Question #
How is AI being utilized to enhance operations in the self-storage industry?
Answer #
We all know how AI is changing the self-storage landscape.
Others smarter than me have talked about using chatbots for storage answering services, AI in revenue management and tenant data analysis (determining which tenants can pay what rate based on behavior), and many of the tools savvy operators in the industry use today.
In reality, I am truly in my infancy stage of understanding the full implications of AI and utilizing it as a tool and advisor in my self-storage business.
However, how my team and I are moving through the due diligence period on a project we have under contract has been eye-opening in regard to using AI.
Let me share with you some of the ways it has changed what and how I move through the due diligence process and some of the ways we are using it.
I currently have two subscriptions for AI, Claude, owned and developed by Anthropic, and ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI (which is preparing to go public, having filed an S-1 registration with the SEC, with Microsoft as a major investor).
Currently, I like both.
In simple terms, ChatGPT creates better images and I have used it longer, so it knows my personality better (what little I may have).
Claude, on the other hand, is very powerful and will interact with most of my programs on my computer — creating spreadsheets, Word docs, PowerPoint decks, etc.
Unbelievable what it can do when loaded on your computer.
I prefer the subscriptions because (not 100% sure but have been reassured multiple times) what I ask and the output I get are not out there on the internet as public information.
Also, some partners and members of the Inner Circle have created bots and workflows using AI.
Many of the subscriptions to software and operating systems we also use in our day-to-day business have AI embedded in them.
Obviously, I (we) didn’t create that and we don’t manage it.
That is the extent of my AI access today.
Source: AI in Action: How I’m Using It Right Now to Move Through Self-Storage Due Diligence
