Originally Published in the Feb 2020 issue of Community Resource Magazine titled “Welcome to the Roaring 2020s”, published by the Community Association Institute (CAI) Central Arizona Chapter. Link to publication – https://issuu.com/divmo/docs/final_january_2020_for_print
We all know it, but we may not want to admit it, customers expect electronic options. If your company has not embraced technology in the back office yet, then I am going to give you some tough love: you are behind the times and your customers know it. Here is a quick quiz to help you decide if you are truly embracing technology in your business. If you answer NO to any of these questions, then your customers are looking for more:
- We have a method for our customers to pay their bills electronically
- We communicate with our customers using email, a web portal, or an app
- We have software that tracks all our customers and all the work we do for them
- We send automatic replies and knowledge base info to our customers based on their questions
- We have software or systems in place for frequent workflows to reduce our manual work
How did you do? If you answered YES to all these questions, then consider yourself a proud member of the roaring 2020s! If you could not answer YES to all these questions, then your customers are not getting the electronic options they expect. Customers expect more than ever, are you delivering?
- Electronic payment and communication methods
- Fast response to their communications
- Follow up on ALL their requests
- Standard procedures applied consistently
Software solutions will help your company better meet your customer’s electronic expectations. It is time to embrace the roaring 2020s by implementing back-office software solutions. Here is some more tough love for you: if you are not meeting your customer’s expectations, they will look elsewhere. The good news is that implementing technology in your business can be fast and simple. Here is a step-by-step guide to explore your software options:
- Write down your needs and business requirements
- Do an internet search to find software options that meet those needs
- Schedule demos, compare pricing, try free trials. Monthly subscription, SAAS, and cloud-based software can be great low cost, low commitment solutions
- Select the software that best meets your needs
- Use the software company’s user guides and customer service to get started
It is the roaring 2020s and time to get pumped up about embracing technology in the back office. Your customers are demanding electronic options and it is time to deliver more of them. Just think, you could be one software implementation away from exceeding your customer’s expectations!
To chat about using these procedures at your company, schedule a complimentary 30 min discovery session at this link: calendly.com/doxentrics/30minconsult.
Rachel Zerull is the founder and Managing Consultant of Doxentrics, a business consultancy focused on bringing HOA Management companies into the roaring 2020s thru business transformation using software solutions and business process improvement.