different types of users. There's more demand on communities now than there ever has been. With meal delivery and package delivery. Um that you know the poor property staff they become package controllers almost traffic cups. Um, and they're also providing access for dog walkers and house cleaners. So there's there's just more more demand to gain access to the property and technology. Canon. It is a solution for that and I think what roots are really seeing now is is an opportunity to really unify all of that onto ah under a prop tech or technology platform.

03:12.31
rkgaulden
Um, yeah I think I 100% agree with you that I always thought smart apartment was just a gateway to smart building right? I think you really gain. Um, both the experience that you're talking about that unified experience when you look at it as a holistic building. Um, but I think you also gain the efficiencies that you're looking for when you think about all those sensors and the information and the data that it can start to provide and the insights back to your building and then holistically then that seems to me makes more sense than just looking at it on a smart apartment. Insular to the unit and I like the way you kind of drove it even further. It's it's completely outside in so from the first kind of entry point onto the property whether that is a gate whether that's you know the intercom whether you're interacting with something in the parking garage. You know it's it's a. It's in the same vein right? Smart apartment prop tech is is more than just behind the door in the unit. It's everything and inside that building is that essentially what you're saying because I I agree a hundred percent

04:15.64
Mike Branam
Absolutely you know it's this. It's it's more of an ecosystem for for all of the stakeholders and that's why you know again, these conversations get me really excited because there's this opportunity now to to have this this.

04:19.95
rkgaulden
Off.

04:32.25
Mike Branam
Technology that will impact all stakeholders. So if we look at there's property staff. There's the resident of course. But there's also the building and those who own the building so you know we look at the efficiencies and and I love that conversation because what this technology is doing is it's becoming sort of this task automation. Um, checklist for property staff. So you know when when integrations are in play and technology is implemented now. Maybe now maybe that maintenance professional doesn't have to necessarily go see if the thermostat's been reset because someone moved out or there's a dozen of those sort of.

04:52.57
rkgaulden
Are that.

05:08.69
Mike Branam
You know unit checks on moveout now this technology is doing that for the staff and you know there's additional benefit there because you know now you're protecting. You know the asset from you know, hey maybe that hey I live in Denver we can go from ° to 20 in a few hours right um so now you know you're having these pipes burst and all these things that are absolutely preventable but sometimes the maintenance professional doesn't have time to get there. Um, so now you you start sort of checking the box on certain tasks and what this is also doing is is groups industry's you know, kind of got a bad rap that we always move slow and multifamily. Ah, think there's just more to consider in multifamily so what we're seeing now is is stakeholders look at the technology and say okay now we have this opportunity to maybe repurpose our staffing models by saying okay self-guided tours is helping our leasing.

05:53.42
rkgaulden
Are.

06:05.36
Mike Branam
Agents you know, Actually they aren't even calling them that anymore, right? It's it's sometimes their retention specialist or property managers or you know technology concierres even I've seen building managers so you take self-guided tours and and now that's enabling this opportunity to not only expand the hours of the leasing model. But also perhaps repurpose staff to focus on retention and resident engagement with staffing you know, really focused on those types of experiences for the resident Now you're having more influence on on retention and there's never been a more important time than retention right now with you know the economic landscape being fairly uncertain. Um, and with most properties are at 92 to 96%. So if your if your focus is quote unquote leasing. You're probably not showing a lot of apartments with that type of occupancy. So So what are we Doing. We got to repurpose and engage with residents and so there's just more opportunity for that. Through technology which is fantastic.

