In the competitive field of seniors living management, selecting the best retirement village software is a critical decision. Here's a detailed guide to help you choose the software solution tailored to your organisation's needs.

1) Identify specific needs and objectives

• Requirements: What are the top four or five requirements you have for your community? Make sure you are clear on those requirements going into the meeting and ensure the vendor demonstrates the ability to meet those needs. If you can, share those requirements with the vendor before you meet with them. That way they can tailor their presentation to your requirements.

• Timelines: Do you have a pressing deadline to get the solution embedded in your organisation? You might have a new retirement village opening and you need to be onboarding your new residents as they move in. Making sure the vendor can get your software up and running in time will be critical to launching your new village.

• Trial: Do you require a trial of the retirement village software with one or two communities before you would want to roll out across all your communities? Sometimes this can be a good way to optimise the onboarding experience and get the whole organisation ready for the new system. To get the most out of the trial, it makes sense to compare across at least two villages to get the most insights.

2) Fully understand how the retirement village software centralises communications

• Communications: Enhancing centralised communications fosters transparency and collaboration within senior living communities. Look for a software solution that allows instant communication with your residents for everything going on in your village. Whether it’s automated reminders and emails for event attendance or the ability to comment on news posts. If communications is a key driver then the platform should provide a comprehensive, easy to use solution.

• Engagement: Look for senior care software that encourages resident engagement through event calendars and bookings, community forums, or family portals, facility and service bookings, and surveys. Ensure the platform allows you to create engaging, beautiful communication pieces, when the need arises.

• Administrative efficiency: Consider how retirement village management software can streamline daily communications, such as scheduling, bookings, alerts, and reporting. You want the solution to be saving you lots of time and making communications easier for your staff in the village.

• Replaces your newsletter: If you are spending three days a month creating a newsletter, then you want a solution that can replace it all together or cut your preparation time down to a few hours. Make sure the seniors living software solution can deliver a great in app news experience for your residents.

• Tagging: Can the solution allow you to personalise communications to specific audiences? Tagging allows you to choose an audience, even down to one person, to receive the communications.

• Resident to resident communications: If resident to resident communications is important to you then ensure the platform allows this type of communications, whether it’s direct messaging or phone calls.

3) Evaluate the user experience in senior living software

• Accessibility: Choose software that offers a user-friendly interface for all users, considering technological familiarity. It should provide you with options on how you set up the user experience so that residents who need an accessibility option, can choose it.

• Interface design: Seek an intuitive design that balances functionality and aesthetics. It needs to work for the age group but not insult their skill set. Remember, the biggest users of Facebook are now seniors.

4) Consider integration and customisation in retirement village software

• Integration capability: Seamless integration with existing systems ensures consistency and minimises duplication of efforts. Assess how the software can fit within your current technological ecosystem and whether your system handles integrations easily. You can ask the vendor about integrations they have already completed.

• Customisation options: Flexibility to tailor features ensures alignment with unique organisational needs. Customisation can provide personalised solutions that resonate with your community's culture. Find out if the vendor allows customisations of their software and how that process is managed. The very best solutions allow you to customise some of the features out of the box.

5) Assess security and compliance measures

• Data protection: Robust security protocols are vital to safeguard sensitive information. Encryption, access controls, and regular audits can ensure compliance with data protection standards.

  ISO27001:2022 certification is the standard you want to look for in a vendor you choose. This way you can have complete confidence that the vendor has the systems, processes and policies in place to keep your data safe. This is incredibly important to your residents and it will be the first question they ask about the software you have chosen when you are onboarding them.

6) Explore branding opportunities

• Branded apps: The ability to have your organisation's branded app in the App Store enhances brand recognition and provides a unified experience. Look for software that offers custom branding options that reflect your community's identity and values.

• Consistent branding across platforms: Ensuring that the software aligns with your existing branding guidelines creates a seamless experience for users and reinforces your brand's credibility. Make sure it’s easy to manage and control your brand across multiple communities if you are supporting more than one community.

