If you've changed your management software, share your story. What was the reason behind the change? How long did training take? Are you satisfied with the new program?

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Amy Campbell
Editor
Inside Self-Storage
acampbell@vpico.com

We are still in the process of changing over from RentPlus to WinSen. New management company, new software. It's a lot of work during the change over, having to run both programs until the new one is up dated with discounts, people paying old rates, getting taxes right, etc. Since we have used WinSen before, our training wasn't very long (I use "our" loosely since I am still learning) and our assistant catches on very quickly. Hopefully in another week or two we will be running only WinSen.
They all have their good points and bad points, just make the most of what you have and keep on going. Improvise, adapt, and overcome.

Yes, we finally bit the bullet and changed from MSP (yes, the old DOS version) to SMD's SiteLink. While there is a lot of power and options in SL, the setup & transition was a bit painful. We had a bit of a snafu with the notorious California lien notices and that took a lot of manual hours adjusting accounts, but I think we've steadied out now.

Anything Windows based is MicroSoft dependent and that doesn't necessarily give me great reassurance. I don't mean any disrespect to SL, it's just the nature of the beast that anything running on Windows will need constant updates as MS updates... a vicious cycle.

There is something to be said for self-contained tight code that runs stand alone. So this 'old-timer' misses the DOS days, but not the Fortran & Basic & key punch cards. Any new program takes some getting used to; so my only suggestion to vendors out there is to keep in mind that whenever possible, put in keyboard hot keys to correspond to mouse clicks for the typists among us. I don't like jumping from the mouse to the keyboard, and there could be 'tabs' to fields instead of having to type here, then grab the mouse, then type, then mouse, then...

1. Reason for the change - long overdue, MSP wasn't supported and started crumbling. 2. Training not so long, getting the hang of it & understanding took longer. 3. Satisfied = yes. A few suggestions made to the vendor and they've been very responsive and they do listen. That is something rare among software vendors and it is appreciated.

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Gina 6k
CochraneStorage dot com
Morgan Hill, California
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough!

Gina, is yours stand alone, or ? I have Sitelink Web Based, and have almost no problems, and they are easily and quickly fixed. And, most importantly, Marcus has harnessed the Power of SST.

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Bob Taylor (Astro)
Blue Ridge Self Storage
Cashiers, NC

My management company took on 2 new facilities near me. They brought me in to train in the new software as well as some procedural stuff.

They have been on WinSen forever. We switched them to SiteLink Web Edition. They really grumbled and complained at first, but now that the conversion is completed and all the fees and stuff have been corrected, they are starting to see the benefits this program will provide.

Now maybe we will have a better chance of getting their $100K+ receivables under control!

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~Airport Super Storage~

We're also web based. Our only headaches were some messed up settings initially. Then a too helpful tech support guy who tweaked our CA lien law settings... unfortunately in the wrong direction. We didn't communicate well on that issue, I answered the question he asked in a logical manner without knowing the ramifications of the change. We fixed that and all seems well now. And yes, Marcus and his team have been great.

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Gina 6k
CochraneStorage dot com
Morgan Hill, California
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough!

Gina, you have to be very, very careful. Remember that Sitelink is in North Carolina, too.

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Bob Taylor (Astro)
Blue Ridge Self Storage
Cashiers, NC

Cool Astro. Can I give you my favorite tech guy's name and will you go buy him lunch for me? Your treat of course. He's been great!

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Gina 6k
CochraneStorage dot com
Morgan Hill, California
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough!

I is nice that some vendors have interest in participating in the discussions at the industry's largest online forum. It shows that they are honestly interested in their current and future clients.

- Michael

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Michael T. Bishop
Sperry Van Ness/Jackcon Cooper, Inc.
Commercial Real Estate Advisor & Self Storage Consultant
www.svn.com / www.jacksoncooper.com
michael.bishop@svn.com
208-363-7000 (Office)
208-919-0105 (Cell)

Enter to Win a Website From StorageLand
Follow me on Twitter: @MichaelTBishop @StorageLand @StorageForSale

We just changed software in January after over 10 years of running various versions of Rent Plus. I have noticed a recent trend on this site, those with Rent Plus are jumping ship and moving to software that actually works. For the last two years (or more) I have been extremely disappointed with Rent Plus and their complete lack of tech support. Their newest version 2.0 was unstable and very slow. I can't spend nearly 10 minutes on a single transaction when I have over 1000 people who need to pay on the 1st.

For our facility we chose Sitelink Web edition. We have over 1300 units and need to have the ability to integrate an Insomniac and a touch screen U-Pay station on the counter. The conversion was very smooth, the fine gentlemen at Sitelink walked me through every step. I sent our database information over on Sunday night, and when I got to the office Monday morning the information had already been converted to Sitelink and we were ready to go.

The only major problem we had was with PTI. Unfortunately PTI is not yet compatible with Windows 7 or with 64 bit computers, both which are now commonplace technologies. We were told by PTI that it would be months before Falcon the gate control software would work with new operating systems. For me as a long time user of PTI products this failure to prepare for the imminent release of the latest operating system was almost a deal breaker. If PTI isn't compatible by March we will be looking for a new access control system as well.

Overall I am very pleased with Sitelink, it was very easy to learn and to train others how to use it. My only regret is that we put up with inferior software for so many years. I wish we would have switched a long time ago, I might have a few less grey hairs!