07:02.17
rkgaulden
Yeah I agree 100% I Think some of the things that I'm hearing out there that align with what you're saying is one just retention of labor right? And so your staffing models are becoming a lot more challenging coming out of the pandemic Whether you're you're struggling against the git. Gig Economy or you know just the fact that there's always been historically you know more turnover and multifamily staffing. Anyways, how do we manage that and if technology can help supplement in some cases you know help you drive more efficiency repurpose your staff I think that's really smart. Things like you sit around self-coed tour and and the leasing Agent. You know in in my mind. It's always been about attracting and retaining your resident right? But if ah occupancy rates are spiked then it really should be about you know, retention and. How do we use technology for the attractions side of it. So I think that that makes for smart decisions if we go back for a second though to your model around using you know, using the technology to run your your property more efficiently. You know the. You know the role of the maintenance person not having to check on Thermostats or you know in vacant units turning temperature up or down or turning off lights for efficiency I think on the flip side of it. That's where I think the adoption happens because when you can start to show the return on investment.

08:26.76
rkgaulden
And again, that's what I mean when you think about the entire property. All of those sensors are starting to collect the data says hey here's the ah roi by investing in this I think we're on the cusp of seeing some really good use cases come out of that self-guided tour is a great one package. Delivery could be another one. You know the energy management around vacant units and smart lighting I think have just as much to do with adoption as the actual resonant experience on on the flipside so managing it from those 2 different viewpoints I think will be critical for the industry to to gain a hold of. And maybe then creating those dashboards or creating those insights so people can start to see hey these investments really are paying off. We are seeing x amount of man hours saved because we adopted this technology and I think we're. Based on just some of the ground game and the people that we're talking to. We're starting to hear some of that start to really shine through because of the adoption over the last maybe three or four years

09:24.37
Mike Branam
Yeah I could agree more I mean we we always talk about it point central that you know the the end user experience for the resident. Um, it's obviously important that they're bringing that technology within they have a smart something they're bringing in right. Um, so you know that there's demand there for that. But really, the Trojan Horse is the operational efficiencies for the staff and the risk mitigation and and building protection or even building insights for the asset owner and operator and just understanding. You know, maybe traffic in certain. Common area locations know security and in those locations is is certainly important. Um, enabling self-got tours. So it is safe or the perspective resident and seamless for that prospective resident but also for the staff and even the residents you probably don't want a prospect walking into the monolith at midnight right? so.

09:59.35
rkgaulden
Oh.

10:05.79
rkgaulden
I.

10:18.32
Mike Branam
Being able to to have guardrails on when that prospect can actually step foot on the property is important so you know for us. We've always looked at this is hey that resident experience is really really important and depending on the Market. You may be able to sort of monetize you know some rent growth. Based on what's happening in that particular location. But that's not the primary driver to move forward. The primary driver is absolutely how to have a seamless interaction with all stakeholders. You know, unify the experience for staff, residents visitors alike um and ensure the property is protected. And the staff is is now able to focus on things that are really important on the property that technology can solve for and might allow them to just you know engage with residents plan Community events even centralized staffing. To a degree if if that's possible. You know for the for the portfolio.

11:14.11
rkgaulden
Yeah I think that still ties back to um, if you utilize that technology to to manage your your staffing that gives you more time to focus on that resident retention and make those experiences great and then if a byproduct of the technology is also great. A resonant. Experience and I think you've got kind of a winning combination still feels to me though as if we're going down 2 pathways one. That's definitely resonant focuseded. Um, and that's great I think the resident experience has to be amazing obviously without residents none of the models really work but on the flip side it does feel like the adoption. Kind of inflection point is if there's a good return on investment timeline if there's net and ni to be generated either from the efficiency line and or from the additional value line and then you can couple that with the ressonant experience then I think you got the wind accommodation.

12:05.60
Mike Branam
Number agreed.

12:09.10
rkgaulden
So you brought it up. It's curious to me. Love your thought on what you guys are seeing or if it's not really hit justist yet but 1 of the questions I get asked quite often is there seems to be some type of gray line out there between resident tech things that the resident is going to bring into the ecosystem. And then building tech or the operators tech. Um I'm not quite sure. We're at a point where we have to solve for residents bringing their own devices. But then again recently I've heard some use cases that said hey I'd like some a personal camera inside my apartment I'm not quite sure that would reside on a. Operator system but maybe music maybe other kind of atmospheric amenity type things would be are you guys seeing any of that today.

