Property management companies, owners and managers have to contend with a host of daily processes and services while ensuring tenant satisfaction. In today’s Internet-hungry world, property managers are being saddled with delivering and managing high-speed Internet services – a difficult task for some and nearly impossible for others. The number of factors involved in keeping bandwidth delivery ahead of the curve while ensuring high quality of service (QoS) and tenant satisfaction makes the risk vs. reward decision difficult enough – never mind delivering income and profitability from a property’s network.

At conferences and business meetings with property owners, managers and REIT executives, I hear what appears to be the same symptoms of many expensive, failing Internet deployments. People report rising bandwidth costs and customer complaints at MDU, student housing, senior living and commercial properties due to increased video and audio streaming, uncontrolled data consumption across multiple mobile devices and the Internet of Things explosion. Meanwhile, “bandwidth hogs,” which remain unleashed, continue to dilute service levels for the majority of tenants and business operations, which greatly reduces overall customer satisfaction.

These and other factors often force property owners or managers to purchase additional expensive bandwidth – which, at best, is a short-term solution. This momentary solution is destined to become diluted quickly because of the “first-come, first-served” nature of an unmanaged network.

Once the unmanaged network is properly installed, managed and optimized, the QoS problem, or lack of QoS problem, is resolved – property owners and managers can contain network operating costs, generate increased net operating income (NOI) , and, most important, increase tenant satisfaction and retention.

Property managers should consider six steps in upgrading, retrofitting or installing cost-efficient, profitable, high-speed Internet systems for their properties.

1. CHOOSE THE RIGHT PARTNERDon’t attempt to take on this task alone. It can’t be solved with a single cable or Internet service provider delivering bulk bandwidth to your property. Choosing the right partner is key to success. Your partner should know where all the pitfalls are in a typical network and how to provide a system tailored to your specific needs: to manage, monitor, maintain and monetize your bandwidth services from end-to-end. A network solutions partnership should provide everything from property assessment, connectivity vendor contract review services, design, equipment selection, installation, IT management, maintenance, ongoing customized on-site marketing, management and customer surveys and documentation services, 24/7 monitoring, support and future procurement provisioning. The primary focus of a one-stop network solutions partner who provides Internet and TV services to industries such as student housing, multifamily, senior housing, hospitality and others should be to increase NOI, tenant satisfaction and retention.

Six Things Property Managers Should Know About Increasing Net Operating Income With High-Speed Internet & TVBreak-Through to Network Profitability and High QoS in the Untamed World of High-Priced, Uncontrolled Bandwidth Consumption

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By Joanne Luger, Vice President, SalesMesh Networks

Please visit Joanne at booth 706 during the Broadband Summit.

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2. SELECT THE PROPER WIRED AND WIRELESS PLATFORMThink of your platform as the foundation of your network, tailored to your unique requirements. The right partner should guide you in your selection of the proper wired and wireless platform, based on your property needs and budget, and, after installation, provide exceptional wireless coverage with the best Wi-Fi design, coverage optimization and certification.

3. BOOST RESIDENTIAL SATISFACTION WITH BANDWIDTH AND NETWORK MANAGEMENTBandwidth management and optimization is the critical component that enables you to provide the most bandwidth to each tenant while eliminating bandwidth hogs. A top-notch bandwidth management solution delivers a fully managed Internet service. What does that mean for you? It means there is no first-come, first-served abuse, and everyone gets the same QoS, according to the selected plan. No one super Internet user can hog the Internet on your network. No one user can hog the neighbors’ share. The right bandwidth management solution increases tenant satisfaction and saves you money, therefore increasing NOI.

4. MAXIMIZE ANCILLARY REVENUESelect a partner that makes you aware of and helps you identify new revenue stream opportunities that can make your network deployment profitable. Your partner should provide options to choose Internet provisioning via your existing provider or take advantage of possible preferred pricing with its provider partners. A credible network solutions partner encourages you to select the provider that saves you the most money while guiding you through the process.

5. ESTABLISH ENTERPRISE GRADE 24/7 MONITORING & SUPPORT The right partnership should remove the burden of network monitoring and support by providing enterprise grade, 24/7 network monitoring and help desk support. This ensures issue resolution in the fastest manner possible and reduces the likelihood of unplanned costs and frustrations associated with an outage. 24/7 network monitoring and

support fosters peace of mind for both tenants and office staff and enables office staff to concentrate on tenant satisfaction, not IT.

6. FUTURE PROOF WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANKYour network deployment, retrofit or upgrade should be scalable to extend the value of your investment well into the future. Your partner should always help you maximize your investment by provisioning infrastructure that meets specifications for today yet is scalable for tomorrow’s growth.

PREPARE FOR CHANGE – A CONSTANT IN WIRED & WIRELESS NETWORKSKey market factors and network configurations, whether wired or wireless, are constantly in a state of flux. The bandwidth demands of your tenants or commercial clients, whether in MDUs, student housing, senior living, REITs or commercial facilities, continue to diversify and place more and more of a burden on your property’s network. You can rein in, fully manage and optimize your network, and transform your network investment into a profit center.

Our customers have realized the benefits of a comprehensive, “end-to-end” network solution for their properties – a solution that is scalable, flexible and responsive to meet and exceed the changing demands of tenants while generating revenue and profitability. To learn more, contact Ms. Chris Force, Mesh Networks’ business development manager, at 281-972-7185. Both Chris and I would like to learn more about your network requirements and objectives and further explain how the Mesh Networks’ End2End™ Network and Bandwidth Management and Optimization Solutions can support your immediate and long-term high-speed Internet deployments.

©2016 Mesh Networks, LLC All Rights Reserved 855.855.MESH

www.themeshnetworks.com

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