Day-to day life as a property manager in both a conventional multifamily building and student housing can be unpredictable. Hiring and staffing issues can plague many operators, resulting in the need to wear many different hats. These different hats can make it difficult for staff to fully address all of the residents’ needs.
Managing a Wi-Fi system — perhaps the most crucial technology platform at any community — is one duty that the onsite team can happily offload to a third-party provider.
Reliable Managed Wi-Fi Systems
Roxann Campbell, vice president of regional sales at Pavlov Media, says today’s Internet-connected culture has increased the need for residents to have an absolutely reliable managed Wi-Fi system. Pavlov Media (which provides Wi-Fi & fiber services to multifamily and student properties) is an Internet service provider (ISP) that can establish connectivity throughout entire buildings while managing Internet for all of a property’s residents.
This managed Wi-Fi approach benefits the buildings’ owner-operators because it offers a planned strategy for wiring and Wi-Fi signals. Routers aren’t competing against each other, as they can in communities that give their residents the option to sign up with any number of competing Internet providers.
“Bulk managed Wi-Fi provides residents with seamless access to 1 Gbps speed Internet (or potentially higher) while they are on a highly secure network that lets them stream, game or study wherever they are on the property,” says Campbell.
“Similarly, student housing demand for Internet services has skyrocketed. Students are not just watching videos on their phones, but are watching videos across their devices, meaning their need for large bandwidth has increased exponentially over the years and will continue to do so.”
Glenn Meyer, president and member of Pavlov Media’s Board of Directors, agrees that student housing is the most demanding and hardest market to serve, especially given students’ awareness of the latest tech offerings and their “ferocious appetite” for bandwidth.
Constant Monitoring to Free Up Staff Time
“Pavlov Media is always on the leading edge of technology,” Campbell says. Their monitoring systems thoroughly check each service location minute by minute. Additionally, its account management team is constantly communicating with properties to see how they can streamline different processes.
If equipment stops responding, Pavlov Media’s technology immediately notifies a response team to investigate. Because a response begins in a matter of minutes, team members often reach out to correct a problem before the property manager is even aware of a concern.
On the infrequent occasion that a resident has an issue, the resident can generate a service ticket on their own, and a Pavlov Media team member responds to gather basic information before walking the customer through a scripted troubleshooting tree to either solve the problem or elevate the ticket for more advanced assistance.
This approach can be highly effective at resolving the majority of connectivity issues that multifamily and student housing residents encounter. Pavlov Media’s tier 1 support team closes out about 90 percent of service tickets without requiring additional assistance, leaving owners and operators free to address other resident concerns.
The Cutting Edge of Technology and Service
“Our engineering team is continually testing and exploring new technologies to enhance the customer experience,” Campbell says. “The customer’s needs are always first and foremost on our mind. These needs fuel our desire and creativity when it comes to exploring and testing new technologies that provide customers with the best Internet experience possible.”
Pavlov Media also stays connected to its customers through regular, helpful communication. It offers trend-related insights by sharing informative newsletters for the benefit of the onsite teams, who now can easily share these pointers with their residents in their community newsletters.
Residents and property managers have access to Pavlov Media’s digital copies of FAQs and troubleshooting guides. Property managers can also request physical copies of these materials.
With its 24/7 customer support, if the issue rises to the level where a field tech is required, a prompt tech visit can be scheduled by the account management team.
Pavlov Media believes their proactive attitude with customers makes the company stand out from the crowd of ISPs. This top-notch customer service means that multifamily customers are positioned to generate more leasing for the buildings they live in, driven by positive online resident property reviews based on reliable service.
“As a comprehensive provider — meaning Pavlov Media is its own ISP, engineer and Wi-Fi manager — there is no middleman to get in the way of communicating or problem-solving technical issues that arise,” says Campbell.
— This article was written in conjunction with Pavlov Media, a content partner of REBusinessOnline. For more information on Pavlov Media, click here.