What is a Smart Building?

You may have heard of smart apartments, which are apartments with smart devices like smart thermostats, smart leak sensors, and smart locks in them. But, have you heard of smart buildings before? Imagine the smart devices within an apartment unit, connected across the property. This allows for residents to have Sidewalk to Sofa™ access with one smart credential (like a phone app) from the outside of the property into their unit. This lets property managers control vacant units without manually entering each one to save time and energy costs. The benefits are endless!

Through RealPage Smart Building, property owners, operators, managers, and residents can experience the power of connecting smart technologies across the property on a single interactive app.

According to Parks Associates' whitepaper, Simplifying the IoT Edge: Smart Spaces Best Practices, "Property managers and owners who have installed smart home solutions report significant benefits from these solutions." This includes improvements in operating efficiencies and a greater ability to attract and retain residents.

What makes up RealPage Smart Building?

Smart Apartments

Smart apartments bridge operational service gaps to make apartment managing and living to maximize ease and comfort. The STRATIS App connects multiple third-party smart devices into a single app for residents and property staff. Without this single platform that unites and integrates different devices and systems, these were difficult to use and/or unmanageable.

For property managers, smart devices for access control and utility management can manage vacant units, which are costly and time-consuming to manually attend, resulting in significant energy cost savings.

Smart Access

With Smart Access, residents can have property-wide access, from Sidewalk to Sofa™. Resident can also quickly grant access for visitors and vendors, instead of physically opening the doors for them. Visitors can securely open certain doors to reach their destination effortlessly. Properties see as much as a 99% reduction in time spent on key management and creation with Smart Access.

Smart Wi-Fi

RealPage offers the the industry's only cost-effective Wi-Fi option for the density of multifamily. The property-owned "always on" network fits the different uses for residents, property staff, and guests. Residents enjoy fast, secure personal internet, and property managers can add devices to their existing network with no additional infrastructure cost.

Reliable and seamless property-wide Wi-Fi is more important than ever, as the pandemic has caused a shift in more people working remotely (often from home) than ever before.

Sustainability Suite

The Sustainability Suite powers water, energy, and waste management across the property and whole building insights for clarity and continuous improvement.

Smart Water leverages IoT submeter technology so properties can drastically reduce the cost of managing water on both common areas and residential units. With features for quickly detecting and notifying site teams about leaks and consumption problems, property portfolios will experience significant annual savings while also enjoying greater visibility into those parts of the property (e.g., landscape irrigation and pool systems) that are not typically metered.

Smart Energy combines intelligent energy meters, devices, and thermostats with a powerful analytical engine that alerts property managers and owners to energy loss, usage, cost, and system issues in real-time. Providing the user with in-depth analysis capabilities and actionable recommendations, the application quickly yields energy performance improvements, reduces costs, and achieves sustainability goals across the portfolio.

Smart Waste drastically reduces the cost of managing waste and recycling programs — as much as 40% or more — while also providing greater visibility into waste operations and vendor services. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and a ruggedized camera installed on each dumpster at the property, the solution includes powerful analytics and actionable alerts that give you visibility into per unit waste costs, contamination fees, and recycling diversion ratios at the property and portfolio level.

Want to learn more about the value RealPage Smart Building can bring to you? Take a look at our eBook, 6 Ways to Make Your Building Smarter and Your Residents Happier.