Property Management and IT – Like a Horse and Carriage!
When my wife and I first started Whitfields more than 30 years ago, we created levy statements using Excel, printed and folded them by hand, licked the envelope and the stamp, and once a month made a trip to the post office where we dropped them in a big red box called a post box!
A desktop computer, a dot matrix printer and a combined phone/answering machine/fax (using thermal paper) was all we needed to get started.
A decade later, we purchased a second-hand folding machine into which you put the statements and envelopes. It cost around R 10 000. With much noise and vibration, it pulled through each statement, folded it, inserted into the envelope, wet the envelope flap and spat out the finished product into a tray. I needed my engineering degree to keep it from jamming! There was still the monthly trip to the post office where one stood in a queue and made use of their “bulk posting” facility. Our machine was the talk of the town and we really thought that we had arrived! I wonder where that machine is now?
We used to have a hanging file for every unit in every scheme that we managed. Today we would need more than 30 000 of such files and a big room just to store them!
There is no doubt that Whitfields has evolved over the last 3 decades. Whilst I hope and believe that we still offer the same friendly service, executed with love and care, we simply wouldn’t be competitive if we didn’t continually review and upgrade our IT platforms. 
We recognised early on that effective property management requires a world class, tailor-made solution. Whilst there are various off the shelf products out there, they all have their limitations. 
So from the late 1990s, Whitfields built its own IT platforms, starting with WOD, our first Whitfields Online Database. We were the first company to offer all clients their own scheme websites, where trustees had direct access to documents and accounts online.
More recently, we have built Firefly, a platform which we hope will be light to our industry, transparency in a world that is crying out for honesty and integrity. 
To quote the lyrics of the song Fireflies by Owl City :
You would not believe your eyes if ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
We want to light up the world and take property administration to another level. Look out for the release of the Whitfields App later this year, offering payment approvals from your phone, pet registries, voting platforms, meeting tools and so much more.
The song ends with the words :
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams.
Whitfields will never stop dreaming!
Article by John Whitfield