Your residents have questions, and often the best way they can get answers is by calling your front office. As essential as this is for maintaining a high level of resident satisfaction, it can also be time-consuming. What if we told you there was a better way? Integrated with the Amazon Echo, the most common smart speaker in the United States, the BuildingLink Skill for Amazon Alexa can answer a host of frequently asked questions with no phone call required.
As helpful as it can be, our Amazon Alexa integration has other benefits. According to the National Apartment Association, 84% of residents who don’t have smart-home tech said they would like to see features implemented in their communities. Whether our Amazon Alexa feature is new to you or an opportunity you’re not taking advantage of right now, incorporating it into your community can be yet another way you can deliver superior resident experiences.
How The BuildingLink Amazon Alexa Skill Works
If your resident has an Amazon Echo, all they need to do is navigate to the Amazon Alexa app on their device, search for the BuildingLink Skill, and log in using their BuildingLink username and password. Once this is done, they can interact with the BuildingLink Skill by saying, “Alexa, open BuildingLink.” At this point, they can ask questions related to amenity availability, maintenance request status, community announcements, and more. If they aren’t sure of what the options are, they can access a full menu of questions by asking, “Alexa, what can I say?”
How does Alexa know the answers to these questions? The app refers to information found within the BuildingLink module most related to the query. For instance, Alexa will refer to the BuildingLink calendar when asked, “What is going on today?” or the event log for, “Do I have any deliveries?” As long as your back-end information is up to date, all your residents need to do is ask their Echo one of the following questions.
Day To Day Questions
Fielding questions about delivery statuses or maintenance requests is certainly an important part of serving your residents. The Echo can answer many of these kinds of day-to-day questions with the BuildingLink Skill, effectively serving as another member of your front desk team while also saving your residents the trouble of clicking into the BuildingLink mobile app.
These questions include:
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink to get my car
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink do I have any packages
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink if my items have been picked up
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink for my account balance
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink about my maintenance requests
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink how to contact the front desk
Resident Or Building Announcements
Keeping your residents informed of what’s going on in their building or community isn’t just important, it’s critical to maintaining a high level of satisfaction. According to this 2021 survey by Satisfacts, the top driver of perceived value of multifamily properties is a sense of community. Providing easily accessible information on building events and announcements is exactly what the BuildingLink Skill can do, making it even easier for your residents to connect with each other.
These questions can keep your residents in the know about your building’s activities:
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink what’s going on in the building today
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink if there are any new announcements
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink who's on duty
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink for my digest
Questions About Amenity Availability
Your building’s amenities add significant value and you want to make it as easy as possible for your residents to use them. This is particularly true if your property has a fitness center, which can be a busy place during peak hours. You want your residents to have access to the equipment they want to use, but there are times when they may not be available. The BuildingLink Skill combined with the Aware Fitness Center sensors offers a host of insights into your fitness center that your residents can access via their Echo. Together, they can answer such questions as:
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink to tell me about the fitness center
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink what machines are available
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink if the gym is crowded
- Alexa, ask BuildingLink how the gym feels
This information gives your residents all the information they need to get the workout they want in your gym. Instead of waiting for something to come available, they can time their visit to when they will have the best possible experience.
*Note: This aspect of the BuildingLink Skill only works when Aware-FC sensors are present.
Our Other Smart Home Integrations
Utilizing the BuildingLink Skill for Amazon Alexa can add significant value to your property while also delivering an improved experience for your residents. However, it’s not the only way you can leverage smart home technology through the BuildingLink App.
- Google Home
- Similar to the Amazon Alexa Skill, the BuildingLink Google Action enables your residents to ask their Google Home questions about delivery status, maintenance requests, if their dry cleaning has been picked up, and much more.
- IOTAS Homes
- With our IOTAS Home integration, residences can manage their IOTAS smart outlets, switches, thermostats, and locks directly from the BuildingLink Resident App.
- Ecobee
- Maintaining thermostats throughout your property is likely more of a reactive than proactive process. Not so with our Ecobee integration, which automatically creates maintenance tickets in BuildingLink when thermostats need routine or emergency attention.
Save time, add value for your shareholders and owners, and provide a better resident experience while using the most common smart speaker in the country. That’s exactly what the BuildingLink Skill can do for you! Contact us today to learn how you can make this easily accessible technology work for you.