Today, self-storage units have become a famous and prominent facility among people. Homeowners can store their belongings, furniture, art pieces, and other essentials in these units. Similarly, organizations can temporarily move inventory into a storage facility to free up space in the office. In addition to fulfilling storage needs, these facilities offer convenience. After all, you can access the self-storage unit at any time of the day.
Before now, the structure of storage units was pretty straightforward. With a few storage spaces, locks, and electricity, storage owners could run a facility. As demand for storage facilities is spiking, standard features won’t be enough to thrive in the market. In the current business landscape, facility owners have to embrace advanced technologies to upgrade their storage business. Perhaps, you can employ high-tech innovations such as biometric security or HVAC units.
Likewise, you can install self-service kiosks in the facility to provide a smooth customer experience. These tech-savvy integrations will also eliminate the security concerns, giving tenants peace of mind. Thus, if you wish to deploy a few tech elements to the business, have a look below. Here we are listing five technology tips for self-storage facilities.
1. Premium Security Features
In the self-storage business, customers trust the facility providers with their valuable items and belongings. Therefore, it is your responsibility to offer high-end security features that eliminate the risk of theft and damage. For that, you have to install a storage unit security system consisting of video surveillance systems, door alarms, etc. The 24-hour monitoring systems will show who is coming and going out of the facility, allowing you to spot suspicious activities.
Moreover, you can install passcode-protected entry gates. These will limit facility access to the employees and tenants, reducing unwanted visitors into the facility. Most importantly, deploy biometric scanners outside every storage unit. This technology uses people’s unique characteristics such as fingerprints and voice to maximize security. The tenants will gain access to the unit by scanning one of these characteristics in the database.
2. Self-Service Kiosks
Despite being a new invention, kiosks have made their way into the business world. The machine has customizable features, allowing business owners to add their settings. In a self-storage facility, these kiosks can upscale customer experience and streamline workloads. Similarly, it can give tenants access to a storage facility at all times.
Besides this, the self-service kiosks can store and report any action taken by the customer. The managers can monitor the databases and track all operations. In addition to improving satisfaction, these practices can increase retention rates. For instance, if a customer checked the rentals on the kiosk, you could send targeted ads based on the available data. In short, the self-service kiosks make self-storage facilities more convenient.
3. Mobile Applications
Today, we have a mobile application for almost everything. So, how about we design one for a storage facility as well? Through a mobile app, storage providers can control access to several units. You can also give the application access to tenants. They could use the application to unlock their storage unit by entering a pin code. It will relieve the tenant from keeping track of the designated keycards. In addition, they can also update the access code through the mobile app.
Apart from this, you can add multiple options to the app. Perhaps, integrate the app with the property management system and allow tenants to make payments online. You can also let them start and renew leases virtually to ensure effective management of the unit. Lastly, give an option for live chat to talk to agents and get their queries sorted right away.
4. Climate-Controlled Units
Some items are susceptible to damage when exposed to humid conditions. Hence, every storage facility provider should offer temperature-controlled units to maintain the integrity of belongings. These units have HVAC systems installed and kept at current temperature to keep humidity low. Thus, whether the tenant has stored wooden furniture or metal appliances, everything will remain safe and sound in these units.
Moreover, the climate-controlled units will allow organizations to store their documents. Low temperatures protect sensitive documents, books, and other paper materials from deteriorating. Therefore, make sure a few of the self-storage units in the storage facility are climate controlled.
5. Integration of Robotics
With rising competition in the self-storage industry, the goal is to ensure the storage facility runs as smoothly as possible. So, why not deploy robots on the site? A French company developed robots to help storage providers interact with tenants remotely. These bots move around the storage facility, interact with tenants, and allow them to pay the bills on the spot. Similarly, they also connect customers to live advisors to answer technical questions.
In addition, the robots can carry boxes and cartons to the storage units, becoming a helping hand for all the tenants. Also, these robots allow tenants to attest their signature for the lease agreements and retrieve the locks without any human interaction.
Final Thoughts
As the world evolves with technology, self-storage providers must keep pace with emerging tech trends. You have to install high-end security protocols to win tenants’ trust and assure that their belongings are safe. Likewise, you have to integrate robotics, self-service kiosks and develop a mobile application to improve customer experience. These added features will make your facility stand out, boosting revenue generation.
