StoreEase Launches the Virtual Console Flex

How enhanced office coverage turns unstaffed hours into revenue opportunities.

Move-in data · 9-month off-peak period · 100+ stores

Executive Summary

Self storage has historically been torn between two models. The traditional model staffs an office during business hours and accepts coverage gaps before opening, at lunch, after close, and whenever a manager is pulled away. The remote and unmanned model eliminates the office and staff entirely, and with it every rental and service opportunity that walks up to a closed office is deflected to other channels or, more likely, lost outright.

This study demonstrates a third path. It enhances the traditional model with a hybrid approach: it keeps the office open with expanded hours and no coverage gaps. The Virtual Console turns assumed coverage into verified coverage. Every store gets consistent, high-quality managers with greater presence driving revenue and customer experience at a fraction of traditional staffing economics.

The evidence has been hiding in plain sight. A property management system records where a lead was generated. It does not record the customer’s journey or where the lease was actually signed. EaseOS transaction-level data reconstructs that journey across 18,750 unique move-ins over nine months.

The Headline Numbers

• 41% of all new rentals are signed at the Virtual Console.
• 60% VC engagement — the VC interacts with 60% of new customers before, at, or immediately after the rental.
• 29.4 additional rentals per store, every year — captured purely in expanded hours.
• 7,635 leases closed at the counter across 100+ stores over nine months.
• 2,311 move-ins during unstaffed hours, captured outside physically staffed hours.

1. The Industry’s Two Models, and the Gap Between Them

Under the traditional model, a staffed office converts walk-in demand, but only during staffed hours. Under the remote and unmanned model, there is no office presence at all. This study uses EaseOS transaction-level data to reconstruct the customer journey, and the reconstructed picture shows the office is the highest-leverage point in the journey, provided it is always open.

2. Where Leads Are Sourced and Generated

Every move-in is unique, with a customer journey mapped from exactly one lead source. Regardless of where the lead is generated, the VC engages 60% of new customers (11,170 of 18,750) before, at, or immediately after the rental.

Office and Phone combines manually-keyed leads with leads that originated at the Virtual Console itself, both office-driven entry paths. Its high VC usage (76%) partly reflects how and when these leads are captured rather than superior channel quality alone.

3. How to Attribute the VC’s Role to Lease Signing

Of all 18,750 move-ins portfolio-wide, 7,697 (41.1%) were signed on or after a VC touch. Both attribution definitions put roughly 41% of new rentals at the Virtual Console.

4. When These Rentals Happen

A conservative analysis of coverage gaps found 2,311 move-ins (30.3%) occurred during hours when a store was not physically staffed — before opening, the lunch hour, and after close.

Unstaffed-Hours Breakdown

5. Incremental Capacity: Rentals Per Store, Per Month

Normalizing expanded-hours volume across the portfolio quantifies what the VC adds beyond the limits of traditional staffing.

6. The Expanded Hours Business Case

Every store in the portfolio captures a conservative 2.45 rentals per store per month it would most likely not have captured if traditionally staffed — near-pure incremental revenue at minimal staffing cost.

The Bottom Line

The most notable incremental figure is approximately 3,080 incremental leases per year portfolio-wide, closed during unstaffed hours with no marginal labor cost, where the VC is the sole channel by necessity. This nine-month window falls largely within the off-peak season; a full year including spring/summer peak would likely push the total higher.

Methodology

All figures are unique, deduplicated move-ins reconstructed from EaseOS transaction-level data. Rental credit is claimed only for leases signed on or immediately after the first VC interaction. Period: a recent nine-month off-peak season, 100+ stores.

Birmingham, Ala. · September 1, 2026 · For Immediate Release

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., September 1, 2026 — StoreEase, an AI-native operating system for the self-storage industry, today announced the release of the Virtual Console Flex, a new deployment of its EaseOS operating system that brings AI-powered coverage into traditionally staffed stores without disrupting the operator’s current operating model or office.

The Virtual Console Flex deploys onto the counter an operator already has, with no construction and no front-office reconfiguration.

Self-storage operators are navigating one of the toughest macro environments in years. With revenues flat and payroll costs climbing, operators are squeezed from both sides and forced to choose: expand hours and absorb the added payroll cost, or live with the limitations of the staffed model and miss the rentals that fall outside it. The Virtual Console Flex removes that tradeoff. It layers EaseOS’s AI-native technology onto the store an operator already runs, allowing on-site teams to keep working as they do today while the Console extends the hours, covers the gaps, and enhances the capabilities of the store.

“The Virtual Console Flex is designed to enable operators the flexibility to capture every customer in any office, any operating model, at any property. It’s the fastest path we’ve ever built to get our technology into an office and start driving revenue.”

Josh Boyd · Founder and CEO, StoreEase

AI That Sees and Responds

The Virtual Console Flex runs on real AI, not a static kiosk. Enhanced people detection lets the Console recognize the moment a tenant approaches the counter and engage them before they have to ask. Because the underlying hardware is future-proofed, new AI capabilities ship as software updates directly to the unit, so the Console an operator installs today continues to gain functionality over time.

Coverage That Never Clocks Out

The Virtual Console Flex expands operating hours and fills the gaps a staffed model leaves behind, including lunch breaks, early mornings, evenings, weekends, and the moments a manager steps away from the counter. During those windows, the Console greets tenants, answers questions, and keeps the store running.

Revenue When the Lights Would Otherwise Be Off

Every hour an on-site manager is not present means missed rental opportunities in stores. The Virtual Console Flex changes that, capturing move-ins and closing rentals during coverage gaps that previously went to voicemail or a locked door.

Built for the Office You Already Have

The Virtual Console Flex is a mount, plug, and play deployment that requires no construction, no contractors, and no front-office reconfiguration. Removing the build-out removes the cost and the downtime that come with it, so operators install in a single visit rather than budgeting a capital project, all while preserving the staffed model, front office, and team they already have.

All-New, AI-Enabled Ease Core

The Virtual Console Flex is powered by the all-new Ease Core: compute, passive cooling, and cellular backup in a single compact unit.

The all-new Ease Core: compute, passive cooling, and cellular backup in a single compact unit.

The Virtual Console Flex is available now, including for groups who want to white-label EaseOS technology and deploy within their own operating system.