Gated communities or housing societies have exploded in popularity across India's cities and smaller towns. These large complexes offer more than just luxurious homes; they offer better living, with world-class amenities, strong security, landscaped gardens and vast open spaces. All of these benefits, however, come with a unique set of challenges: increased traffic at the gate render traditional security systems in-effective, management of facility staff, maintenance payments and amenities is a huge challenge at this scale for the management committee, and there are tremendous gaps in convenience when it comes to accepting deliveries, hiring daily help and much else.

But these are yet another set of challenges that have been solved effectively with technology. Bengaluru-based MyGate has built an automated system that enables gated communities to improve their security processes, manage accounts, facilities and staff, and even equip residents with preferential access to a host of goods and services. . Its flagship solution, launched in 2016, is currently used by over 1.8 million homes across the 17 cities in which it operates.

"We are the pioneers in the gated community management market, having innovated many of the features that are core to this segment. The now common practice of adding technology at the gate to enhance security and, as a consequence, unlocking a host of benefits for residents was completely the idea of MyGate's founding team. Today, we are the largest and perceived as the most innovative app in the market," says Vijay Arisetty, Founder & CEO, MyGate.

As one of India's first community management apps, MyGate is solely focused on making urban living secure and convenient by improving every aspect of a gated community. It does this seamlessly connecting the community ­ the residents, management committees, facility management, security personnel, daily help and

visitors through the app. Some of its features include Accounts & Payments Management, Visitor Management, Delivery Management, Daily Help Management, and Helpdesk and Communication. The app now also follows GDPR guidelines - the gold standard for data privacy to ensure that information of anyone who interacts with the app is protected.

"Our app is the only one on the market to be GDPR ready, giving users the right to be forgotten and among the most advanced privacy controls of all Indian consumer apps. We are available in many prestigious locations besides gated communities including ISB, Hyderabad, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Kolkata and societies housing the armed forces in Kolkata, Lucknow and a few other places as well," informs ShreyansDaga, Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer, MyGate.

MyGate is now in over 9000+ housing societies and trusted by 1.8 million+ homes

Staying Ahead
Innovation is key and this is why the team at MyGate constantly strives to innovate to serve their clients better. In the past few months, they have launched several new features such as Move in/Move Out that enables new residents (and particularly tenants) to complete all society formalities digitally - and management committees to easily ensure that all the paperwork is in order. To meet the safety requirements in the face of a global pandemic, the team has introduced features like Gate Temperature Checks, Advanced Emergency Alerts, Prepaid Meter and Request Visit during the lockdown. "During the lockdown, we have facilitated the delivery of essential services like newspapers, medical consultations and even medicines to our users," he informs. Team MyGate is also working on numerous innovative features to help societies cope with the post-COVID world.

The Journey of Success
With 9000+ housing societies and 1.8 million+ homes on its platform and a pan India presence, MyGate has grown rapidly over the past 18 months, from less than 1000 societies in mid-2018. "Our goal from here is to become more relevant to gated communities and its residents. Toward this, our roadmap is to build a range of features that eliminate friction in all interactions between the home and the outside world, continuously enhancing convenience and security for our users," says Abhishek Kumar, Co-founder & COO, MyGate.