storelocal Joins Self Storage Industry to Standardize Terminology
Irvine, California (PRWEB) September 06, 2015 -- The self storage industry’s first and largest nationwide cooperative, storelocal, is partnering with a number of industry organizations to standardize terminology in the self storage industry. The initiative, called the Self Storage Standards Project (SSSP), is an industry-wide endeavor including owners, operators, vendors and associations.
“I have a lot of experience from the airline industry and I can only imagine how confusing it would be for everyone, consumers and airlines alike, if every organization had a different three digit code for every airport. Applying that thinking to the self storage industry, we believe that standards will provide a better customer experience, leading to more customers for the industry overall. When we're all speaking the same language, it's good for everyone,” said California Self Storage Association Executive Director Erin King.
Much like the MITS Project in the multifamily housing industry, SSSP will help reduce customer confusion and enable easier technology integration.
“OpenTech has dealt with the pain of non-standard and unstructured data for years. All of the consumer touch points we support, including online rentals and kiosks, require some level of data manipulation to ensure an effortless user experience. We are very happy to partner with other industry visionaries to bring some much needed standardization to our space. I am confident that the more owners, vendors and self storage associations learn about the value this type of standardization will have on our industry, the more will participate in the project,” said OpenTech Alliance President and CEO Robert A. Chiti.
With a large amount of business now being conducted online, standard terminology is more important to the self storage industry than ever. Search engines like Google rely on these standards to accurately collect and display information for search.
“We are in an age where products and services are increasingly being purchased and distributed online, therefore the consumer has to have a reliable image or description of our product that is easily identifiable. When customers book a hotel room, they recognize and understand what a “double” or “king” room is, but nobody knows what a 10x10 is really all about. This has to change if we are ever going to reach our full potential as an industry,” said Cris Burnam, StorageMart President.
The SSSP has received support from a number of industry organizations in addition to storelocal, including operators StorageMart, A-1 Self Storage, Security Public Storage and StoragePro as well as vendors OpenTech Alliance, storsmart insurance and StorageFront.com.
The progressive and forward thinking California Self Storage Association is the first state association to give its support to the initiative. storelocal believes association participation will be critical to the success of SSSP.
“The project will begin in alpha and beta form on the wiki site selfstoragestandards.org. By crowdsourcing information from participating self storage industry organizations, storelocal envisions a platform that self storage industry organizations will use in collaboration to reach an agreement on terms and standards,” said storelocal CEO Lance Watkins.
storelocal believes these standards are inevitable and should be set on the industry’s terms. The co-op invites all organizations with a stake in the future of self storage to join this project and take an active role in shaping one of the most important issues facing the industry today.
About storelocal: storelocal is a cooperative of self storage owners and operators working together to solve industry challenges. Co-op members leverage existing and new resources to provide solutions for customer acquisition, operational services and technology products, thereby bridging the efficiency gap between the top national operators and online reservation systems. To learn more about the storelocal co-op, visit the storelocal website, http://www.storelocal.com or call Natalie Bragg, Director of Public Relations, at 949-629-4142.
Peter Soto, StoreLocal, http://www.storelocal.com, +1 9135935167, [email protected]
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