11 Reasons to Upgrade Your Apartment Intercom System

Upgrading the intercom system in apartment buildings is becoming a necessity throughout the multifamily community. The tenant experience is evolving and property technology like visitor management solutions are quickly following suit.

All-in-one video intercom systems have become the apartment intercom replacement that property managers are using to solve their biggest issues, from comprehensive package management to improving the overall tenant experience.

11 main reasons for upgrading your apartment intercom system.

Below, we have highlighted the top 11 main reasons for upgrading your apartment intercom system.

Table of contents

  1. Offer Contactless, Self-Guided Apartment Tours
  2. Increase Physical Security and Surveillance
  3. Remote Access and Video Communication
  4. Comprehensive Delivery Management Solution
  5. Secure Access Points
  6. Scaling Apartment Visitor Management
  7. Emergency Preparedness
  8. Increase Property Resilience
  9. Improve Tenant Retention — and Peace of Mind
  10. Decrease Ongoing Costs
  11. Elevated Tenant Experience

Also, read

1. Offer Contactless, Self-Guided Apartment Tours

Conducting tours is critical for apartment buildings to be able to decrease unit vacancy as much as possible. Apartment tours, however, are time-consuming. Not only does it take time to conduct the tour, coordinating schedules and commuting to the property also takes time.

Video intercom systems allow property managers to conduct contactless apartment tours by creating a secure method of access for prospective residents without the need to be on-site. Residents who would like to tour the apartment can be issued a secure PIN code by the property manager that will grant access during a scheduled period of time. Residents can use the PIN code, which will expire after 5 minutes of initial use, and be able to take a self-guided tour of the apartment building.

2. Increase Physical Security and Surveillance

Security incidents can damage the reputation of your building and negatively impact tenancy levels. A multi unit video intercom system works very well with surveillance procedures, which not only increases tenant safety but also generates confidence in building supervision to care for and protect their home. 

3. Remote Access and Video Communication

Video intercom systems for apartments streamline communication in multi-tenant properties. With remote access control capabilities, tenants have the ability to welcome their visitors from anywhere. Video intercom provides visual verification  to residents and then allows them to seamlessly grant their visitor access. 

4. Comprehensive Delivery Management Solution

Delivery management is a part of a larger conversation about ways to improve the tenant experience. Video intercom acts as a comprehensive delivery management solution, whether it be food deliveries, packages, and the like.

Property management needs to respond to changes in tenant’s needs and behaviors. And recently, ecommerce rates have been at an all time high with no indication of slowing down. Consequently, we are seeing that same pattern in rate of package theft. An apartment video intercom system effectively solves that problem. Tenant’s can remotely grant access to delivery couriers from their phones after visually verification via video. Alternatively, video intercom acts as a complete apartment visitor management system by allowing tenant’s to generate single-use PIN codes that can be shared in special delivery instructions.

5. Secure Access Points 

Video intercom systems for apartments allow the facility to customize access at every security point, such as the mail room or the gym. Every door can require credentials for entry, which puts control back in the property manager’s hand and ultimately makes for a safer place to live.   

6. Scaling Apartment Visitor Management 

Scaling visitor management by implementing video intercom systems allows the property manager to efficiently ramp up security throughout one or many buildings. Cloud-based systems make it easy to manage multiple functions for multiple locations on one platform. Security requires transparency, and video intercom offers the most transparent access log to date. 

7. Emergency Preparedness 

Property managers have the responsibility of every occupant in their building, should there be an emergency. Video intercom systems allow property managers to know exactly who is in their building, at what time and which tenant they are there to visit. Video intercom dutifully integrates accountability into visitor management. 

8. Increase Property Resilience

A resilient intercom system can differentiate between continuity of normal operation and a costly interruption subject to security interference. Frictionless solutions that will withstand the test of time are those that cater to the health and convenience of their users while maximizing safety. Consequently, this decreases interruption of normal operations and decreases risk of opportunistic threats. 

9. Improve Tenant Retention — and Peace of Mind

According to the NAA, a single apartment turn can cost up to $5000. Suffice it to say, tenant retention is important. Many buildings use remote monitoring or on-site security officers to maintain security. Camera intercom systems increase the efficiency of these security safeguards. It is easy for a security officer or building manager to communicate to anyone within the property and respond to security challenges as they come. Intercom systems give tenants more control by allowing them to admit or refuse visitors. The resulting safe environment and added convenience serves to improve tenant retention in your building.  

10. Decrease Ongoing Costs

Modern systems provide the ability to manage access remotely via unique pins or mobile access, which means no need to copy new keys and run around hardware shops. You do not run the risk of cloned keys or key fobs because you can provide secure mobile and pin based access to tenants. This means no costs around rekeying doors when tenants leave. Handle visitors across many doors and buildings via a central cloud based intercom system, reducing the operating costs.

11. Elevated Tenant Experience

Improvements to visitor and delivery management can significantly reduce the stress on tenants around secure package management and improve tenant satisfaction significantly. Moreover, most modern systems install at the same price point of older legacy systems and do not cost more than a cup of coffee per month in subscription fees per tenant. 

Apartment Intercom Replacement

Replacing an apartment intercom system comes with plenty of considerations for property managers and owners. Not only when to make the decision to replace or upgrade the intercom system, but which one to replace it with. Ultimately, your building’s specific security needs should inform that choice. Reference our buyer’s guide to apartment intercom systems for step by step guidance on the right solution for your building. Also review the best intercom systems for apartments to compare the top solutions on the market for a future-proof access solution.

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