12:56.87
Mike Branam
Um, you know we we look at the the BYO d resident right? and in in most cases, that's a voice speaker. That's the alexa. That's the Google home to to play music to interact with devices. Um, the devices that are inside the unit.

13:12.47
rkgaulden
F power.

13:14.30
Mike Branam
And that's really the primary sort of B I O D type of device. Obviously they can't bring their own lock. They can't bring their own thermostat. We are staying away from indoor cameras for a number of reasons but exactly.

13:23.69
rkgaulden
Um, yeah, sure huge liability. You don't want any of the privacy issues things along those limits.

13:30.55
Mike Branam
Exactly right? So you know with that you know the resident can certainly enroll their voice speaker over the platform and so then now there's a way for them to interact with the device that they brought in and then that device will of course be unenrolled upon move out so that's been the the most popular type of device and then outside of that.

13:46.30
rkgaulden
Ah.

13:49.82
Mike Branam
You know it aligns well because the resident will obviously they need access to the fitness center or to to the business center and so whatever access control solution that harmonizes you know if it's point Central you know it'll harmonize on a unified platform that that experience that technology experience is now a. There's shared value there for the resident and the operator alike.

14:12.94
rkgaulden
Yeah, it's interesting. So what I think I hear you say is you know, rolling a you know personal assistant device personal device that connects to the thermostat connects to the lighting controls. It's probably here today. Um. And then beyond that you know you probably want a firewall between the privacy things so not going to go touch the resident's personal cameras when you touch that with one hundred foot pull right? and I I even do wonder about you know other devices i. Not sure I I believe that we're to the point or maybe we will ever get to the point where you're going to be installing speakers and and other things inside the unit that feels still like a personal thing that I want my own system around that but the lighting controls to interact with or I'm sorry the. Personal assistant to interact with the base system things like thermostats lights maybe blinds. Um, you know those type things. Perhaps you know alexa lock up my lock but that type thing maybe maybe ah a point where you know there's an inflection point. Okay, fair enough. Um. Getting to that time of year where people love to talk a little bit about the future like I said I didn't and get a chance to get to optech anything new or what do you see as kind of what's next for our industry. What what are people trying to go solve next.

15:32.85
Mike Branam
Um, you know my biggest takeaway there was you know the kind of the future is now kind of a message that that we gain from from optech that you know a handful years ago again. It was it was is this going to be a thing and now it's absolutely I kind of. Would liken it back to so kind of a flat screen fifteen twenty years ago that was a very exclusive you know piece of technology that was in someone's home and now the technology cut up as did the price point and the demand to where you know they're virtually in every home across the country um technology now what? what? I'm hearing with owner operators is.

15:49.84
rkgaulden
Yeah.

16:09.29
Mike Branam
We just need to sort of pick a dancing partner that that we trust will be in the space for the long haul. We're not getting a lot of hey how do we futureproof this this is the future and we just don't have um you know enough communities that have actually taken those first. Big steps forward into unifying the experience for their buildings. Um, not to say that we're not looking at certain forward looking items that that could be interesting but right now you know we're all keeping a really close eye on the speed of this technology and what we're seeing is hey how do we continue to work. With different integration partners and different platforms that have gained traction in multifamily that we know are dependable that we should bring into the ecosystem because that's what we're seeing is maybe a third party crm gains legs and they want to leverage that for a self-guided tour solution. But. You know, most groups will say well I have to start with my sort of home base smart home solution and try to integrate from there so they avoid having 3 4 5 different apps and I think that really important place where we're at now is how do we unify the experience to ensure that the the benefits of technology.

17:13.81
rkgaulden
Um, yeah.

17:23.30
Mike Branam
Don't get overwhelmed with multiple technologies that now sort of work backwards on us.

