Photo By Eric Pilgrim | Fort Knox residents are encouraged to visit the Resident Portal website for...... read more read more
Fort Knox’s housing partner, Knox Hills, has been leading the way in communication among residents on Army installations since it launched its smartphone app.
So say Knox Hills officials, who helped pilot the app at the central Kentucky installation about a year ago.
“If you look at Knox Hills compared to other LendLease projects, we’re actually out in front in terms of how long it’s been available as well as the adoption rate,” said John Bredehoeft, project director for Campbell Crossing and Knox Hills.
Bredehoeft said a tremendous amount of residents use the app for information and communication with the company on any given day.
“We’re actually currently at over a 50% adoption rate,” said Bredehoeft. “That’s really impressive, if you understand that residents turn over at about a 46-47% turnover rate a year. With residents moving in out, it’s really positive.”
LendLease manages more than a dozen military communities across the United States. This includes properties in Hawaii and Alaska. Those properties have also begun using the app with growing success, said Bredehoeft.
“It’s had positive results,” said Bredehoeft. “Some of it depends upon the folks using it. There are some who absolutely love to use the app and as technology improves, that becomes more and more prevalent. But there’s still folks who like to pick up the phone and talk to somebody; that’s fine, too.”
Bredehoeft reminds residents that there are many ways to reach Knox Hills officials for maintenance issues. Those other avenues aren’t going away any time soon. They include calling in work orders at 502-799-6565 and visiting https://www.rentcafe.com/residentservices/knox-hills/userlogin.aspx to submit a work order online as well as download the RENTCafe app.
The app is typically considered the best way, however.
“It allows for faster feedback, and it allows for that sort of ability to get in and check on things remotely from your phone,” said Bredehoeft. “It’s been pretty well received, and that is evidenced by the adoption rate.”
Bredehoeft said there are a number of features that their technicians have been working on to improve the app. One of those is the push notification.
“You can get push notifications when a work order has been created,” said Bredehoeft. “We’re not quite up to the level of say Uber, where you can watch the maintenance guy drive down the street and into your driveway, but we are working on notifications that say, ‘Hey, the maintenance guy is on his way to your house,’ or ‘you’re next in line for service.’”
Another feature that has helped better resolve issues is the ability for residents to take photos of problems.
“Pre-app, somebody would have to call in and do their best to describe a situation over the phone. If they are not an expert at plumbing or electrical, or whatever might be happening, they’re doing their best to explain it but they don’t necessarily know all the terminology to help us understand what’s going on,” said Bredehoeft. “Now we can see it. That helps to provide a little bit more information so that we can prepare our tech and the work order notes to a better degree.”
Bredehoeft said feedback is an invaluable part built into the app. Knox Hills receives regular feedback about the app from residents, the majority of which has being positive so far.
“Generally speaking, I think that they’ve been very appreciative of the increase in the communication level, the awareness of timeframes and other things that are happening,” said Bredehoeft. “It’s nice for people to get confirmation of work orders and things that are entered.”
Whatever the feedback, Knox Hills is glad to receive it from the residents, including what features work for them and how Knox Hills can improve the communication.
“We’re people too and we use a lot of those other apps, so we’re conscious of features that exist in other places,” he said.
All of the features in the app from a team focused on helping residents resolve their problems, according to Bredehoeft.
“Our goal is to make things easier for the resident and provide better, quicker information.”
| Date Taken: | 02.20.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 02.21.2020 09:54 |
| Story ID: | 363586 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 59 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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