Smart Tech for Your Properties: Tools That Make Managing Student Housing Easier

We live in an age of smart homes, full of smart tech that makes our lives just a little bit easier. While student housing shouldn’t be a complete smart home, they do have smart tech that you can utilize in your properties. These not only make students more intrigued in your properties, but they are tools for both you and students to utilize! They can actually make managing this student housing easier!

Think of smart tech as a tool that can take some tasks off your own shoulders by automating certain tasks and providing more security than non-smart technology. This is a list of the must-have smart tech for your properties that will make managing student housing a breeze.

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Smart Locks

One of the most convenient pieces of smart technology is a smart lock, especially when you’re dealing with hundreds of students coming and going into their dorms throughout the day. Smart locks save you and students the hassle of carrying around (and losing) their dorm keys or fobs. Students can download an app onto their phone that allows them to unlock the dorm door when they’re in the right proximity.

Aside from that convenience, smart locks have a lot of other great features. You can immediately grant and remove access to absolutely anyone you need, making it a breeze to give new students access to their dorms. This alone makes it much easier to manage student housing!

They also provide a high sense of security, knowing that whoever opens the door does have approved access into the building and a history to see who opened the door when, if needed. You can set hours throughout the day that the doors can stay open and what time they lock if your school has a curfew, or have them lock again within a few seconds of being opened.

Video Intercom

You may or may not have a regular intercom system set up that allows students to let their guests in without going to the main door. Consider taking that one step further by implementing a video intercom. This adds another layer of security as students can see who exactly they are allowing into the dorm via the video. You also have video proof of any suspicious individuals trying to enter the building, if ever faced in this situation. Any unwanted guests can be quickly turned away without a face-to-face conflict involved.

This video intercom can be integrated right on the students’ phones, requiring no extra technology installation in each dorm or housing unit, only on the exterior.

Automated Lights and Outlets

If you ever have empty rooms or dorms, you don’t want to waste electricity by still powering those vacancies. By installing smart or automated lights and outlets, you can ensure that no electricity is being used by those empty spaces, and instead focus on the students currently living in student houses. When you’re saving money on electricity, you can focus on providing your students with these other necessary smart tech and gadgets to make their living experience even better.

If that’s not a concern of yours, think about how many students forget to turn off their lights and appliances when they leave their housing to go to class or extracurriculars. Smart lights and outlets might just be the way to go so that either a student has to be present for the lights to go on, think motion sensors, or they can turn their devices on and off right from their phone. Not only does this give your students the opportunity to take control and turn everything off from wherever they are, but it helps save you and them time, worry, and energy.

High-Speed Internet

While internet and Wi-Fi aren’t new smart tech, they do go hand in hand with everything mentioned. These new technologies usually rely on Wi-Fi to transmit data to students’ smart devices. Don’t just find the cheapest plan for your property, but consider splurging on one with high speeds so that nothing lags. Students already need internet service to do homework, call their family, and of course, binge movies and shows when they’re procrastinating. High-speed internet is essential to pair with your new smart tech tools and will just make everything more seamless.

By buying into smart tech now, you are helping students and yourself by making their student housing better and easier to watch over. You are also preparing for the future. It is inevitable that smart technology like this becomes the standard for any and all housing, especially when it comes to protecting our students. You’re essentially future-proofing your properties by planning everything now. Even if there is a bit of a learning curve for you to understand the way smart tech works, students living in your properties will immediately understand it. Don’t fear the future, but welcome it with open arms!