Nearly three in 10 (29%) property managers say they lack the expertise to deploy AI, and about the same percentage (30%) say employee training is one of their biggest concerns with AI implementation. Rest assured, you and your team don’t need to be experts to deploy AI. A good AI tool will not require heavy lifting or tech expertise from your team. For example, ASSIST is trained by skilled engineers and designed with user-friendly interfaces, so you don’t need tech skills to work with it.
The most important factor for success with new tools is being open to change and willing to learn. Here are some best practices to get your team excited about using AI.
You need to build trust within your team when you drastically change processes, and choosing a forward-thinking, tech-savvy internal AI champion is crucial to getting other team members on board. It’s one thing to hear leadership explain the benefits of AI; it’s another to hear it directly from a team member who will be the one using AI tools regularly.
It’s important that you get buy-in from your team before you start asking them to use a new tool that completely changes their workflow. Once you’ve picked your AI champion, encourage them to start hosting informal meetings where team members can freely share their thoughts on AI tools. This could look like a Lunch & Learn, in which you provide a meal while your AI champion answers questions about AI, or a town hall meeting where all staff members are encouraged to participate.
Once you start having conversations about AI with your team, make sure they know that these new tools are here to help them. To explain the role of AI tools on your team, we like to use the analogy of a junior assistant. They are great at performing routine tasks, answering inquiries, filing, and similar administrative tasks. What they’re not as great at is making high-level, risky decisions. That’s where humans come in. Help your team understand that they will still play a necessary role in your organization, while the AI tools take on the administrative burdens of the job.
We recommend that when you are assessing AI tools, you include members from your operations and/or leasing team in the process. Invite them to demos or send them recordings afterwards and encourage them to give input on which tools they like the best. Look for a software that offers an in-depth onboarding process and team trainings. You want the solution you choose to be user-friendly and intuitive for your team.
AI is not a magic solution. It takes time to be effective, especially as your team learns how to add a new tool into their workflow and to configure the AI properly. Implementation can go south quickly if leadership expects results that are not achievable within the first quarter of using a new tool. When you complete a demo of ASSIST, your dedicated sales representative creates a custom business case that will help decision makers understand what they can expect from our AI tools within 3, 6, and 12 months of use. Know that expectations will shift as your team’s familiarity with the product evolves.
When you become an ASSIST user, you are instantly introduced to your dedicated Customer Success Manager, who is responsible for training your team. It’s very important that your team, including your AI champion, attend these trainings. While any team member can watch a recording of the training afterward, the live trainings give them a chance to interact with the product with the help of an expert, ask questions, and offer suggestions that could make their way to our product team.
Due to the nature of AI technology, it takes time to improve and match your organization’s needs. ASSIST AI is highly trained for maintenance and leasing, but there is always a chance that a resident will ask a question that it is not able to answer. While it is disappointing when an AI assistant makes a mistake in a conversation with a resident, this isn’t a good reason to stop using the tool. Think about it like this: Would you fire a human employee for making a similar error? If not: Provide feedback for AI, continue to monitor its conversations, and reassess at a later point. If you fire every AI tool that makes a mistake, then your organization runs the risk of lagging behind competitors when it comes to AI implementation.
The beauty of a good AI tool is that it is customizable, like ASSIST. When you sign up for Maintenance ASSIST or Lease ASSIST, you get access to fully trained AI assistants that your team can configure over time. Make sure they understand how to give the AI assistant feedback and emphasize the important role they play in shaping your organization’s custom AI assistants. This creates a valuable opportunity for them to advance their own expertise in AI tools for property management.
One of the best ways to get your team regularly using a new AI tool is through gamification. Within the first quarter of implementation, try starting an internal competition with a prize for the team member who most effectively uses the AI software. This will help change the perception of the new tool, slowly helping to turn fear and discomfort into excitement.
Every product implementation process has room for improvement. Instruct your AI champion to regularly gather feedback about what worked, what didn’t, and what could be improved from your team to streamline future product rollouts. Your line to your ASSIST Customer Success Manager is also always open, and they are also eager to hear your feedback.
Want even more tips on implementing AI on your team? Download our latest playbook on AI Implementation and Multifamily Change Management by filling out the form below.