AppFolio streamlines property management communication with Claude in Amazon Bedrock
AppFolio, a technology leader powering the future of the real estate industry, uses Claude in Amazon Bedrock for AI-assisted responses and task automation across Realm-X, the embedded generative AI solution within its platform. This helps its property management customers save time on routine communication while maintaining secure and professional service for the over eight million residents they serve.
With Claude, AppFolio was able to:
- 3x adoption rates due to Claude 3 Haiku's faster response times
- Help property managers save an average of 11 hours weekly on communications
- Process over half a million AI-suggested responses
- Reduce message response time by an average of 26 seconds
Meeting the unique challenges of modern property management
Property management teams face a complex web of daily communications, from urgent maintenance requests to sensitive policy discussions. A single interaction might require checking lease terms, verifying maintenance history, and coordinating with multiple vendors—all while maintaining a professional tone. According to Teddy Ho, Principal Product Manager at AppFolio, property managers spend up to half their workday on communications with residents, owners, and vendors.
Managing these communications requires more than just quick responses. Property managers must maintain detailed records of every interaction, understand complex residential histories, and make quick decisions about maintenance dispatch. A simple maintenance request might require checking for duplicate tickets, reviewing maintenance history, and coordinating vendor schedules—ensuring clear, professional communication with the resident. With thousands of these interactions happening monthly, property managers needed a way to maintain quality while scaling their response capabilities.
AppFolio's journey to AI-powered property management
AppFolio's adoption of Claude builds on years of AI investment and innovation. "We've been investing in AI for over five years now, starting with traditional ML," said Christfried Focke, Chief Scientist. "About three years ago, we started investing in a platform approach to democratize AI across all our product development teams."
This platform-first strategy proved crucial when generative AI emerged. By centralizing critical functions like ML ops, security, and data governance, AppFolio created a foundation that any team could leverage safely. "It's made it less onerous on our developers who may not be ML experts," explained Focke. "They can now implement AI in a safe and sustainable way, which has really accelerated our impact to customers."
To further enhance their AI capabilities, AppFolio chose to implement Claude through Amazon Bedrock. "The security part is very important, as well as being able to test models quickly," said Focke. "Amazon Bedrock lets us test new models the day they're released. It's become an essential part of our development process." This centralized infrastructure, combined with Amazon Bedrock's broad set of capabilities, allows AppFolio to rapidly test and deploy new AI features while maintaining enterprise-grade security and compliance. enables AppFolio to quickly adopt new Claude models while maintaining strict data protection standards.
Why AppFolio chose Claude in Amazon Bedrock for intelligent, secure communication
Early in their gen AI journey, AppFolio saw adoption drop off due to slow response times with their initial solution. When testing showed response latency was impacting user engagement, they turned to Claude 3 Haiku. “When Haiku came out, that actually was a big time saving, paired with some changes on our infrastructure, we really made a big revamp in the experience particularly when it comes to latency. We almost tripled our adoption,” said Ho. The team also found Claude 3.5 Sonnet's ability to process nuanced context proved essential for more complex property management needs. “We're seeing a much higher acceptance rate with Sonnet because the model can be more informed and make more intelligent responses.”
This combination of speed, intelligence, and security through Amazon Bedrock's robust infrastructure enables AppFolio to quickly adopt new Claude models while maintaining strict data protection standards.
How Claude powers intelligent property management
AppFolio's Realm-X Messages platform leverages two Claude models for different communication needs:
- Claude 3 Haiku handles high-volume, rapid-response scenarios where speed is critical for most general inquiries
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet manages complex communications by:
- Incorporating resident history and current situation
- Checking for existing maintenance tickets where applicable
- Incorporating property-specific policies and amenity information
Transforming property management efficiency and professionalism
The impact on property management teams has been transformative. Beta customers (property managers) report saving about 11 hours per week on communications alone, with the system saving an average of 26 seconds per message while ensuring appropriate tone and context.
Beyond time savings, Claude helps property managers handle complex resident interactions with confidence. Ho said, "Not everyone's a great writer. Users say this actually helps them navigate challenging situations, especially when answering the same question for the twentieth time in a day and need to maintain composure."
Property managers are using their reclaimed time to focus on higher-value activities. Ho said, "We've seen the full range of benefits. From teams getting more important tasks done to employees having better work-life balance."
Building the future of AI-enhanced property management
AI's impact on property management is transformative, but AppFolio sees this as just the beginning. Through their partnership with Anthropic and Amazon Web Services, they're pushing beyond simple automation to fundamentally reimagine how property managers work. Their vision is a future where AI partnerships enable every property manager to focus on what matters most—building stronger communities while delivering exceptional service at scale.