The technology that you’re using to read this blog post was created in part by a black innovator. The smartphone that’s beside you and the streaming service that you use for your favorite shows are both the contributions of black scientists and mathematicians. This is astounding considering that only 1% of tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley are black, per a recent report. African Americans made strong contributions to technological advancement throughout the Golden Age of Invention. They paved the way for, and participated in, the boom of Silicon Valley and subsequent tech hubs. We’ve compiled just a few tech powerhouses in this list, focusing on contributors to computing. Where would we be today without video conference calls? Better question: where would we be today without Marian Croak? Croak is the pioneer of Voice over IP, technology used to communicate via audio and video while using the internet. She holds more than 100 patents in VoIP technology with an additional 100 currently in review. Croak serves as vice president of Engineering at Google. High speed internet is also a household name thanks to Victor Lawrence, an electrical engineer and pioneer in global telecommunications. His contributions helped to bring greater accessibility to high-speed connections. Because of his work, small businesses and households have access to broadband, DSL, HDTV technologies and wireless data transfer. Additionally, his work has advanced data encoding and transmission, modem tech, chip design, ATM switching and protocols, as well as audio and video coding. In short, the U.S. economy might not have survived the pandemic without Lawrence. Ever heard of an electret microphone? You likely use one every day. James West invented the first practical electret microphone. It is used in many smartphones, cameras and digital recorders. What made his take on the electret microphone unique is that it uses a charged material instead of a cumbersome polarizing power supply. Inventor and engineer Otis Boykin was a tech master with range. He improved everything from common household items to military technologies. He held 28 patents and his electrical resistors are used in computing devices, missile guidance as well as pacemakers. His innovations resulted in safer and more efficient resistors, which promoted the mass affordability of electronic devices. Roy Clay stands among Silicon Valley’s earliest pioneers. His earliest notable work is as a research and development director with Hewlett-Packard (HP)’s computer division in the 1960s. He went on to create Rod-L Electronics, which is a world leader in developing electrical safety testing equipment. One invention includes dielectric withstand testers that protect personal computers from electrical surges. During the same time and practically down the street, Mark Dean was developing the earliest IBM PCs. He pioneered three of IBM’s nine original patents including the first gigahertz chip. We can also thank him for color PC monitors. (Do you remember when they were green and black? Yikes.) Dean and his partner Dennis Moeller created microcomputing systems with bus control for peripheral process devices. That means you can plug in speakers, disks drives and other peripheral items to ports on your desktop and laptop devices. As early as 1999, he launched development for a voice-activated tablet. Fast-forward and Dean is still a contributor to the industry as CTO for IBM Middle East and Africa. Paving the way for Clay and Dean was Frank Greene, a leading technologist responsible for high-speed computer systems in the early 1960s. He is also the founder of Technology Development Corp. and ZeroOne Systems, Inc. a venture capital firm for minoritized groups. Etta Falconer is another noteworthy technology trailblazer who dedicated much of her life to the advancement of marginalized groups. Falconer began her career as a mathematician and soon became one of the first black women to earn a master’s degree in Computer Science. She then dedicated herself to increasing the number of black women in mathematics and math-related careers by teaching at Spelman College, a historically black university in...

Senior living community operators use portfolio-wide information compiled by Yardi Senior IQ to improve revenue, expenses, care and efficiency. The business intelligence solution contributes even more to fast, smart decision-making with the recent addition of Staffing Analysis. Staffing Analysis helps ensure that every work shift has the optimal number of care staff with the right amount of caregiving, nursing and other skills needed to meet care requirements. It does so by automatically drawing resident care information from Yardi EHR, an electronic health record system, then presenting the care staff, task time allotments and skillsets for each shift on a dashboard. If Staffing Analysis shows a shift is overstaffed or understaffed by care staff or skillsets, managers can transfer tasks or staff with drag-and-drop functionality. And when care plans change in Yardi EHR, the Staffing Analysis dashboard automatically resets task time allocations. As a streamlined staff efficiency tool, Staffing Analysis enables executive directors, lead nurses and others to leverage existing care records without interfaces and eliminates the inconvenience of compiling multiple reports, preparing spreadsheets or rekeying data. “Staffing Analysis combines the clinical aspects of senior care with finance and marketing to make Yardi Senior IQ a complete and fully integrated business intelligence solution for community operators,” said Ray Elliott, vice president of senior living for Yardi. Learn how Yardi Senior IQ and the rest of the Yardi Senior Living Suite create a comprehensive technology platform for senior living...

