Pitfalls of a Database: Why Good Data Management Matters for Your Self-Storage Operation

With technology quickly becoming a determining factor in self-storage success, effective data management plays an even more significant role in your operation's bottom line. But what is data management? And how can you improve data management to achieve better outcomes for your self-storage business?

Why a Clean Database is a Must-Have in Today's Self-Storage Industry

Data management refers to the capture, storage, organization, security, verification, and processing of essential information in your business. Historically, self-storage operations collected data through conversations with customers or forms, and employees manually entered the data into the appropriate systems. In addition to creating a breeding ground for inefficiency, the process was prone to human error.

In today's industry environment, data management solutions automate many of these tasks. By automating the capture, handling, and storage of data, these technologies can help you monitor performance, improve processes, and gain a clearer understanding of business opportunities.

But advanced self-storage solutions rely on accurate and relevant data to generate actionable insights for your operation. Without a strategy to ensure the accuracy and reliability of data in your database, your operation runs the risk of process failures, operational roadblocks, and technology snafus. Just as importantly, you'll miss out on opportunities to increase revenue and reduce costs.

The Business Benefits of Effective Data Management

Despite the risks, poor data management continues to be a widespread problem in self-storage and other industries. On average, Experian reports that 33% of organizations' existing customer and prospect data is inaccurate — severely impairing company leaders' ability to leverage data for business improvement.

But the positive business impact of robust data management is just as significant. With the right data management strategy, your self-storage operation can achieve several significant benefits, including:

Increased productivity: In the current economy, many companies are struggling to optimize productivity. Data management increases productivity by making it easier for team members to locate the information they require on a daily basis. In addition to organizing your data in a logical structure for shareability, the right data management strategy securely archives data to be easily retrieved in the future.

Improved efficiency: Efficient self-storage operations optimize performance with fewer resources than their industry peers. Data management improves productivity through the elimination of redundancies. By populating your central data repository with clean, accurate data, you can avoid the time and frustration of reconciling duplicate records and eliminate redundant work routines.

Operational agility: Sometimes, you have to pivot quickly to keep pace with the marketplace. But that won't happen unless you have access to reliable data for informed decision-making. Data management ensures your entire leadership team has fast access to the same data, improving both the quality and speed of decision-making.

Make the Most of Your Data with Cloud-Based Data Management

Proper data management is essential to your operation's business strategy. To protect the integrity of your data, periodically review your database to identify duplicate entries and other errors. You should also create a standardized process for data entry and prioritize data security.

A robust cloud-based data management solution gives you a leg up on data management by providing seamless access to the many benefits of effective data management. Critical features of leading cloud-based data management solutions for self-storage include:

Data quality — An integrated cloud data management solution creates a single source of truth for data entry, eliminating data silos, and ensuring your data remains clean, consistent, and up to date.

Security — Cloud-based data management solutions are usually more secure than on-premise solutions because they eliminate the risk of data loss due to theft or hardware failure.

Scalability — The cloud enables your operation to quickly scale users and services based on your needs and business requirements.

Collaboration — The anytime, anywhere nature of cloud technology provides constant access to data and allows team members to collaborate or share insights on data sets in real-time.

Automated backups & disaster recovery — Cloud storage vendors manage and automate data backups, securing your data, and significantly reducing disaster recovery time. Instead of backing up your data once a month, your data is updated multiple times each day.

Automated updates — Like other cloud solutions, cloud-based data management tools automatically update so you don't have to rely on your IT team to keep your applications current.

At PTI, we understand how important good data management is to growth-minded self-storage operations. Our cloud-based access control solution, StorLogix Cloud, equips your operation with the industry's most advanced access control and integrated data management technology.

By centralizing your operation's data in a secure, single source of truth that resides in the cloud, StorLogix Cloud provides peace of mind — you can rest assured that your operation will have constant access to the most accurate and up-to-date data for decision making and revenue-generating activities.

Ready to do more with your data? Reach out to a PTI Representative today and discover how cloud-based access control and data management technology can benefit your operation!