Sample report
Katasu Interview report: Property Management Company A
Based on AI interviews with 18 people, from management to frontline staff, this report outlines the potential benefits of using AI to improve Property Management Company A’s workflows. It can help you decide whether to go ahead, hold off, or try one change first.
| Workflows covered | Interviews | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Repair requests, address changes, contract changes, and billing inquiries | 18 people, from management to frontline staff (including staff at the maintenance company) | 3 weeks |
1. Summary and recommendation
| Proposed changes | Estimated benefits | Costs | What to try first |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 proposed changes | 50 hours saved per month (capacity for 150 more tenant requests/month) | JPY 200,000 upfront, JPY 30,000/month | Use one point of contact for repair requests |
We recommend starting with a one-month trial of a single point of contact for repair requests. It costs very little, and you can readily check whether it saves the estimated 16 hours per month. You can then use the results to decide whether to make the other two changes.
2. What can change
The interviews identified three bottlenecks.
- Repair requests pass through reception, the contracts team, and the maintenance company. Tenants have to call the different teams themselves.
- The maintenance company cannot access the contract details, so it cannot schedule the repair until the contracts team replies. It takes an average of four days to confirm a repair date.
- Address changes are entered twice, with the same information copied into the contracts and accounting systems.
Loading the diagram…
The tenant reports a leak to the property management company’s reception team → is told to call the maintenance company and makes another call → the maintenance company takes the repair request and asks the contracts team for details (waiting for a reply) → confirms the repair date → completes the repair.
Here is how each workflow could change.
| Proposed change | Tasks for AI | Steps to eliminate | Tasks for people |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use one point of contact for repair requests | Check contract details and prepare a draft repair request | Asking tenants to call another number | Decide how urgent the request is |
| Share contract details with the maintenance company | Extract the information to be shared | Inquiries from the maintenance company to the contracts team | Decide which information may be shared |
| Eliminate duplicate data entry for address changes | Update both systems | Entering the same information a second time | Review the details before finalizing |
3. What you can gain
| Proposed change | Basis for estimate | Estimated time savings |
|---|---|---|
| Use one point of contact for repair requests | 120 requests/month × 8 minutes spent on repeat calls | 16 hours/month |
| Share contract details with the maintenance company | 120 requests/month × 12 minutes per inquiry | 24 hours/month |
| Eliminate duplicate data entry for address changes | 40 requests/month × 15 minutes of data entry | 10 hours/month |
Together, these changes could save 50 hours per month. That does not automatically mean lower staffing costs. The estimated benefit is capacity to handle about 150 more tenant requests per month, rather than a reduction in spending.
4. What it will take
| Proposed change | Setup cost | Ongoing cost | Preparation needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use one point of contact for repair requests | None | None | Update reception procedures (2 weeks) |
| Share contract details with the maintenance company | None | JPY 30,000/month | Review the contracts to confirm what information may be shared |
| Eliminate duplicate data entry for address changes | JPY 200,000 | None | Set up integration between the contracts and accounting systems |
5. Where to start
| When | What to try | How to measure the results |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | Use one point of contact for repair requests | Track repeat calls from tenants and time spent by the reception team |
| Months 2–3 | Share contract details with the maintenance company | Track the days needed to confirm a repair date (currently 4 on average) |
| Month 4 onward | Eliminate duplicate data entry for address changes | Measure the time saved on data entry |
What we still need to confirm
- Which contract details the maintenance company is allowed to see (subject to a review of the contracts)
- The figure of 120 requests/month is the average for the past 3 months. We still need to confirm the volume during busy periods.
The company name, number of interviewees, and all figures are fictional.