17:29.50
rkgaulden
Yeah I think to to that point we're seeing on the new construction side. We're seeing smart locks. You know, electrified locks as table stakes to your point around. You know everyone's got it now. The future is now. Um you know. We. We don't see very many specifications if any at all go out without smart locks which points to I think there's additional pressure around the existing portfolios on what they're doing to to uplift and retrofit in their communities. So we're starting to see a lot more questions around. You know how do we get this or access to these technologies in the aftermarke. There are some specific challenges in the after marketet obviously new constructions are brand new, clean, slate existing infrastructure is a little bit different to go tackle I think. That leads to also a conversation around I'm not just interested in doing 1 building I'm looking and timelines can be different but I'm looking at what does this mean across my portfolio and then finally I think if you lean forward, there's probably a line in there that says. And we would like to be able to start to utilize that data and leverage the technology so that we can manage efficiencies across you know a region or across our entire portfolio. So I'm seeing a lot more questions that gravitate around centralization I don't think it changes their ability to.

18:58.38
rkgaulden
Buy and sell buildings I think this is ultimately going to lead to more conversations around standards the ability to have a more plug and play environment that makes managing Portfolios a lot easier, especially if we move into a recessionary environment if. Construction slows if we see reinvestment in properties and that's where the next kind of step. Our evolution goes I think we're going to see you know Portfolio Managers Asset managers get bigger I think I'm seeing mid-sized guys Acquire Smaller guys. Big guys Acquire mid-size guys. I Think the next natural step is all right? How do I collectively now manage this portfolio using the technology out there so we can use our crm so we use our self-guided tour of use our access control and everything else in a much more efficient way to manage across the entire portfolio. Those are conversations that seem to be starting to Materialize based on some of the things that I've I've talked about recently with some of my my customers.

20:01.17
Mike Branam
Um, yeah I'd agree with all of that and in fact, what's interesting is we're starting to see you know if you sort of peruse Linkedin you know you'll see vp of smart buildings that that that title didn't exist before with the property manager asset owner you know, even three years ago

20:12.58
rkgaulden
Sure.

20:18.15
Mike Branam
Um, you know and if groups haven't made that move yet. We are seeing like Iot Committees And Advisory advisory exactly right? So and the sophistication level is there because it needs to be because that's become sort of the third leg in the stool of of okay, well what.

20:21.14
rkgaulden
Um, innovation labs. Yep.

20:34.25
Mike Branam
Tell me about the technology in the building or what needs to go in the building to help us operate efficiently.

20:39.59
rkgaulden
Yeah I think that's ah I think that's important and I think again, um, the more interesting part for me to watch would be okay then how can we leverage this data and I think maybe that will be the next hurdle as well because. Once you have the technology in there if you can start to clean insights from the data then I think you'll really I think some of the magic really happens at that point in time and that's when the snowball just accelerates. We're very good. Enjoyed the conversation today. Mike. Someone wanted to learn more about point central and your guys is offering into multifamily where can they find more information.

21:15.85
Mike Branam
Sure they go to pointcentral.com and you know we have information there and and I'm happy to to have conversations as well. That's sort of what I wake up and and have those interactions daily Mike Branum at pointcentral.com and happy to answer any questions.

21:33.86
rkgaulden
Very good. Well I don't get a chance to speak to you before the holidays have a great holiday season and we'll catch you in 2023 thanks for joining us today. Okay, any any other things you wanted to cover easy.

21:34.20
Mike Branam
Along the way.

21:44.70
Mike Branam
Um, thanks Robert you as well.

21:50.23
Mike Branam
Um, um I know so yeah I thought it would well hopefully I didn't stutter too much but well that was great man.

21:51.80
rkgaulden
Nice, nice, easy conversation. You were fine cool. So um, what I'll do from here is one I'm I'm going to ask I'm going to stop recording and I'll just stop recording now since we're good.