Overview
A Twin Cities property management company with more than 50 rental properties needed a phone system that could support employees at its Bloomington headquarters while also managing the unique telephone needs of their properties throughout the metro.
POPP has been their communications partner for nearly 20 years. Today, POPP supports over 100 Cloud Phone System users across the organization, along with telephone services for dozens of properties, including IP phones, fax lines, front-door entry systems, elevator phones, fire alarms, and telephone numbers used for property advertising.
By organizing the system around each individual property and taking on the ongoing administrative work, POPP has made a complex multi-location communications environment much easier for the client to manage.
To protect client privacy, company names and identifying details have been modified or omitted. Images are for illustrative purposes only.
The Challenge
Property management companies have a unique communications challenge: every property can have different needs.
At the company’s Bloomington headquarters, approximately 30 employees need a full-featured Cloud Phone System. At the company’s other 50+ properties, the onsite manager may need an IP desk phone and/or softphone app, while the building itself may need telephone service for an elevator, fire alarm, front-door entry system, fax machine, or other equipment.
The company also uses a property-management CRM that provides detailed tracking and management of advertising calls. Their advertising telephone numbers are managed through the CRM provider, with calls forwarded to corresponding telephone numbers on IP phones at the appropriate property.
Managing all of these telephone numbers, users, devices, and call flows could quickly become a major administrative headache – especially for a company with no internal IT staff.
They needed a communications partner that could:
- Support a wide variety of telephone and building systems
- Make it easy to add, change, and manage services as their property portfolio evolves
- Support employees at the headquarters and individual properties
- Make it easy to identify users, phones, and numbers at each location
- Coordinate telephone numbers with their property-management CRM
- Provide different call handling for different properties
The Solution
One Cloud Phone System Organized Around Each Property
POPP implemented a Cloud Phone System with nearly 120 users across the organization, with approximately 30 users at the Bloomington headquarters and the remaining users distributed among the company’s properties.
To make such a large, multi-location system easier to manage, POPP created a separate “department” within the phone system for each property.
This allows POPP’s support team to quickly select a location and see all of the users, phones, and telephone numbers associated with that property, which speeds add/move/change and troubleshooting work. The same information is available to the client through POPP’s Administrator Portal, giving them real-time visibility into their system whenever they need it.
Customized Call Handling for Each Location
The system includes 12 active auto attendants, each with its own customized greeting and call flow.
This allows different properties and offices to provide callers with an appropriate experience based on that location’s needs, rather than forcing every property into the same one-size-fits-all configuration.
Flexible Phones for Employees
POPP also gives employees flexibility in how they work.
Administrative staff and property managers can use POPP’s softphone app to make and receive business calls wherever they are working. Most users also have a leased IP desk phone at their office, while 10 employees are configured as softphone-only users because they don’t need a physical desk phone.
This allows the company to customize each employee’s setup based on how they actually work, rather than paying for equipment or features they don’t need.
Working Alongside Their Property Management CRM
The company’s property-management CRM provides detailed tracking and management of calls generated by property advertising.
POPP’s phone system works alongside that platform. Advertising numbers are ported to the CRM provider, and when a prospective renter calls one of those numbers, the CRM forwards the call to a corresponding DID number on an IP phone and/or softphone app at the property’s management office.
This gives the property management company the detailed call tracking it needs from its specialized CRM while allowing POPP to continue managing the underlying phone system.
When the system was implemented, POPP’s project manager worked directly with the client’s point person to create a spreadsheet documenting the company’s main telephone numbers across its properties and the corresponding numbers used for forwarding.
That extra organizational step made an otherwise complicated numbering system much easier for the client to understand and manage.
One Partner for All Their Telephone Needs
The Cloud Phone System is only part of the solution.
POPP also provides and manages telephone services throughout the company’s properties, including:
- IP phones for property managers
- Fax lines
- Front-door entry systems
- Elevator phones
- Fire alarm systems
- Special Telephone Numbers
- Other telephone lines and connected devices
POPP manages these services as part of the relationship, without charging an additional fee for ongoing administration.
Investment & Value
For a company managing more than 50 properties, the value of a phone system isn’t just the technology. It’s how much time the technology saves.
POPP has taken the complexity of the company’s communications environment and organized it in a way that makes sense for the people who manage the properties.
The client can see each location’s users, phones, and telephone numbers in the Administrator Portal, making it simple for a manager to audit their needs and ensure they aren’t paying for lines, phones or features that aren’t needed. POPP has helped document the company’s telephone numbering and forwarding structure. Employees can use desk phones, softphones, or a combination of both. And when a property needs a new telephone line for an elevator, fire alarm, fax machine, or entry system, the client has one local partner to call who takes care of it for them quickly and accurately.
Instead of spending valuable time figuring out how the pieces fit together, the company’s team can focus on managing properties and serving their tenants.
That hands-on approach is a major part of the value POPP has provided throughout nearly two decades of partnership.
The Results
The company’s communications environment now supports:
1. 117 Cloud Phone System Users and Growing
Employees across the headquarters and more than 50 properties use a single Cloud Phone System, with each location organized as its own department for easier management.
2. Easy Multi-Property Management
Users, phones, and telephone numbers can be quickly identified by location, both by the client through the Administrator Portal and by POPP when providing support.
3. Flexible Employee Communication
Most employees have IP desk phones, and all users can make and receive business calls without a physical phone using POPP’s employee smartphone app.
4. Better Property Advertising Call Tracking
The phone system works seamlessly with the company’s specialized property-management CRM, allowing the company to maintain detailed call tracking while POPP manages the underlying telephone system.
5. Customized Call Handling
Twelve active auto attendants provide customized greetings and call routing for different offices and locations.
6. One Partner for the Entire Telephone Environment
From Cloud Phone System users to elevator phones, fire alarms, entry systems, fax lines, and telephone numbers, POPP provides a single point of contact and free, full-service support for the company’s diverse communications needs.
7. Less Time and Frustration
Perhaps most importantly, the company doesn’t have to figure all of this out on its own. POPP helps organize, document, configure, and manage the system—going beyond simply providing telephone service.
Simplifying Communications for Property Management Companies
Property management companies shouldn’t have to become telecommunications experts just to keep their properties connected.
POPP helps Twin Cities property managers simplify complex communications environments by combining Cloud Phone Systems, telephone numbers, specialty phone lines, and ongoing local support under one roof.
Whether you manage one property or dozens, POPP can help make your communications simpler to manage—and give your team more time to focus on managing the properties themselves.
Ready to Make Your Property Communications Simpler?
Talk with a POPP specialist about a phone system and telephone services designed around the way your properties actually operate.