Customer Service Gets Easier with Technology

When Tiffany Jones, 23, moved into The Georgian in downtown Silver Spring last May, she found she could check to see if she had packages, find other pet owners in the apartment building and buy moving boxes, all without even leaving her room.

Jones takes advantage of BuildingLink, an online portal where residents, management and local businesses can communicate with one another through emails and forums. All residents need are a login and password – given to them on move-in day – and a computer or smartphone that utilizes the Android or iPhone application.

“Oh, I love it. I think it’s very convenient – especially the fact that the emails, I can get it straight to my phone,” Jones said. “I don’t have to wonder when my package is going to be here, or if I ever need anything, I don’t have to go through Craigslist. I can just go directly through the residences in my building to sell or buy things.”

At The Georgian, there are more than 500 residents who use this program each day, since its inception in August 2010, Senior Property Manager Tim Lawson said.

 “We have used it to such a degree that a representative from BuildingLink has flown down here from New York to understand just how deeply we use this program in our management,” Lawson said.

The Solaire apartments on Ripley Street, which are slated to begin pre-leasing later this month, based its decision to use BuildingLink on the program’s unique ability to connect to the Metro system and show residents – in real time – when trains are arriving and leaving.

“The nice thing for our residents’ perspective is, ‘Do I have to run? Can I take a nice leisurely stroll? Do I have time to grab a cup of coffee from our Starbucks machine in our lobby before I leave?’ We’re hoping it’ll be a nice de-stressor for them,” Property Manager Tara Brewster said.

The free software, used globally in more than 1,200 properties, also provides profiles for residents who can choose to make their information and photos public to other residents in the building. With this feature, apartment buildings can “create a greater sense of community,” Brewster said.

“A lot of people like to know who they’re living with and like to become friendly with who they’re living with,” Brewster said. “We wanted them to have a forum where we can encourage” residents to get to know one another.

BuildingLink is also used for mass emailing and robo-calling, beneficial when roads were blocked during the in September 2010, Lawson said.

Special discounts are also provided through local businesses, such as restaurants and dry cleaning services that utilize the program.

With 891 apartments and almost 2,000 residents, The Georgian attributes the amount of positive feedback from residents to the program.

“It’s an amazing piece of software, and we use it so extensively that we would actually call that our business partner,” Lawson said.  “I don’t think we could have been nearly as successful at managing this property had it not been for BuildingLink.”