Software Soundoff: What Self-Storage Operators REALLY Want

Persiano: Where is the future of management software headed?

Curtis: I foresee the management software of the future evolving to include business intelligence that could lend itself toward studying customer behavior, identifying patterns, forecasting trends, etc. A competitive pricing component is another aspect that could be embedded into the management software to help track your competition.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of dealing with one centralized database. Working with multiple databases is a labor-intensive nightmare. Our ability to streamline and automate operations via database centralization is the only way to sustain your business and grow in an industry characterized by huge consolidations and fierce competition.

Shaping the Future

Self-storage management software has and continues to shape the future of the industry. Manual, labor-intensive tasks have been replaced by Windows and Web-based applications that streamline daily operations and even automate reservations, rentals and online payment via an e-commerce site.

The value of the next-generation management software lies in its ability to centralize data for real-time access to support the decision-making process, standardize operations across all sites, offer local backup capability against Internet breakdown or disasters, and enable quick and easy reconciliation of information to facilitate swift analysis. The introduction of a business intelligence capability will further enable individuals using self-storage management software to study customer behavior, identify problems and forecast trends. 

Michael Persiano is the chief marketing officer and Sachin Bhakta is the vice president of development of E-SoftSys, headquartered in Blue Bell, Pa. E-SoftSys is a total-solutions provider for the self-storage industry in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. For more information, call 800.469.1740; e-mail sales@e-softsys.com; visit www.selfstoragemanager.com.