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Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is Carson?
    Carson is the 24/7 remote doorman service and app for residents of unstaffed or partially staffed residential buildings. Carson dramatically enhances residents' living experience, and streamlines operations and communications for property management. Carson brings the experience of a fully staffed large property to a smaller, unstaffed property, at an affordable price.
  • What type of properties benefit most from Carson?
    Carson is designed for residential properties with no staff, or partial staff onsite (doorman, concierge, property manager), that have a common entrance door/hallway. There might be a full time superintendent living at the property. Carson benefits both condo/coops and rental properties. See a case study of a quick lease up of a renovated rental building using Carson. See how a coop benefitted from Carson.
  • How would my residents benefit from Carson?
    Carson brings resident services typically available at large, staff buildings to small, unstaffed properties, dramatically enhancing their lifestyle. Also, all of their communications, payments, notifications and access features are all in one integrated app. Deliveries: This is the big one: no more dreaded Fedex/UPS/USPS "unable to deliver" stickers left on the door by couriers. Through technology and its 24/7 remote doorman, Carson ensures that residents' deliveries will always safely enter the building, followed by an instant notification on the app. If the property has a package room or box, the Carson remote rep can open that door for the courier, and the resident can then access the package location with the app. As online shopping and package volumes increase, this issue has become a major problem for residents living in non-staffed properties. Access control: Residents can use the Carson app as an electronic key to remotely open the front door (and all other common doors) for themselves or authorized visitors, as well as their electronic locks at their apartment doors. With management's permission, they can allocate electronic keys to their repeat guests such as family visitors or housekeepers. Guests arriving at the door without an electronic key can buzz the integrated intercom or panel and if their "Permission to Enter" exists, the Carson rep will buzz them in, instantly notifying the resident. Residents can also view the HD camera at the front door (or any IP camera installed at the property) at any time, and enjoy full video intercom service on their Carson app. Communication and transactions: Carson ensures that property related communications and transactions flow smoothly between residents and management. The app allows residents to pay rent, receive announcements, message staff, and to submit service requests and track their progress. Carson provides a single-sign on experience with leading payment providers such as ClickPay and Aptexx. Online service requests with good response times have proven to be an important driver for resident satisfaction rates
  • How will Carson make my property manager more efficient?
    Through streamlined and more visible operations, better communication, and more satisfied residents: Carson enables instant communication between your staff and residents through the app, for service requests, announcements and one on one messaging. Carson enables better visibility and control of property operations. The management app and web interface provide a dashboard displaying pending and completed service requests, location and response times of staff, visitors and delivery logs, and access to 24/7 recording of HD cameras on the Carson Panel, or integrated intercom the front door. Simplify managing access to the front door: Since the app serves as an electronic key to the any integrated door in the property, including apartment doors, adding or removing residents from Carson provisions access control to the property. Management can also allow residents to provide access to their repeat guests through the app. Higher adoption of online payments through app usage (through the ClickPay and Aptexx single-sign on integration. Residents will only need one app for all services. Less headache for you to provide the best service while managing the least number of software and hardware vendors. Carson integrates with your existing property management and payment systems such as Yardi and Clickpay. More satisfied residents drive better staff efficiency, higher resident retention, and ultimately more value per apartment.
  • What does my property need to install or set up to have Carson?
    At a minimum, nothing beyond downloading the app. Any property can utilize Carson's communication, payments and service request features through the app. We can also hook up the Carson 24/7 remote doorman service to your property by setting up your intercom's auto dialer to forward to a 24/7 Carson rep, so that every time a visitor or courier has no reply from an intercom call, our rep will take over and buzz open the door if needed. For best service, we recommend installing an off-the-shelf panel to install next to your existing intercom, from leading providers such as 2N, or install an integrated new intercom such as 2N or Comelit. It requires an internet connection. The panel has a visible Call button for couriers and visitors to communicate with our 24/7 central station, a HD camera to view visitors and events, and the ability to remotely buzz the front door open if needed. The panel also powers the Carson app to work as an electronic key FOB, enabling residents to open the front door for themselves and visitors. If the building has a new intercom you might not need the panel, it can be embedded within your intercom. Or Carson is integrated to a full intercom, providing residents with the perfect One-App Experience with full video intercom within the Carson app: ​​
  • How does Carson help me prevent illegal subletting?
