Does the property management company need a local server?

However, some property managers are now questioning the raison d'être of the server that is supposedly an essential part of the office. The hardware costs spread over the service life are of secondary importance. The considerable amount of time spent by the service provider working on the network should be viewed differently. The complexity inherent in the server, which is so abstract and intangible for the user, is real.

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The server's fans run continuously and the power consumption is rarely thought about. The annoying noise is disturbing, fortunately there are server rooms or at least a server cabinet. Such privileged storage underlines the apparent importance of this instrument. The space required could be put to much better use for crates of drinks or a nice big plant. This could be implemented. Depending on the individual IT infrastructure, the local server can actually be considered superfluous. The customer portals, which are a must for a professional and efficient property management company, are presumably the cause of this dam break.

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As is well known, these portals are located in the cloud of the respective provider. But that alone does not lead to the server being decommissioned. In addition, more and more ERP systems, i.e. our billing programs, are also migrating to the cloud. Either as a genuine cloud solution or at least via remote access to the manufacturer's server. Regardless of the variant, a local installation in conjunction with a laborious network construction is a thing of the past. Microsoft 365, which is probably used by the majority of property management offices, is often the death knell for the server. This online solution, which is also installed locally on the workstation computer, does not require a server either.

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Now there are warning voices from the conservative server faction: what about security, especially as the previous backup scenarios no longer apply. But apart from the fact that many a backup would only have worked in theory, the data is likely to be stored many times more securely in the clouds of the respective manufacturers than on the administrator's server. In addition, many cloud solutions are backup-capable. On closer inspection, the concerns cited thus become the opposite. Another argument in favor of the server is that certain applications require a local network. In this case, it should be checked whether an inexpensive and easy-to-administer so-called NAS storage is not sufficient. This can be integrated without any effort. The requirements for real estate management have changed drastically in recent years. For reasons of competitiveness, it is important to work more efficiently. Eliminating the need for a server in the future would be a significant step in this direction. And the resulting synergy effects and interfaces hold previously unimagined potential. Process optimizations can be expected that will make property management more profitable and reduce complexity at the same time.

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The author Alexander Haas is a management consultant and webinar provider for real estate management companies.

www.haas-unternehmensberatung.de

alexander.haas@haas-unternehmensberatung.de

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This text was not created by Impower, but was taken in part from the article by Mr. Haas.

You can find the full article here.