State and local housing agencies across the country are tasked with implementing emergency rental assistance programs for households and landlords in a secure, equitable and expedient manner. Funded by federal stimulus dollars, emergency rental assistance programs will help keep people housed as the U.S. recovers from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial funding for the Emergency Rental Assistance program was $25 billion, which must be used promptly to support households struggling to pay rent and landlords who may have missed mortgage payments due to renter delinquency. Additional funding is also expected to be allocated by Congress. To disburse funds to eligible households, housing agencies must qualify applicants, track housing status (including offering support services) and complete the rental assistance deployment. Getting assistance funds to the right accounts with complete transparency and as efficiently as possible is a nationwide effort, and one that trusted real estate technology provider Yardi, a 40-year contributor to industry innovation, has the expertise to support. Yardi has released a new end-to-end software solution designed specifically for emergency rental assistance management called Rent Relief. This emergency rental assistance program (ERAP) software has online portals for applicants and tenants, automated workflows to qualify applicants for assistance, and secure technology to compete financial transactions. Rent Relief powered by Yardi provides an online portal for households in need to apply for rental assistance. The portal guides the user through the process of answering eligibility questions and uploading required documentation. Housing agency staff can then log in to Rent Relief to complete the steps of verifying eligibility for assistance. Staff can communicate online with applicants to advise of case status updates, missing information, determinations of eligibility and more. Steps required to qualify vary by state and are configurable within Rent Relief. Rent Relief is also the way approved households will receive funds in their bank account. The transactions are transparent and secure, leveraging Yardi’s industry-leading experience which includes managing more than 12 million U.S. residential units and processing monthly rent payments for more than 8 million apartments. To learn more about the platform, get more details and sign up for a personal demo at rentrelief.com. “Yardi is committed to do our part to help agencies keep renters housed as we endure the pandemic. We have nearly four decades of experience developing this type of full-service technology,” said Chris Voss, vice president of affordable housing and PHA at Yardi. Yardi has consistently stepped up in crisis situations to offer funds, resources and expertise. In 2016, Yardi worked with the Provincial Government of Alberta to develop a searchable, easy-to-use housing registry after 2,000 homes were lost in the devastating Fort McMurray wildfire. In 2017, after Hurricane Harvey devastated southern Texas, Yardi created a regional housing site and hotline for displaced residents and also donated $1 million in disaster relief. That response was repeated after Hurricane Irma later the same year. Last year, Yardi donated $1 million in support of rental support resources for the newly launched COVID-19 Rental Housing Support Initiative, a collaboration of The Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), National Apartment Association (NAA), National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM). If your organization has begun to implement an emergency rental assistance program and is in need of simple software dedicated to supporting the entire process, call Yardi at (800) 866-1144 or visit...

Did you know that 38% of Canadians say their mental health has declined due to COVID-19? The data, reported by the Canadian Mental Health Association, highlights the importance of mental health resources. Bell Let’s Talk encourages conversation and awareness around mental health. Its campaigns, such as Bell Let’s Talk Day, aim to decrease the stigma around mental health while raising funds for supportive initiatives. Your voice and experiences are valuable to your community Bell Let’s Talk and similar initiatives are important for community wellness. They create safe spaces where individuals can give and receive support and share resources. By sharing our experiences and providing a compassionate listening ear, we can promote communities that are healthier inside and out. Safe spaces are incredibly important: 65% of the 3,000 survey participants reported adverse mental health impacts related to COVID-19 in May, yet only 2% reported accessing online mental health resources such as apps and websites not involving direct contact with a mental health care provider. Supportive spaces can be a catalyst to or supplement to speaking with a clinician. Online conversations do not replace the need for guidance from a health care professional. By initiating conversations on mental wellness, you can make a difference. In a recent survey conducted by Nielsen Consumer Insights, 83% of Canadians now say they are comfortable speaking with others about mental health, compared to only 42% in 2012. Stay involved with Bell Let’s Talk On January 28, Bell Let’s Talk Day, Bell donated five cents to Canadian mental health programs for every applicable text, call, social media post or TikTok video using #BellLetsTalk. A donation was also made for every view of the Bell Let’s Talk Day video, and every use of the Bell Let’s Talk Facebook frame or Snapchat filter. Within 24 hours, Canadians and participants worldwide set new records for engagement with mental health conversations. Participants shared 159,173,435 messages and raised $7,958,671.75! Yardi employees were proud supporters of the event. Since its first fundraiser in 2010, Bell has raised over $121 million to support mental health organizations throughout Canada. Support for Yardi Canada employees Yardi was proud to join the 11th annual Bell Let’s Talk Day to promote social awareness and proactive measures regarding mental health. “It was an honour to support Bell Let’s Talk Day. At Yardi, we will continue to do our part to support mental health awareness and programming. Both are so very important, and we must keep these conversations going year round,” says Marla Mayes, human resources director, Yardi Canada. You can help keep the conversations going throughout the year. Below are five simple ways to help end stigma surrounding mental health as recommended by Dr. Heather Stuart, the Bell Canada Mental Health and Anti-stigma research chair at Queen’s University: Language matters: notice the words that you use when you refer to your mental health and the mental health of others. Educate yourself: take time to learn the facts and myths regarding mental health. Be kind: let others know that you are there for them with simple acts of kindness. Listen and ask: listen to hear rather than to respond, and ask how you can help. Talk about it: mental illness touches many people personally or through family and friends. Recovery is possible, and it often begins by just talking about...

