Donaldson is a real estate firm that offers a full range of asset, construction, financial, and property management services. The organization has advised clients on the acquisition of roughly $2.25 billion in real estate investment transactions, executed over $400 million in construction and renovation work, and assisted clients in disposing of approximately $2 billion in real property investments. Donaldson has also assumed management of over 40,000 units across Maryland and Virginia.
Business Challenge
“Resident retention is one of our biggest goals,” shared Bridgette Paiva, District Manager at Donaldson. “We measure retention, as well as resident experience, in a variety of ways.”
Donaldson needed a better way to notify residents of important updates, promote events and amenities, and enable communication between residents, such as for buying or selling items.
In addition to delivering an exceptional resident experience, a new solution would need to make life easier on the Donaldson team. As users of MRI Software since 2010, the company was well equipped with the flexibility to easily integrate new software with their existing property management system.
“We were sending manual emails and letters to residents. None of it was integrated with MRI. If a water heater broke, we had to write up a letter and then have the maintenance team deliver it to residents’ doors. We had to improve communication.”
Solution
The Donaldson Group selected an MRI Partner solution, Zego Mobile Doorman, to enable residents to manage their daily activities through a modern and intuitive property app. The Mobile Doorman integration with MRI saves significant time for the Donaldson team by optimizing daily workflows for operations, marketing and accounting. They have improved resident communication, simplified maintenance management, streamlined amenity and event marketing and built a further sense of community.
Business Impact
Improved Resident Communication
One of the most important benefits of using Mobile Doorman has been improving resident communication.
“Communication with residents was really difficult for us prior to Mobile Doorman. We needed technology to get information out very quickly, especially when it came to the pandemic and our offices closing. With Mobile Doorman, our staff could reach out to residents on their phones, which helped us make sure our communications were received.”
Simplified Maintenance Request Process
Simplifying the maintenance request process for both on-site staff and residents has been a key benefit of Mobile Doorman plus MRI. Prior to launching the app, residents would walk into the office, call, or email the property with a maintenance request.
“There was no direct way for a resident to input a work order. When someone walked in or called, we would enter the information manually into MRI. This was time consuming for the resident and for our staff.”
Now residents are able to use their Mobile Doorman app on their smartphones to quickly create, submit, and track the status of their maintenance requests, which are automatically integrated with MRI – making it an easy process for both residents and staff.
“The work order piece goes right into MRI and saves countless hours of manual data entry for our staff – it’s perfect,” shared Bridgette.
Better Resident Engagement and Community
With Mobile Doorman, the properties can easily engage with residents. Thousands of event and amenity promotions have been shared by Donaldson properties through Mobile Doorman. Residents receive invitations and details on events through their app and are able to RSVP right from their phones. In addition, Mobile Doorman’s “Content Tiles” feature allows properties to customize key “tiles” that are promoted front and center when a resident opens their app.
Another valuable feature is the digital Bulletin Board, which helps residents connect with each other and share information. Hundreds of Bulletin Board posts have been created by residents, many of whom are seeking to buy or sell items. Neighbors are able to comment and connect on the app.
Save Time through the MRI and Mobile Doorman Integration
The MRI Software integration with the Zego solution saves staff from hours of manual data entry. The combined platform removes the friction from resident touchpoints, and the internal management of those engagements, such as maintenance requests and resident communications.