iCondo & Savills: One click away from rebuilding a sense of community

MARKET SITUATION

Asia has redefined the quality of apartment and condo(inium) living with the highest luxury buildings and major mixed-use developments. Whilst investors in standalone buildings can appoint a manager and concierge (combined) this is rarely the case for strata buildings and their managers’ who are simply contracted to manage the common areas. This gap in the contractual agreement leads to an underfunded service shortfall for the residents. More importantly the residents, often well paid, intelligent home owners or professionals renting prime units are tech savvy and demanding (rightly so), given the value of the apartments within which they reside.

So how then does a manager bridge this contract gap and service shortfall? How do they ensure their residents are satisfied with as little impact on the management budget and fees they pay?

ONE-STOP SOLUTION FOR OWNERS, RESIDENTS AND MANAGING AGENTS

Savills teams up with HomeClick to implement a tech-driven solution in buildings that it manages, iCondo, a simple smartphone or tablet app that allows you to interface with the building manager and the facilities available.

Entrepreneur and founder, Anthony Wu says: “I live in a condo, I sit on the strata committee for my building and I have condo investments here in Singapore; so, I see first-hand the issues residents have and the challenges faced by the property manager. I am sympathetic to both sides, given the terms of appointment and expectations of the occupier, so I have decided to solve this problem with an app.”

“iCondo is always an on interface with your building and a self-help service for your own personal unit. Whether you want to book a facility in the building, hire a tennis or swim couch, need repairs or maintenance done in your own unit or report an issue in the complex, this can all be done from your phone or tablet.” 

ONGOING COLLABORATION

“In partnership with iCondo, Savills Singapore has rolled out the platform to over 60 buildings that Savills manages, with more onboarding to come. The response from residents has been exceptional! The iCondo platform, in total, manages over 50,000 residential units, processes 350,000 facilities bookings annually, sends 5 million push notifications monthly, with property managers managing 10,000 feedback tickets on the platform per month.”

Anthony added: “It is personally rewarding to see that we have started to rebuild a sense of community amongst residents within each condominium, through the platform’s various social features and activities. The role of the building manager, too, is changing. As part of the interconnected iCondo platform, the building managers’ use of technology can make an even bigger impact on the lives of residents.

Anthony’s quietly spoken enthusiasm hides his fiercely commercial mind. This has been confirmed by the enthusiastic response to his recently completed Series ‘A’ funding round. Savills is delighted to be collaborating with such a progressive and enthusiastic individual who is a force for good.