transformation changes who we are and adapts who

PHILIP IRBY CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, AMERICAN HOMES 4 RENT

At AMH, automation and streamlining can both improve the customer and employee experience.

Whether it's through automation and dynamic scheduling, or the different components that streamline and make AMH employees’ jobs easier, this comes through in their communication with residents.

“We make the job easier for our employees and happy employees make happy customers,” says Irby sincerely.

AMH goes through field services and dynamic scheduling, with their field technician going from one spot to the next. Even when new simple requests pop up, being able to service that resident dynamically changes the resident experience, and this also changes the employee's experience, because now it's a lot less about bureaucracy and ticking the box.

“It's all about improving the lives and experience of our customers,” says Irby.

Partnership with gravity9

gravity9 is an IT consulting company that unites art and science in building the consumer’s digital journey. Irby partnered with gravity9 seven years ago, when he worked at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. gravity9 helped Irby transform the hotel’s identity and their rewards programme.

“I knew that they shared my vision for abstraction and domain-driven design and microservices,” says Irby. “I knew that AMH had an opportunity to build from the ground up, so I brought gravity9 over as well.”

Their shared vision, previous experience and longevity have made for a great partnership.

“The key to our partnership is, gravity9 has an exact understanding of our strategy and vision for the platform, and that comes through in the work that they do, and also in the work that my team does with them.

“I've worked with lots of vendors and there are people that will tell you what they want you to hear or what you want to hear - and people that will tell you the truth. Telling the truth in a partnership usually results in more respect and greater capability to work together. I think in the relationships that I've had that have been successful, that's one of the core foundations - being able to speak openly about differences or things that we need to be working towards.”

The next 12 months will be transformational at AMH. The company is adding a number of components to the platform, enhancing some that they already have and focusing on building the platform further. Irby is determined that that has got to be the focus.

“If you lose focus on trying to create that platform that is flexible, adaptable and capable of change, then you start to become a monolith. You move down the path towards brittle, unsustainable infrastructure and applications.”

Every 12 months holds that for AMH. Irby and his team will stay focused on the future and on flexibility.