December 17, 2025 Posted by Amber Malinovsky in Location-Based Alerts, Business Continuity, Crisis Communications, Mass Notification, Internal Communications, Resident, Tenant & Vendor Communications tagged tenant communications systems, tenant safety, emergency management plan Social Share
Why the Communication Tools Built into Your Tenant Management System Don’t Cut It
Oftentimes, property managers default to the built-in communications features of their tenant management software since they figure they’re already paying for it. But then an emergency will happen, such as a natural disaster or an active shooter, and the shortcomings of these built-in features become evident.
- Since communications is not the primary purpose of tenant management systems, tenant communication features are buried in the user interface: For non-urgent communications, a property manager clicking through several nested options before being able to message tenants is not a big issue. But during an emergency, when seconds can make all the difference, safety and management personnel need to be able to find the right recipients and send out alerts as quickly as possible.
- Unable to reach both tenants AND employees in the same workflow: Though both groups may be exposed to the same risks, the systems to reach each of them are separate, requiring additional effort to reach each of them.
- Desktop-only systems fail when administrators are on the go: Property administrators need a way to alert recipients even when not right next to their computer, particularly in cases of emergency when staff are likely on the move.
- The UX places most of the burden on the recipient: Most people are flooded with messages, so how do you ensure the important ones stand out? How do you make it easy for tenants to either opt in or be automatically included in critical alerts? And do you have 2-way communications available so that tenants can reply back without needing to download specialized apps?
What to Look for in Tenant Communications Platforms
The following are the tenant communications platform requirements we recommend to all property managers, whether for retail tenants in commercial properties or multi-family apartment buildings with residents:
- Simple Granular Targeting: make it easy for desktop or mobile app users to reach exactly the right people, down to even just specific floors in a building, in just a few clicks
- Reporting: have an immediate view of who has received which communications and who has responded
- Mobile Admin App: enable your administrators to send alerts even while on the go
- Multi-Channel: reach recipients via text, email, voice, digital display, or even in-app notifications to maximize reach
- Tenant Self Registration: make it easy for tenants to register themselves. For example, retail tenants find it easier to have shift managers self register versus trying to have one central person update who the managers are for each location.
- No App Required for Tenants: communications via SMS text provides the broadest coverage and reach to ensure critical alerts reach their targets
- Customized Templates: customize your communications based on your specific needs and most likely scenarios in order to accelerate time-to-delivery
- Data Management: while it’s important to have a dedicated communications platform, it should still be able to sync with your tenant and employee management systems to ensure you’re reaching the right people
RedFlag Alerts to Handle Your Ordinary and Extraordinary Tenant Communications
RedFlag has helped thousands of organizations bring their emergency management plans to life through secure, reliable, yet simple communications. We’ve built our platform to make it easy for administrators who manage security and operations at commercial, retail, and residential properties to deliver multichannel notifications to tenants and employees in seconds.
Whether everyday notifications like rent due reminders or else emergency notifications from large disasters, our clients rely on RedFlag to deliver the communications that can’t be missed.
More than just software, our customers succeed with us because we provide dedicated onboarding, implementation, and training so that your organization is ready, often in less than a day.
Schedule a 15-minute demo with one of our specialists to see how RedFlag can address your specific needs.
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