Predictions for Storage Technology: Have the Forecasts Come True? And What’s Next?

I thought it would be interesting to take a trip back in time to look at and review articles from the past written about the use and future of technology in the self-storage industry. Fortunately, the Inside Self-Storage website (through the use of today’s technology) has archived articles published in the magazine back to the late 1990s.

In my search I found an article, "Self-Storage Software: Facility management becomes automated and auspicious," written by Teri Lanza in May 1998. It was fascinating to review the quotes of the numerous software vendors interviewed. Many of them talked about what the future held for the industry as it related to technology. I thought it would be interesting to share that information with you and put it into context of both today and the future as I see it.

Setting the Stage

The self-storage industry has witnessed a period of significant growth in the past 10 years, growing from 26,000 to more than 52,000 facilities as of 2007. Many owners/operators in the late ’90s worried more about how quickly they could develop and build their next facility, or how to identify and close their next acquisition than about how they could best manage and operate their growing portfolios. Self-storage demand seemed to have no limit, and market saturation and increasing competition was still in the future.

Pressing issues revolved around moving from a DOS-based to Windows-based applications, and what the impact of Y2K (Year 2000) would have on self-storage management software. In fact, much of the article dealt with the subject of "should I automate?" But for some of the more forward-thinking owners/operators, it was more important to manage and support the vision they had for growth, and how to leverage technology as a competitive advantage.

The perspective of the software vendors at the time might be summed up with a quote and the debate over automation. Glenn Hunter, owner and president of Berkeley, Calif.-based Domico, stated, "This industry has been terribly slow to deal with change of any kind but, fortunately, what’s happening now, with the large amount of outside investment companies involved, is that the industry itself is being modernized in a very dramatic fashion." Additionally, numerous suggestions indicated why owners/operators should automate and the benefits.

Fortunately, that debate didn’t last much longer as self-storage owners/operators accelerated their acceptance and use of the Windows-based rental-management applications.