Shining a light on connected communities

This blog explores practical initiatives and technology solutions keeping residents connected.
Humans are social creatures. Having people around makes us feel secure, supported and gives us a sense of purpose. Without these connections, we can start to feel lonely and isolated.

This is why it’s so important to give residents a feeling of belonging in their community. A connected community supports every stage of the resident lifecycle: helping residents settle into their new lives, supporting social activities, catching early warning signs if things go wrong and pointing residents to the support they need. It also raises engagement levels and bolsters customer satisfaction — the key to building a thriving residential community.

Today, technology plays a pivotal role in bringing residents together safely. Housing operations can leverage a diverse range of residential and staffing solutions purpose-designed to deliver exceptional residential experiences.

The technologies keeping residents connected

Roommate matching

Students search for roommates based on shared interests and lifestyles, ensuring more successful matches and fewer roommate conflicts.

Network and socializing

Providing access to a social calendar via a self-service portal along with the ability to book and make payments online, helping residents network and socialize.

Clear communication

Sharing a consistent message in several places using a range of communications tools, such as email or a self-service portal, to highlight mental health, well-being and care services.

Open and safe spaces

Platforms that allow residents to book shared spaces, schedule housekeeping and maintenance and provide a record of attendees.

Promote positive well-being

Allow residents to self-report on their concerns so you can proactively manage their requests.

Community connectedness in action

Student Property Management (PBSA) provider: Unipol

Country: United Kingdom

StarRez Solution: Maintenance

The Challenge

Maintenance and repair communications were getting lost in translation resulting in residents having to follow up and reach out for updates on job statuses – an annoying, tedious process. It also becomes incredibly challenging to coordinate multiple external contractors across multiple residential sites.

The Solution

A fully streamlined end-to-end maintenance solution to support seamless communication between residents, contractors and staff.

The Result

Using StarRez maintenance tools, Unipol saved hours of staff and student time by enabling internal team and process efficiencies. Unipol also collected feedback to use for future enhancements and to maintain an excellent level of customer service for their resident community.

"We were able to use the flexibility and tools in the StarRez system to create a bespoke repairs solution that met Unipol’s needs. Using Data Subscriptions, we were able to automatically send emails to both tenants and external maintenance contractors when a repair was logged. These emails contained specific information about each repair without the need for staff to send these manually. We also used the StarRez API to import data from maintenance contractor back into the system and use this to update tenants on the status of their repairs. This meant information is being shared much faster than in our previous housing system."

Andrew Livesey, Assistant Chief Executive, Communications and IT

Nicky Ireland
Nicky is our Events and Marketing Manager based in the UK. An experienced marketing professional who revels in the challenges the fast paced SaaS industry bring

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