Among the radical evolutions of the digital era has been the individual itself. Businesses globally are grappling with the accelerated pace at which customer preferences evolve, and keeping up with their expectations is half the battle.
As people encounter brands that exceed their needs better, faster, more consistently or precisely, the bar for customer interaction changes. Due to technology, the bar no longer moves up and down, but operates on an axis-free plane, pushing the limits of innovation and customer experiences in all directions.
Community managers must heed the lessons learned by industries worldwide. Technological integration will be one of the primary factors influencing residents’ decision-making regarding where they live in the future. Employing the right technology at the right touchpoints can unlock tremendous opportunities and convenience for residents and their community operators.
Enriched resident experience
Community managers play a pivotal role in defining residents’ living experiences, from the speed at which requests are addressed to the emotional aftermath of an interaction. This influence can empower them to shape their community’s reputation and attract new residents. Despite most of our best intentions, Vonage’s latest customer engagement report found that less than half (42 percent) of global consumers were ‘very satisfied’ when communicating with businesses.
Striking the right balance between digital and offline interactions is a tightrope walk. However, designing the journey with the customer at its heart ensures more success and return on investment. Mapping out which services are better off digital, which require customer service representatives, and where they bridge is a first step in ensuring that technological investments add measurable value to the resident’s experience.
Striking the right balance
Speed, convenience and efficiency are desirable customer service qualities, and businesses need to define which services tick those boxes digitally. In 2018, when we launched the DubaiAM Life app, we migrated functions such as maintenance scheduling and move-in and move-out procedures online to allow residents more flexibility and independence. However, we still accept cheques. But, enabling digital rental payments and renewals has provided residents with more transparency and financial flexibility. This has resulted in a distinct increase in timely rental payments.
Digitizing these processes also improved our data management and services. Insights through maintenance requests help identify recurring community issues that require closer inspection and have strengthened the security and upkeep of essential documents. We can better track activity across our community and schedule follow-up calls and interactions as needed.
However, a headlong rush into digital transformation can be risky. We are social beings, and technology cannot replace humans in the UX journey. A PwC survey found that 74 percent of consumers outside of the United States prefer connecting with a human service representative compared to automated chatbots or call-responding services. Replacing people with technology can alienate customers and weaken the “relationship” in customer relations.
Embracing inclusivity and diversity
Dubai’s multicultural melting pot is getting richer. The Dubai Statistics Centre recorded 25,776 new residents in the first quarter of 2024, and diversity is on the incline as global citizens relocate to take advantage of the emirate’s prolific economic opportunities and enhanced visa categories.
Technology enables brands to adapt to diverse demographics, promoting an enriched and inclusive living experience. Incorporating multi-lingual functions based on prevalent community demographics can bridge language barriers in customer service teams. Accessibility features such as text-to-speech and high-contrast visual aids can also afford more ease and independence. This is particularly helpful for older community members.
Property managers can cultivate a stronger sense of inclusivity and belonging by using their knowledge of the community to implement technology solutions that meet diverse resident needs. Knowing audience demographics is just the start. Curating personalised journeys and anticipating needs requires detailed insights into your community’s interests, expectations, daily challenges and aspirations. Such rich and valuable data streams can unveil new engagement avenues, innovate community living and services, and enhance long-term retention, especially if AI is integrated.
Improving strategic investments and decision-making
Digital solutions are goldmines of audience data, offering invaluable insights for strategic business decisions and investment opportunities. We have connected multiple touchpoints and third-party vendor platforms into an integrated dashboard that paints a real-time portrait of activity across our portfolio. The power to track resident feedback, maintenance requests, resource usage and activity across our facilities and amenities helps us identify efficiency gaps, growth opportunities and sustainability initiatives.
It also allows community managers to understand better where times and tastes are headed. Whether it’s catering to a growing demand for EV chargers or providing more dog parks, data is pivotal in ensuring communities evolve with their residents’ needs.
Creating connected communities
The strategic use of technologies and data paves the way for long-term business resilience. It is an opening to improve how people interact with their community and how their community responds to their needs.
Digital solutions provide residents with a secondary channel to engage with neighbors. Hosting events or providing common facilities, such as parks, playgrounds and community retail centres, are physical spaces to connect. Apps offer a virtual common ground for real-time community announcements and updates.
Most Dubai communities have WhatsApp groups where residents discuss concerns and events, promote extracurricular activities, and create subcultures. Digital platforms with community forums can streamline engagement, allow community managers to track and proactively address complaints, and adapt on-ground activations, experiences and investments using community feedback.
As technologies like artificial intelligence become more prolific and intersect with adjacent innovations, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), community managers must lay the foundations of inclusive digital platforms that can enhance resident experiences, drive business growth, enable sustainability and, ultimately, foster community. This foresight will underpin the competitiveness of communities, especially as Dubai’s reputation as one of the world’s most livable cities soars to new heights.
Ahmed Al Suwaidi is a professional real estate expert with over 14 years of experience in the industry. He is the managing director of Residential Communities at Dubai Asset Management (DAM). He leads and directs the design, development and implementation of commercial strategies and operations for the entire portfolio of residential assets of DAM, including leasing, property management of mid- and high-market communities, value housing, staff and labor accommodation for 15 communities with more than 24,000 units, which include some of Dubai’s most popular residential communities, such as Layan, Remraam, Shurooq, Ghuroob, and Al Khail Gate.
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