    If Carson is used correctly, you can essentially eliminate illegal subletting. Click here for a quick guide on how to set this up. Since every door in the building can become electronic (i.e. opened only via the Carson app or an accompanying FOB), your residents won't be able to physically duplicate keys. Every door thats opened is tracked and management has an easy to view audit trail. You can't manage what you can't measure! The front door has an accompanying, continuously opened camera that can show a view every time a door is opened. Digital keys for visitors can be limited by property managers (amount, length of time, etc) and trigger notifications each time they are used. The bottom line is, if a resident tries to abuse his/her access rights, it will quickly be visible to you and can then be addressed.
  • Is Carson a security service?
    No, while Carson's 24/7 HD camera on the Panel can enhance security, it is designed to enhance convenience and quality of life for residents, and to streamline operations for management. Carson does not guarantee safety or security. For more information about this, please view www.carson.live/terms, section one.
  • Does Carson replace my existing intercom?
    No, the recommended off-the-shelf mini panel such as 2N: Or a new integrated intercom from 2N or Comelit can be installed. Integrated intercoms with Carson enable residents to respond to intercom calls directly from the Carson app, for a truly One App Resident Experience.
  • How does Carson offer my residents the ability to pay their rent or common charges?
    Carson is the only app that provides a single-sign on experience for your residents with leading two online payment providers: Clickpay and Aptexx. All you need to have is an account with one of these providers and then your residents can utilize Carson to make their payments, all in one convenient app.
  • Does Carson integrate with Property Management Systems?
    Yes, Carson integrates to sync with leading property management and online payment systems such as Yardi and Clickpay. Our goal is for residents to need only one app, and for you to have the minimum possible software vendors to deal with. Resident move-in and move-outs seamlessly flow from your accounting and PMS systems, turning core accounting systems into access credentialing databases. Carson is the only app available providing a single-sign on with ClickPay and Aptexx.
  • I already have Service Requests using my property management or accounting system, why do I need Carson's Service Request module?"
    Most leading property management software suites include a service request module. However they are typically not designed well and are not consumer friendly. Apart from payments and service requests, they don't bring much benefit to the resident. So they end up not being used as a communication tool, but mainly as a data entry tool for property management staff. Since Carson is used by residents for so many other functions that are beneficial for residents such as opening doors, intercom, viewing the live camera at the front door, receiving package notifications, sending visitor invites - then naturally the resident will have a higher propensity to use it for service requests (and payments). Also, Carson's service request module has been specifically designed for managers of multiple small buildings with roaming maintenance staff, to include geo location and easy to view commenting with push notifications.
  • Does Carson only benefit residents who downloaded the app?
    No, all residents benefit from Carson regardless if they downloaded the app. The app provides a signficant enhancement to their level of service. Since all residents added on Carson have a mobile phone number and/or an email address, they will receive all notifications via email and/or text messages, with an invite to download the app. Therefore, you will always reach 100% of your residents with Carson whether or not they have downloaded the app. And all your residents will enjoy the benefit of always receiving their beloved packages with an instant notification.
  • Who started Carson and why?
    Carson was founded by some of the most seasoned and successful veterans of the resident portal software space, including founders of BuildingLink, ActiveBuilding and MyBuilding, with years of experience at RealPage as well. These software platforms have become an industry standard for large, staffed residential properties. However, unstaffed properties lack an integrated solution. That is why Carson was born. The Carson team also includes owners of leading multi-family hardware integration companies, as well as owners of multiple unstaffed residential properties. What this means is, we really understand technology for residential properties!
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