As leasing technology and the customer journey has evolved, so has the role of the leasing agent. Also called leasing consultants or leasing specialists, these are the people who help walk prospects through the process of becoming residents … a path that’s become increasingly virtual. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, renters were doing most of their apartment research online, often deciding which properties to tour based on apartment listing sites, review sites and branded social media accounts. Then, when social distancing measures became the norm, people started relying even more heavily on online content — including pre-recorded video tours and livestreams with leasing agents — to choose their next home. In fact, a recent survey revealed that “renters are becoming so comfortable with renting digitally, that 72% say they would rent an apartment without ever seeing the property in person if a 3D virtual tour was offered.” What does this mean for you, the person responsible for leasing apartments? It means it’s time to improve your video skills. Here are some tips to help you get more comfortable behind the camera as well as in front of it. (Don’t worry, no previous filmmaking experience is required.) Filming Want to shoot a video tour that converts? Even if you’re just filming with your phone, considering these three things will set you up for success: Video orientation — If you’re trying to decide whether to shoot in portrait or landscape, ask where the video will be posted. Horizontal videos with a landscape orientation will usually look best on your website and YouTube. But you should hold your camera upright to take a video with a portrait orientation for Instagram Stories or a livestream with a prospect who is using their phone. Either format works well for Facebook, but apartments look more spacious when shot in landscape, so that’s what we recommend. Lighting — If you have a window in every room and great natural light, use it. If not, it’s best to shoot early or late in the day, with every light on in the unit, so it looks bright and there’s not too much contrast with the light outside. Audio — Sound can be a tricky thing, especially if you’re filming in a busy apartment building. Record using the microphone in your headphones or AirPods if you can, even though you might feel silly wearing them. You can always explain that it’s for the customer’s benefit. If you are tackling a larger project, you might want to buy an inexpensive microphone to improve sound quality. Get more tips for staging virtual and self-guided tours. Starring There’s no sense in being camera shy if you’re a leasing agent. You’re the face of the property as far as prospects are concerned. If you want renters to know, like and trust you, starring in your video tours is a good idea. When filming a video with a person in it, whether that person is you or someone else, pay attention to: Head room — Head room is the amount of space between the top of your head and the top of the video. If you have too much space above your head, it will make you look like you are shrinking. Too little and you risk cutting off the top of your head, which is unsettling for the viewer. Facial expression — When you’re trying to recite a list of property features and unit updates, it can be hard to think about what your face is doing. But it’s important to avoid scowling and maintain a pleasant expression, especially for prospects you may not have connected with in person yet. Editing If you’re creating pre-recorded video tours for your property website, Facebook page or other publicly accessible platform, some simple video editing can set you apart from the competition. Apps like iMovie (free for iOS devices) and Adobe Premiere Rush (this one works...

