5 minute read
Storman reflects on what was the most challenging year ever
STORMAN REFLECTS
ON WHAT WAS PROBABLY THE MOST CHALLENGING YEAR EVER!
The year 2020 will always be remembered for the year where everyone had to deal with the onslaught of a worldwide pandemic and the lucky ones among us came out of the other side with a better understanding of what it means to be resilient.
For many self storage businesses, it was incredibly hard or nearly impossible to work remotely, and for some, they had to adjust to a ‘mostly online’ approach quickly. Safety was at the heart of all decisions, and we adjusted our sails to help our customers through some very challenging times. There is nothing like a crisis on a global scale to put into perspective the sheer determination of our industry.
COVID-19 restrictions made more storers interact with self storage businesses online as they used the internet to research pricing and availability, complete bookings, and make payments. For many self storage operators, the idea of a standard storage sign-up process moved very quickly from a ‘nice to have’ paperless approach, into an urgent, automated and contactless need. We saw a phenomenal increase in the uptake of contactless sign-ups, as well as operators needing to access their software away from the office. A BUSY YEAR FOR STORMAN
We added a lot of new features into Storman Cloud this year – here are some highlights: l The new Storman Cloud invoice designer gives more ways to style your invoices. l An ‘advanced customer search’ was added to help find virtually anything easily. l Storman has reimagined the facility map in Storman
Cloud. It is bolder, more beautiful and so much easier to use and set up! It provides an innovative way for our users to interact with a visual representation of their facility. l Our new knowledge base and support portal was released, filled with lots of articles and videos to help our users find the information they need. l Our Storman (online) move-ins add-on was quickly adapted and improved to provide storers with the ability to: • Sign-up from home, • Sign-up from your website, • Sign-up in-store on an iPad or tablet, • have the latest storage agreement from the SSAA.
l We’ve made adding payments into Storman Cloud much easier, especially for those who have customers deposit directly into your facility bank account – no more opening each account one by one.
We love to hear your feedback about our product – it’s all taken on board and communicated to our product design team. If you have a suggestion for our products and services, please email us at cloud@storman.com.
A KEY MILESTONE REACHED
We were very excited when we reached a crucial milestone in September, where over half of our customers have now adopted Storman Cloud. Customer feedback has been outstanding, and they love the good looking and simplified screens, access from anywhere and the convenience of overnight processing as it ‘just happens’”.
Storers are also enjoying the ability to sign up from anywhere. This feature was described recently by one of our Victorian customers as a ‘godsend’ due to lockdown restrictions. The facility was able to continue to trade and provide a much-needed service to the local community.
NEW CLOUD-BASED ACCESS CONTROL INTEGRATIONS
We partnered with two new access control providers and their latest products. Both of these access control products work with Storman Cloud to provide a true cloud-to-cloud integration. All Secure Self Storage in New Zealand chose ICT ProtegeGX™ as their access control system and asked us to build an integration with Storman Cloud.
“We positioned our business to be ready for the future and to be in a position to offer the best and latest technology to our customers.” – Owner, Keith Edwards.
“We have used Storman Software for over ten years now and have been thoroughly impressed with their product. They have recently partnered up with ICT to develop some new systems which have been extremely beneficial to us. Great service and a great team! Happy to recommend Storman Software to anyone.” Nick Brennand – Manager, All Secure Self Storage.
The second cloud-based integration was with Nokè™ (pronounced “No key”). Nokè™ allows facilities and storers to have completely keyless access and entry, with everything driven by an app installed on your smartphone. We’re excited to announce this new Storman Cloud integration with Nokè™, which will be available early next year (2021).
Both products provide great glimpses into how self storage access control can be used in the future.
Website integrations everywhere!
A number of our clients integrated their websites with Storman Cloud this year using our new cloud-based API. The largest integration project we did was working with Storage King to help them integrate their new website with Storman Cloud to provide an online booking system and box shop. The website went live in May 2020, and it was a great success.
WHAT DOES 2021 HAVE IN STORE?
We can’t always predict the future, but here are some of the exciting things we have planned for the start of 2021.
Bulk customer communications will be coming in quarter one of 2021 to Storman Cloud. This will allow customers to mass communicate with storers for reasons like announcements, marketing and general updates. We’re adding great new features for our multisite users, such as accessing the availability at another facility, as well as transferring leads and inventory to another site to name a few. There will be further developments to our cloud-based access control partners.
For our users without cloud-based access control systems, we have a new lightweight application to handle communication between Storman Cloud and your gate – lookout for something called the ‘Storman Gate Broker’.As we wave 2020 goodbye, we would like to thank our customers for their support during this challenging year and to take this opportunity to wish everyone the best for 2021!
We’re looking forward to a little downtime over the holidays and starting the new year with renewed energy! l
SELF STORAGE BUSINESS AND FREEHOLD FOR SALE IN MELBOURNE’S SOUTH EAST
Such a substantial land holding with an existing and stable self storage business and signifi cant development potential is an opportunity for owner operators which rarely comes onto the market.
Zoned Industrial 1, in highly sought after area in Hallam, minutes from major arterial highways. Land area 15,739 sqm approx. 227 drive up storage units over 2,803 sqm approx. NLA with wide driveway access. Additional industrial buildings.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS PROPERTY CONTACT
Matt Walsh 0411 880 054
mwalsh@highwayfrontage.com.au www.selfstoragerealestate.com.au
