How technology is changing the self-storage industry

Self-storage facilities have been around for a while now and for good reason, most of us have too much in our homes but don’t want to necessarily get rid of our sentimental items.

There are many benefits of self-storage but in today’s article, we will be looking at how technology is changing the self-storage scene and what we can expect in years to come.

Unlike most industries, the self-storage industry has seen a massive shift in technology, storage units are now climate controlled, humidity controlled and signing up for them and receiving your unit can even be automated for convenience.

Pink Storage in South Wales is a self-storage company that offers one such function. You sign up on their website and a code is sent straight to your phone automatically in less than a minute. No complex paperwork, no salesperson, no inconvenience at all you simply select the container size you need and everything else is taken care of automatically.

Mobile Apps – For convenience

Self-storage in the past used to be a bit of a pain. If you wanted to check on your storage container you had to physically visit the location and inspect. Technology has overcome this obstacle in the self-storage space with mobile apps.

Mobile apps in the self-storage world can allow users to hire more storage, pay bills, gain access to their storage facility without the use of a key and it can also be used to check on their storage container. Apps can notify the user of any alarms triggered, the last time someone accessed the container and some storage companies have CCTV where you can check on your container and watch it live through the app.

It’s clear to see that mobile apps in the self-storage industry have made a huge impact both for storage managers and their clients.

Kiosks – 24/7 access

Most tenants will need access to their property 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As a storage facility manager, this would have been very expensive to staff a few years ago. However, with the help of technology, these costs are cut down and the savings are passed on to the customer.

Kiosks are convenient for both the facility manager and customers. When coupled with a good mobile app the whole process needs minimal human interaction.

Kiosks like mobile apps allow users to enter their property, update payment details, pay bills, hire more storage, cancel storage agreements and much more. As someone who uses self-storage a lot, this is a welcomed addition to the industry from a customers point of view.

Security – biometrics

Most people keep some of their most valuable possessions in storage and therefore it only makes sense to match that level of importance with high-level security measures.

In the past self-storage containers were accessible via a key, the only problem with this is that keys can be lost, duplicated and then used to steal from others.

The storage industry has figured out a way around this by using Biometrics. But what exactly is Biometrics and is it safe? Biometrics measures the unique details about a person to grant them access to their storage container. Some companies use facial recognition, iris recognition, fingerprint scanning, voice activation or a combination of all of the above.

Because biometrics are unique to the user they are almost impossible to fake and offer a high level of security, much higher than a simple lock and key.

The future

No one can accurately guess what the future will hold when it comes to technology, but seeing as the self-storage industry has moved so quickly it wouldn’t be too much of a leap to predict more huge changes.

Who knows, we may see autonomous drones picking up our valuables from our homes, transporting them to a storage facility where robots will then pack them into the containers in the most efficient way possible to save space inside the container.

Maybe we are a long way from the above, but you can never be too sure. Whatever the future holds, storage containers are only going to get smarter.