Remote work environments offer conveniences such as custom workspaces for employees and fewer overhead costs. Employers are learning, however, that employees may struggle to preserve corporate culture from a distance. This can be especially clear while hiring and onboarding new employees. A few practices can help you preserve and promote corporate culture within your organization whether employees are near or far. Use technology to invest in employee growth Working from home can feel monotonous or repetitive. Employees want to know that leadership continues to support their growth and development. Use e-learning software for continuing education opportunities. If feasible, allot a few hours per quarter that employees can dedicate to their growth through online courses. It’s a relatively simply way to show employees that they are supported and corporate culture facilitates personal and professional growth. Host virtual acknowledgements and awards ceremonies An encouraging smile goes a long way. On the toughest days, a nod or gesture from leadership can help employees feel seen, empathized with and supported. Unfortunately, virtual communication doesn’t lend itself well to such small gestures. Ensure that your employees don’t feel lost among countless emails and instant messages. To show that they are not overlooked or underappreciated, host virtual ceremonies via video conference. Make time to give kudos for a job well done or awards for more significant accomplishments. Rainmaker research reports that, “mutual respect, gratitude, and recognition between coworkers and leadership” was essential to employee satisfaction. Acknowledgement boosts employee morale and reinforces a culture of teamwork and camaraderie. Maintain your commitment to corporate social responsibility Social distancing has halted many volunteerism initiatives. Fortunately, technology makes a way to maintain your commitment to philanthropy while promoting employee safety. Each year, Yardi offices assemble committees that organize volunteer efforts and nonprofit grants. Of course, 2020 forced committees to get creative—and boy, did they rise to the occasion! Many offices transitioned to virtual fundraising committees. The Yardi Oxnard office took it a step farther. Oxnard invited candidates to submit video presentations summarizing their organization, its needs and goals. These videos replaced in-person fairs and still helped employees get a personal feel for each worthy cause. After viewing the videos, employees remotely cast their votes. The top-ranking candidates received grant funds for the year. Yardi CSD replaced their annual in-person 3k walk with a virtual walk to support Angela’s House. The group connected via Microsoft Teams and then chatted while walking their neighborhoods. It was a fantastic way to raise funds for the organization while participating in team building. Yardi is Energized for Good! Learn more about Yardi’s remote corporate philanthropy efforts on our Giving page. Host virtual clubs for employees If your organization didn’t have a social committee before, now is the time to develop one. These powerful, employee-driven groups get a feel for what interests their peers. They then create engaging activities and events. Virtual clubs are opportunities for employees to “hang out” after hours while enjoying a shared interest. Consider fitness clubs where team members log on simultaneously for yoga, dance or Tabata classes. Painting, cooking, crafting and gaming are all fun way ways for employees to casually connect and build a culture of camaraderie. Keep holiday traditions alive It’s important to continue holiday celebrations whenever you can. While group meals and dancing may not be in the immediate future, you can still make merry using technology. For Yardi Atlanta, Halloween is a big deal. Each year, employees decorated their departments, their desks and their bodies in hope of winning bragging rights and prizes. Last year, the Yardi Atlanta social committee came up with creative workarounds for a virtual celebration. A pumpkin carving  and selfie contest, throwback Halloween photo contest and virtual mixology class were among a few of the fun activities employees enjoyed together. Of course, there were costume contests! Teams made collages for group costumes and decorated their home offices. All submissions, voting and awards...

How do you create the perfect property marketing strategy? One that delivers the biggest ROI for your budget? In the days of flyers, yard signs and billboards, creating a winning marketing program used to be somewhere between a guessing game and an art form. But now that most rental searches begin (and sometimes finish) online, successful property marketing is more of a science thanks to the amount of data available. Today, property marketers can access data on prospects, leads and leases from multiple sources. Taken as a whole, these make up the marketing analytics that can make or break your strategy. “In terms of marketing, we understand you have a few critical priorities to keep your units filled and drive good revenue. First, you have to create a marketing and lead generation strategy. Then, you have to monitor and evaluate the success of your strategy. And finally, you have to adjust your plan to make sure you are getting the very best results for the least amount of spend,” said Esther Bonardi, vice president of marketing at Yardi. “But it’s difficult to compile and compare the data you need. That’s where a lot of good marketing strategies fall apart. And it’s where RENTCafé Marketing IQ can help.” What marketing analytics are important to property marketers? To effectively increase marketing ROI and reduce spend, these are a few of the data points you should keep a close watch on: Total exposure: Understand not only current vacancy and availability, but also month-to-month leases and uncommitted lease expirations to gain a better view of your total vacancy risk and greater insight into how much marketing is needed. Prospects by source: Compare the number of prospects each source brings in. When you understand where the greatest volume of leads is coming from, you’ll know which sources are ideal for creating awareness, an especially important metric during a lease-up or rebrand. Leases by source: Compare the number of leases each source delivers over any period. Which sources are outperforming others? Are there any that aren’t performing at all? Conversion rate by source: Compare the conversion rate of each source. Getting a lot of leads is good but getting a lot of targeted leads that convert is better. Where are you seeing the most success? These are the sources you should focus your spend on when there’s a need to fill vacancies. Cost by vendor: Compare the cost of each vendor to see where you are spending the most each month. Cost per prospect: Determined by dividing the total marketing costs by the number of prospects. How much are you spending to increase brand awareness? Cost per lease: See how much you are paying for each lease. Are you paying too much to an ILS that doesn’t deliver? Where are you getting leads for less? This data point shows you where you may have opportunities to redistribute or cut your budget. Taken individually, these metrics are easy to understand. But it can be challenging to get them all in one place for analysis quarterly — let alone monthly or weekly. And how do you know you can trust the lead data sent to you by vendors? Knowing that customers interact with your brand an average of seven times before converting, how can you be sure that the leads you’re paying for truly converted because of that source? Top property marketers use marketing analytics software to aggregate and analyze this data for them. In doing so, they save time, cut through the noise and gain transparency into the success of their efforts. And while, in the past, it could be difficult to garner enthusiasm for the marketing budget from external stakeholders, analytics tools like Marketing IQ make it simple to show them the numbers to support any proposal. What’s Marketing IQ? Marketing IQ is a powerful marketing analytics tool for RENTCafé clients. It delivers fast, accurate,...