7) Communications across community TV screens

• Unified messaging: Broadcasting important messages, announcements, or activities across community TV screens helps keep residents informed and engaged. Look for software that can deliver a community TV solution out of the box.

• Dynamic content management: The ability to update and manage content easily ensures that residents have access to the latest information. Explore options that allow for diverse content types like videos, images, or text to make the information more engaging.

8) Maintenance request management

• Efficient tracking: A centralised system for logging and tracking maintenance requests ensures timely response and resolution. Consider software that provides real-time updates and allows residents and staff to track the status of requests. Also consider whether you want residents and staff to log the requests directly from the app. Many solutions don’t provide this option.

• Integration with maintenance teams: Look for software that can integrate directly with your maintenance team’s workflow. This can enhance communication, reduce delays, and provide a transparent process for residents and staff alike.

9) Managing multiple retirement villages on one platform

• Centralised control: Retirement village software that manages multiple sites offers unified management. Ask the vendor to show you how you can setup and customise each village to match the needs of that village.

• Scalability: Choose senior living management software that can grow with your organisation. Think about updating one policy across multiple communities or changing permissions on a user type. You don’t want to make to go in and do this in each community

• Data insights and reporting: Centralised retirement village management allows robust analytics.

• Enhanced communication: Look for seniors living software that fosters interconnected communication between villages.

10) Know what data insights are available to you

• Metrics matter: Look for seniors living software that gives you insights into how engaged your users are in using your chosen software. A good solution should not shy away from showing you how often your residents are using the software and what parts of it they are using.

• Trends over time: The very best solutions will allow you to track changes over time and help you identify areas that your residents might need some additional support in using.

• Data export: You will have your own reporting requirements. Make sure all of your data and insights can be exported in the right file format.

11) Investigate support and training options

• Onboarding support: Comprehensive training can facilitate smooth implementation. Assess the quality of manuals, tutorials, and live support during the initial phases. You can get a sense of the Pluss Communities User guides here if you want to compare them to what’s available elsewhere.

• Ongoing support: Reliable customer support ensures that issues are addressed promptly. Consider the availability of support channels like chat, email, or phone throughout the product's lifecycle.

12) Understanding the product roadmap

• Future developments: Assessing the software provider's product roadmap gives insight into their vision and the direction in which the product is headed.

• Alignment with your goals: Ensure that the planned features and enhancements align with your organisation’s long-term needs and goals.

• Commitment to innovation: A clearly defined roadmap reflects the provider's commitment to continuous improvement and innovation in the seniors living software space.

• Input: Understand how the vendor takes input from customers on the product roadmap and whether your voice and needs will be heard.

13) Evaluate the cost and value proposition

• Initial cost: Understand the upfront investment, including licenses, setup, and training. Transparency in pricing helps avoid unexpected costs.

• Long-term value: Assess the potential return on investment, considering time-saving efficiencies, improved resident satisfaction, and potential scalability.

• Integrations and feature development: Getting development done on the platform specific to your organisation might be important. Ask them to give you their daily rates for development. This could come back to bite you if you are charged really high development fees.

14) Request references and demos

• References: Speaking with other users provides real-world insights into functionality and performance. Don’t hesitate to ask for references that match your community’s size and needs.

• Live demonstrations: Hands-on experience offers a tangible sense of the software's usability and functionality. Schedule demonstrations to ensure that key stakeholders can participate and ask questions.

Conclusion

Selecting the best retirement village software involves considering diverse aspects from user experience to branding, communication, maintenance management, and multi-site management. Investing in the right seniors living management software lays the foundation for a responsive and unified community, driving efficiencies and enhancing resident experiences.

In today's ever-evolving seniors living industry, making a well-informed decision on retirement village software is key to standing out in the marketplace and aligning with your overarching mission.