Freeing up time in handling requests

Property manager

Decision studied

Distinguish recovered capacity from cash savings.

The property manager oversaw 36 buildings totalling 1,800 units. Coordinating requests took about 100 hours a week, and an additional position was being considered.

Approach

  1. 01

    Frame

    The task was to choose an intervention to improve follow-up, with an initial investment of $18,000 CAD. The service had to improve without staff reductions or any decline in how urgent requests were handled.

  2. 02

    Investigate

    The analysis of 600 requests revealed duplicate data entry, follow-ups without a clear status, and exchanges scattered across teams and suppliers.

  3. 03

    Explain

    A staff shortage and poorly organized coordination were compared. Repetition and searching for information explained a large share of the measured time.

  4. 04

    Build

    We compared hiring, full outsourcing, and a shared follow-up with assignment rules, while keeping the existing setup in place so the changes could be measured.

  5. 05

    Test

    The follow-up was tested on twelve buildings over eight weeks. The thresholds set in advance were fifteen hours recovered per week and no additional delays on urgent requests. The test recovered sixteen hours, with no deterioration observed in the handling of urgent requests.

  6. 06

    Decide

    Management extended the setup and postponed the hiring. The decision served a goal of capacity and service; no salary savings were recorded as a result.

  7. 07

    Steer

    At three months, the recovered time had made it possible to improve preventive follow-up. Freed-up hours reached eighteen per week, while payroll costs remained unchanged.

Test results

18 hoursrecovered per week after three monthsOne cell = one hour of coordination.Coordination: about 100 hours per week.No cash savings have been established.
Coordination hours recovered on requests. The model assumes 20 hours per week; 18 hours were observed at three months.

What AI contributed

AI proposed categories for requests and prepared follow-up summaries. Teams validated priority, assignment and interventions; urgent requests follow a defined human process.

Cost and capacity

Based on 20 hours freed up per week, over 48 weeks at $45 an hour, the recovered capacity is valued at $43,200 per year. This valuation is not a cash inflow. The first year’s cost comes to $27,600.

Annual projection for this case
Initial investment$18,000 CAD
Annual costs$9,600 CAD
Valued capacity$43,200 CAD per year, or $21,600 CAD at the prudent scenario
Cash paybackNo payback is established

Annual projection built from the engagement results. It is not a guarantee of performance.

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