So, you’ve decided to invest in innovative property management software to navigate the challenges of remote work and our changing economy. One look around the proptech marketplace reveals that there are dozens of options available. Many seem to offer similar services. With so many options on the market, how do you know what’s right for you? Below are five key features to look for when choosing property management software. Seamless integration with the ancillary software There are plenty of property management solutions that are compatible with ancillary software. There are, however, a few problems with integration between different platforms: Primarily, there is no guarantee of long-term integration. When you’re dealing with two separate companies, there are opportunities for acquisitions and other changes that may affect long-term compatibility and availability of either product. Secondly, there are two software systems that need regular updates. That means more maintenance and headaches for your staff. When one system receives an update, you can only hope for the best with the other. If they’re not in sync, you may experience delays, lose functionality or accuracy. That’s wasted time for your staff and costly errors for you. Seamless integration occurs when both the property management software and ancillary products function on a single platform by a single provider. Such integration ensures optimal efficiency and accuracy in the long-term because there is less work to keep products and data in sync. Mobile-ready and browser agnostic A web-based property management solution is essential as remote work environments become more commonplace. Web-based and mobile-ready software allows you and your team to work without being tethered to the leasing office. When working from home, out in the field or travelling, you can securely access the information you need. Your office staff will be empowered to complete rent payments and procurement online –checks, money orders, debit and credit cards, and even cash—without prolonged processing times, fewer in-person meetings and zero trips to the bank. Additionally, browser agnostic software (easily accessible with any major web browser) increases user flexibility. You can get the job done on any operating system including Android, iOS and Windows and with any browser such as Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Automated tools that promote efficiency Both remote and in-office employees benefit from tools that help them focus on what’s important and bypass tedious tasks. Fortunately, today’s property management software offers impressive automation tools. In marketing, customizable automation tools deliver targeted messages to prospects, send follow-up correspondences, handle appointment and tour scheduling and even update your ILS. Once your prospect becomes a resident, systems can automatically transfer prospect data to a resident file without redundant data entry. Staff can automate workflows including leasing, move-ins and move-outs, work orders, purchase orders and check writing. Those features are just a sample of the automated services available through modern property management software and add-ons. Automation frees up time for staff members to focus on building relationships, closing sales and earning loyalty. Scalability Is the software prepared to grow with you? Property management software is a powerful, long-term investment. Consider a solution that will grow with you through pandemic recovery and beyond. Protect your investment by choosing a platform that is configurable to your current needs and scalable to your future. Innovative solutions make it easy to add and integrate marketing, customer relationship management, procurement, facilities management, energy management and business intelligence solutions as needed. Save time by skipping new core product evaluations and training as your organization and needs grow. Built-in enterprise management and accounting all in realtime When it comes to accounting and property data, few things matter more than safety, consistency, accuracy and transparency. Seek property management software with built-in accounting that meets all applicable accounting standards and regulatory requirements. With cloud services, accounting and property data can produce real-time reports with a single source of truth for more informed decision making. Get 8 questions to ask before choosing...

Helping residents receive COVID-19 vaccinations has become a critical task for senior living community operators. Fortunately, the Yardi EHR electronic health record system makes it easier to manage records associated with that effort. A recently added feature of Yardi EHR is an infection surveillance and immunization dashboard that allows health care staff to document that a resident has received, declined or missed appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations. A newly added assessment allows clients to record any side effects exhibited by vaccine recipients. The assessments incorporate Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for administering COVID-19 vaccines. The third element of the dashboard allows facilities to identify residents who present symptoms consistent with COVID-19. The Symptom Tracker assessment sends an alert to the dashboard when such symptoms are documented. Staff can add indicators for other infectious diseases such as influenza, pneumonia and hepatitis, which will also populate the dashboard. “These built-in assessments are much easier to navigate than custom tables and other manual methods,” said Ray Elliott, vice president of senior living for Yardi. “Yardi EHR clients will be able to generate comprehensive vaccination reports for a single resident or an entire community with equal ease.” Yardi has dedicated special resources to help clients, communities and employees during the COVID-19...