Every senior living community operator struggles with the same day-to-day complexities. In order for site-level stakeholders and executives to get on board with certain initiatives, the organization must create a well crafted, compelling, and an easy to adopt strategy that covers all these bases: marketing/corporate brand consistency, uniform family/resident engagement, a consistent look and feel across properties, corporate oversight, remote corporate menu and calendar management, promoting active lifestyles and differentiators, etc.

At this stage, all of these initiatives sound like a lot of work, with multiple technical systems being utilized, and at a high expense. While that may have been true in years past, modern-day tools can assist your organization with all of these corporate initiatives at a low cost and with a compellingly high ROI.

Here are 17 of the best enterprise solutions for senior living operators.

1. Multi-site Activity Calendar Management Software

Activity program diversity supports dimensions of wellness. Finding the balance between a calendar that’s easy to manage from HQ and yet is aesthetically pleasing, is attainable. You should look for a solution that can use one remote login to access and monitor calendars across multiple communities. The ability to create and manage corporate templates, branding, and content, supports brand consistency and strategic marketing initiatives (akin to that consistent “feel” you get when you walk into a Starbucks.) In addition to instant calendar creation with category and dimensions of wellness tagging, look for a tool that will save hours of work vs. the old MS Publisher, Excel or Word calendar designs. Yes, community calendars can be gorgeous and easy to manage, while having the ability to update remotely, export, print, and even display on screens across the residence.

2. Corporate Menu Management Software

Forget about the time-killing days of copy-pasting menu items for each and every community under your banner. Instead, save hours of design and printing time by using an automatic menu management platform. Quickly manage menus from any device and from anywhere – in or out of the community. Your chosen solution should be able to maintain a bank of food items, issue a corporate menu to all your communities, and allow onsite-based culinary staff to make changes as necessary – substantially speeding up the menu management process. Maintain your corporate menu consistency across locations and with access to info through print, Amazon Alexa, web, and TVs.

3. Service Request + Suggestion Box + RSVP Management

As a corporation, you’re looking for ways to better streamline and manage requests coming from residents and their families. Reporting on the volume of requests and the speed of resolution across multiple properties doesn’t have to be a manual process anymore. For better organization and faster actioning, consider implementing an on-line Service Request Manager (SRM) that allows residents and family to submit requests and place reservations in one place.

Allow them to easily submit items like repair requests (broken lightbulb, clogged drain,etc.), general suggestions (new menu items, activity types, etc.) and reservations (dinner, a seat on a trip or a spot at an activity, etc.) Enabling your staff to collect, track, and report on all requests in one central system (any device, anywhere, anytime), makes for easy audits and saves countless hours (think fewer calls to the front desk). Still, the front desk can still log phone calls, emails, in-person or written requests –  integrate with an existing maintenance/work order program like Direct Supply TELS for added productivity. Allowing residents and families to seamlessly correspond directly with your community, have it automatically go to the right department (IT, Maintenance, Culinary,etc.), and get automatic updates when a ticket status changes, really adds to the quality of their community experience and sets your homes apart from the rest.

4. Family & Resident Portal

While phone calls, mailed calendars, and email have been tried and true tools for communities to engage families and residents, it can often take many administrative hours while also varying in quality of execution from site to site. Enterprise control of communication that encourages proactive engagement is much more easily accomplished through a centralized portal. Families and residents are directed to sign up and connect directly with your community (your corporate messaging and branding is consistent throughout the experience). In addition, the portal can be accessed from any device and from anywhere in the world. Families can send requests directly to departments within your community if they have maintenance, dietary, administrative, or other requests. Best of all, share your newsletters, important updates, community photos, calendars, and menus.It’s great marketing, communication, and engagement in one tool!

5. Custom Community TV Channel

From head office, having visibility into how each community is marketing itself, messaging to prospects, residents, and families, while also ensuring the optimal diversity of activities and menu items, is much easier said than done. Here is where the Community TV Channel comes in! Keep residents more informed around the building and encourage happy feelings. Transparency and communication require less work and effort than ever before.  Broadcasting live weather and national, local, and community news allows residents to feel connected without the necessity of having to print these items on a daily basis. Pre-program videos to play on your channel including those from YouTube or from a designated educational video library. Quickly update information throughout the building without running to every notice board and to every floor. Free up your front desk staff time so they can help residents directly instead of answering repetitive questions that can now be addressed by your community TVs. Photo galleries showcase the vibrancy of activities and events within your community, while menus keep residents excited about what’s available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (use your administrator view to remotely see if the community is adhering to corporate menu guidelines). Don’t forget to highlight staff members (new or existing) on your channel – promote resident and staff connection on a regular basis.