GreenPropertyManagement.com

Cloud Computing Services

Posted on 13. Apr, 2011 by Kimberly Madrigal in Technology

Residential property management can be demanding but managers learn to wear multiple hats. They keep the power and water flowing and buildings structurally sound while simultaneously managing the needs of residents. This physical productivity can make it easy to overlook another kind of infrastructure – the upgrades needed in the management office. In fact, it is the rare manager who willingly upgrades an in-house computing system, which is unfortunate.

Most of today’s software requires frequent upgrades. We have all learned the hard way that even minor changes can create incompatibilities in a computer network. As technology continues to advance and the complexities compound, managing in-house computing networks will become more expensive. The choice between paying for outside tech services or tying up IT staffers will never be a good one.

Unfortunately in the past there were not a lot of options. If you needed a high tech management solution to stay competitive, you had to pay to develop it yourself. Although the systems have been around, new ways of hosting and delivering services had not targeted property managers until recently. Now lauded by the tech world as the complete software solution, we would have to agree the benefits of using on-line computing providers are pretty impressive.

System Hosting: In the same way that we trust Google to host email and Facebook to provide a social site, a process called “cloud computing” allows companies to host infrastructure, software and computing capacity. They sell this hosting as “services.” The acronyms to describe the products sold are:

•    Software as a service (SaaS)
•    Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
•    Platform as a Service (PaaS)

The reason this model is such an improvement over in-house computing systems is the maintenance free function offered to users. All aspects of the computing system are maintained on-line by the computing provider. The provider handles troubleshooting, technical support, upgrades, repair, patches, back-up and archiving.

Reliability: Of course these providers use highly sophisticated and expensive platforms themselves with huge capacity and built-in backup systems which keep their reliability in the 99.9% range. Systems may go off-line a few minutes a month but if it is longer than that it is a network problem or some sort of scheduled maintenance.

As long as there is a valid Internet connection – even from a smart phone – the computing system is almost always accessible. If 24 hour technical support is important to you, verify the provider’s policy information. A few offer live support only during expanded business hours although most offer at least an email or chat line option around the clock.

How cloud computing works: Business accounts and files are accessed with a user name and password through an internet connection. The only difference most users will notice between a company-hosted network and cloud computing is the need to be on-line.

The current business model more closely resembles a lease agreement than a software purchase. There is an enormous amount of flexibility built into the product lines offered in a sort of build-a-bear contract for services. The basic system cost – which includes software, infrastructure and platform – provides modest capabilities which can be entirely sufficient for a smaller management office.

Future flexibility: Software options can be upgraded or downgraded which makes predicting fluctuations in the economy or guessing the number of units next year much less of a problem. Office managers will experience less downtime, reduce training needs and increase productivity. Being held hostage by the only tech in the office will also be relegated to the past, as cloud computing developers have standardized functions to keep the systems user-friendly. Training for most functions is relatively simple and well within the purview of most office staff.

For many managers resolving IT problems has been a continual headache, so transferring all those issues to a cloud system can reduce frustration. Also, as the technology advances, the software provider manages all the upgrades, keeping the management office’s systems relatively seamless.

Disaster Recovery: As the provider is in charge of data backup, in the event of a disaster, records can be easily recovered. Any data that has been entered and saved on-line is automatically archived. This back-up security is probably the most impressive aspect of the services. The commercial cost and difficulty of creating off-site backup capability would far exceed the cost of a cloud computing system.

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Tags: Landlord, Technology