rtificial intelligence is changing how everything in the world operates, and the self-storage industry is no exception. It really comes as no surprise, since anyone who’s been in the business long enough remembers the day when a lot of the things that are done automatically now, such as setting up email marketing workflows, used to require sorting through the phone book, handwriting letters, and driving to the post office to mail them. You blink and technology changes everything. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

Something else that used to take a lot of time was data collection. Where should you open your next facilities? What real estate is for sale? Would it be a profitable investment? How can you design the most effective marketing campaigns? How can you optimize customer service? Thankfully, AI streamlines these processes. But how does AI do it? And can you really trust it to give you accurate and up-to-date information?

First things first: Thoroughly understanding the landscape and demographics of where your facilities are located is the only way to ensure it’s a sound investment. “You can gather data to see historical trends, how fast the surrounding population and job market is growing, whether there’s market saturation or factors that affect available square footage per capita, such as a higher population density,” says James McLean, head of business development at Radius+, a comprehensive market intelligence platform that was designed to specifically serve the self-storage industry.

You’ll also want to know all the intangibles, such as whether a specific market has been growing, whether there’s any real reason for a new self-storage facility, and the visibility and accessibility of a specific property. He explains that having this information enables developers to gather relevant, real-time data in a matter of minutes; sophisticated features can even detect similar projects in the pipeline, providing data on who’s also looking to buy and build in that market.

Once you have this full picture and are ready to buy, an AI platform like commercial real estate underwriting software Cactus AI can extract all relevant points from Offering Memorandums (OMs) and create models on how fast you can establish rates and make decisions based on that.

However, McLean says that due diligence is still required when gathering data. “AI can do a great job of speeding things up, but it’s not infallible and should never be the final step.” He advises professionals to review the information and put it on a platform where adjustments can be made.

When deciding on which software to implement in your facilities, look for those with a user-friendly interface and fail-proof features such as tool tips, tutorial videos, and drag-and-drop capabilities. You’ll also want to make sure that they have stellar customer service, since there will be a learning curve while your team gets trained on how to use it properly.

While underwriting is one of the most common areas where investors and developers use AI, self-storage operators can also leverage information provided by artificial intelligence into their marketing strategies.

“We like to look for ways to increase our organic search engine optimization (SEO) through various platforms like ChatGPT and Google AI as an alternative to pay-per-click (PPC) and Google sponsored ads,” says Armand Aghadjanians, director of acquisitions at Store Here Self-Storage. “We think that’s the future of how next-generation consumers will be searching for storage near them and to ensure they’re getting the best rates, so we’re shifting our marketing to work with that as well.”

When you think about it, it’s a brilliant approach. These generative AI chatbots use information collected from everywhere on the internet. This means that it will pull data from frequently asked questions entered by people seeking self-storage units, as well as from operators who have implemented effective marketing strategies. It really can be a goldmine, as long as you fact check everything. You can also get as specific as you want in your queries to get a tailor-made answer to your circumstances: “What’s the best way to promote climate-controlled self-storage units to college students in Atlanta?”

Armand also likes to incorporate information they get from these AI tools to create content for their pay-per-click (PPC) and Google sponsored ads; so far, these strategies have been effective.

Similarly, generative AI can help you gauge what your competitors are doing by entering queries to find out if anyone is running a promotion, or search for current trends in rental rates. These are factors that ultimately will help you remain competitive. It’s a form of social listening without having to monitor social media activity. Just make sure to never include trade secrets or proprietary information in the prompts, since all information entered into these platforms becomes part of their internal resource library and can show up as part of a response for someone else’s queries.

AI can also help you forecast lease-up projections more accurately by showing you real-time market demand and what type of demand, so you can tailor your messaging around your target customers’ needs.

AI is useful when monitoring your facilities through a surveillance system. “We’ve started converting old cameras and monitoring systems into more modernized tools,” says Armand. “Once we install the software to do so, we could search for specific footage, such as entering the description of a suspicious individual, or the color of the car they were driving.”

The security benefits don’t end there. You can use AI to detect potential threats (and set up alerts) to your physical facilities as well as your computer systems and servers to prevent hacking and cyberattacks.

This type of use provides you with a safety net in the case of litigation. Nobody wants to go there, but if it does happen, AI makes it easier to find all relevant footage without having to dedicate extensive amounts of time to it.

A more cost-effective way of implementing AI to gather data is to use it to enhance your customer service. For example, you can install a chatbot on your website or customer portal. These are useful to find common tenant questions and recurring issues (if any). Chatbots provide benefits for your customers, providing 24/7 access to information and faster response times than if they had to wait for one of your team members to get back to them.

AI can also detect customer patterns and make behavior predictions based on tenant preferences. Similarly, AI can help ensure customer satisfaction by alerting you of upcoming maintenance needs for your HVAC system, elevators, moving trucks, etc.

Investing in market intelligence platforms may feel intimidating to vendors who aren’t technology wizards. The prospect of reviewing multiple data dashboards may also seem confusing to some operators. These realities can result in putting AI tech on the back burner until you feel you have the time to fully understand it. But approaches like Aghadjanians’ seem less daunting and may inspire some vendors to toe those waters without a monumental financial investment.

Ultimately, whether you go big with underwriting software or keep it simple by using the features in your customer relations platform (CRM), there’s no doubt that AI simplifies operations for operators of all sizes and budgets.