Yes, of course you can.
Updating a tenant directory is not especially difficult. If a business changes floors or a new tenant moves in, someone can log in, make the change and check that everything looks right.
The issue is not really the update itself. It is everything around it.
A commercial building might only have a dozen or so tenant changes a year, but each one still has to be received, checked, updated and reviewed.
Staff time adds up
If each change takes 30 to 60 minutes from start to finish, that can easily become 6 to 12 hours of staff time a year.
That is before anything goes wrong.
What happens when the building manager changes?
This is probably the bigger issue from a building owner’s point of view.
For many reasons, a property may move from one managing agent to another over time. When that happens, the people looking after the directory may change completely.
Passwords need to be found or reset, access has to be transferred and the new team needs to know how the system works.
We are often asked to provide new training sessions during these changeovers. Manuals and user guides may also need to be re-supplied because the originals are no longer available.
These are real, but often overlooked, costs of managing a directory internally.
So what should be a fairly simple tenant update can turn into a small IT and administration exercise, with added training and support costs.
That is not a criticism of building managers. It is simply what happens when people and responsibilities change over the life of a building.
Staff changes can create the same problem
Even if the managing agent stays the same, individual staff move on, change roles or go on leave.
If one person knows the login, the password and how the directory software works, that knowledge can disappear very quickly.
The next person may need new login details, replacement documentation and another training session before they are comfortable using the system.
For something they may only use once a month, that can be a lot of overhead.
Who looks after it when something goes wrong?
Managing tenant information is only one part of the job.
What happens if the directory goes offline?
Is it the screen, the computer, the internet connection or the software?
Someone now has to work that out, and that can involve the building manager, internal IT or an outside contractor.
One support issue can easily cost more than the saving made by managing the directory internally.
There is also the cost of getting it wrong
A tenant moves floors but the directory is not updated.
A business changes its name.
A new tenant moves in and is missing from the display.
A tenant directory is part of the way people experience a building. If the information is wrong, it quickly loses its value.
So is a managed tenant directory worth it?
For many clients, we think it is.
With SprocketGO, the directory can stay with the same support team even if the building manager, property manager or individual staff members change.
Updates are sent through to us and handled remotely, without someone at the building having to remember passwords, find manuals or learn software they rarely use.
The annual SprocketGO subscription is $695 ex GST.
Once you compare that with staff time, retraining, replacement manuals and user guides, password management, technical support and the cost of changeovers, the difference is often much smaller than people expect.
So the question is not really:
Can I manage my own tenant directory?
You can.
The better question is:
Is it worth managing it yourself?