PHOENIX, Arizona – December 10th, 2013 – OpenTech Alliance, Inc., a global leader in self storage technology, today announced another successful deployment of its INSOMNIAC® brand of self storage kiosks at Shetland Park Self Storage. Since installing the kiosk in February, it’s not too early to question whether the arrangement has worked. Over the first 10 months, the facility acquired 73 rentals directly through their self service rental station.
Jim DiNardo (J. DiNardo Consulting), who directs self storage operations for Shetland Park said, “Over 75% of our new kiosk revenue came in when the office was closed. At an average of $1,000 per rental, the kiosk has more than paid for itself already.” DiNardo added, “Even though the rental office is open only from 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday, we’re not missing any opportunities to rent.” Located in Historic Salem Massachusetts, Shetland Park is the North Shore’s premier business center that offers a variety of services including a state-of-the-art self storage facility that opened in 2009 with less than 100 units. Since then, the facility has grown aggressively to 700 units with plans to continue expanding.
Continued growth only increased the pressure on management to come up with new strategies; and they did. In addition to installing the kiosk, Shetland Park Self Storage implemented a remote call center to handle reservations and process payments 24-7 by phone. Also, a new website & companion mobile website to engage online visitors whose computers & smartphones give them ready access to rent & pay 24-7.
“We’re very pleased with the success of the kiosk so far and our customers really seem to like using it,” said John Kelly, Vice President at Shetland Park. “With the added ability to do business on our website from a PC or a smartphone, we’re making it as easy as possible to rent storage with us. We continue to see steady growth in our self storage operation, and we’re attracting customers from all over the North Shore. It’s pretty clear that demand for self storage units in Salem and around the North Shore is strong, and renters prefer our modern, yet very affordable, storage facility,” added Kelly.
Robert Chiti, president and CEO at OpenTech gave Shetland Park Self Storage credit for acting with a multichannel plan to increase profits. “At a time when rentals are on an upswing, Shetland Park Self Storage is executing a perfect plan to maximize occupancy. Considering the rising growth in automation, self storage facilities can either fight with the status quo, or embrace the shift to technology in order to rent every unit in the house,” said Chiti.
Shetland Park embarked on this strategy with plenty of expertise, as DiNardo has worked in the self storage industry for over 24 years as; the Operations Manager & Partner for The Storage Depot, a consultant to the industry, and most currently as Operations Manager for Conroy Development, in addition to serving on the Board of Directors of the Self Storage Association (SSA) and co-founding the Massachusetts Self Storage Association (MASSA) back in 1998.
By trying so many new things at once, Shetland Park Self Storage can help the industry gauge the effectiveness of new strategies, while providing traditional manned facilities a glimpse of what other self storage rivals may implement in the years ahead.
About OpenTech Alliance, Inc. About OpenTech Alliance, Inc.: A pioneer in self storage automation, OpenTech Alliance is the leading developer of innovative self service solutions for the self storage industry. Their trail was blazed by offering facilities 24 hour self service automation through a complete line of INSOMNIAC™ Kiosks. Today, the innovation continues with a full range of self service rental solutions that include; Self Storage Cloud Services, INSOMNIAC Live! Call Center, INSOMNIAC Online web & mobile applications, LiveAgent! software products and the INSOMNIAC ILock system. OpenTech products and services increase revenues, reduce operating costs and improve customer convenience for self storage businesses. For more information please click OpenTechAlliance.com or call an OpenTech Business Development Manager at (602) 749-9370.
Press Contact:
Mike Sawyer, Director of Marketing
OpenTech Alliance, Inc.
(602) 324-8655.
msawyer@opentechalliance.com
NOTE TO EDITORS: OpenTech Alliance, the OpenTech logo and INSOMNIAC are trademarks of OpenTech Alliance, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. INSOMNIAC is protected by U.S. patent number 5,946,660.
