everyone is accountable for their work? Working with people who want to change the game is fun, frictionless, and meaningful. We believe best-in-class partnerships should feel like this as well. If you’re thinking about adding a partner to your tech stack, here are the basics in technology, tech stacks, and ways to frame the investment of adding a best-in-class partner to your marketing team. 

Technology

In terms of human history, our palm sized computer-that-also-takes-photos way of living hasn’t been around that long. Let’s take a look back at where technology has been, in order to realize how far we’ve come. 

In 1927 the television was developed and in 1937 the computer. Although, we would need to wait until 1974 for home and personal computers to become more common. Also in 1974, the infantile basis of what would become the internet was invented. This, of course, eventually led to the algorithm-driven marketing world we know, as well as the technology solutions that power our remote workforce including email, messaging, and video conferencing. In fact, McKenzie reports that 85% of organizations have accelerated adoption of automated and digitized technologies as a result of the pandemic. Moreover, COVID-19 accelerated technology adoption 3 years ahead of the average speed businesses bring on new technology solutions in the United States. The bottom line is that technology adoption is moving quickly. Therefore, it’s important to select best-in-class partners who are constantly innovating to make sure their technology solutions are on the leading edge of their industry. 

Tech Stack Basics

A tech stack isn’t measured by individual parts, but by their integrated abilities. Like any good team, the work it does is more impactful and meaningful together, than individually. Your tech stack choices matter, and have the ability to change the way you work for years to come. Ultimately, the technology you use has a major impact on how well your teams streamline work and how your customers experience and perceive your company, all of which impacts your bottom line. 

A typical multifamily tech stack is made up of accounting, property management system (PMS), marketing, and your customer relationship management system (CRM). Each piece of the stack carries out specific tasks, and they all depend on information from one another. Think of your tech stack like a basketball team. We know that teams with synergy make hard things appear effortless, they can anticipate where they need to be next to score, and they are constantly looking for open teammates and opportunities to earn an assist. Their defense is calm, driven, and tactical. In short: they’re a dream.

In contrast, imagine a team where one person refuses to dribble (but LOVES defense), another person believes there is no “i” in team and plays that way, and a third person who forgets all the team plays no matter how long they run drills at practice. On this team, working together is frustrating and disappointing. No thanks! The good news is, you get to build your own dream team by selecting best-in-class partners who work well together. 

More Than a Financial Investment

It can be overwhelming to compare tech partners. Beyond upfront research time, costs, and timelines, you have to think about the implications for your team. Between staff onboarding and dialing in workflows, ongoing training, asking questions, getting technical support, understanding data privacy and compliance, and making sure that all of your tech stack partners play nicely together — it’s a big decision. 

As your business grows, you want to rest assured that your tech vendors will be able to scale with you. What’s more, you want to be able to look to them for advice to think ahead of the changing market, and innovate to solve problems that have yet to arise. Selecting a best-in-class partner provides you with long-term advantages, allowing your business to scale and advance as your partner continues to innovate.

What Does Best-In-Class Truly Mean? 

Top-notch, crème de la crème, and best-in-class all equate to the same foundational value: they bring expertise and ease to your most difficult challenges and workflows. To truly be best-in-class, solutions need to help you win with workflow by eliminating tech and data silos, building meaningful partnerships with other tech partners in your stack, integrating with other partners, and prioritizing developing advancements to their solutions to routinely provide your business with cutting-edge technology to help you exceed your business goals. Want to see how your tech stack measures up? Check out this Tech Stack Checklist to make sure you’ve picked a winning team. 

Put Us in Coach

Want to learn more about how best-in-class partnerships build winning workflows and help you reach your business goals in the new year? We teamed up with our best-in-class partner, MRI software, to share our tech stack playbook, and point out things to look for in other technology partners. Read our eBook, Maximize Your Tech Stack With Best-In-Class Partners to learn more.