Sun Communities, Inc.
Executive Leadership & Key Stakeholder Overview
November 2026
Executive Leadership & Key Stakeholder Overview
November 2026
Program Vision & Scope
A transformation of how Sun Communities knows, engages and serves its customers, from first inquiry to long-term resident, built on a single, trusted data foundation.
Helios is our customer data platform: the source of truth for customer data and the primary platform our teams will use.
Our customer experience across both MH and RV was constrained by fragmented systems, manual processes and data we couldn’t fully trust. Helios is designed to resolve these challenges.
Three strategic focus areas guide every Helios investment.
Golden customer records with a 360° view of all customer interactions, giving us the power to personalize communications, enable self-service and two-way communication, manage privacy and compliance, and improve segmentation and targeting.
AI-powered solutions and event-driven architecture that create new ways of working, with expanded capabilities, reduced workload and faster resolution for customer inquiries and sales leads.
A trusted, real-time data foundation that organizes information from across the company to enable AI-powered insights and always-on intelligence, and provides a single source of truth for reporting, analytics and customer information.
The secure, multi-account AWS foundation (landing zone, development environments, security controls and governance) that minimizes risk, ensures compliance and supports everything else.
The source of truth for customer data and the primary platform the business interacts with; connects NetSuite, Campspot and Salesforce into a single golden record, with entity resolution, lead scoring and the Helios platform interface.
The unified communication hub and agent workspace for service, lead follow-up, campaigns and resident outreach.
The intelligence layer on Amazon Bedrock for routing, follow-up, personalization, agent assist and insight.
AWS as our central data hub (data lake), with modern processes and governance that build trust, better serve the business, optimize cost and lower latency. Manages and serves the data that builds the golden customer record.
When Helios is complete, this is the story we expect to tell and the experiences it will create.
A multiyear modernization has redefined how Sun communicates, manages data, supports residents and operates across its portfolio, positioning the company as a national leader in operational excellence and resident experience.
AI-powered lead scoring and routing makes sure the leads most likely to convert are worked first and matched to the right opportunities. Separating general inquiries from true sales leads improves the accuracy of sales metrics.
AI-powered summaries and a 360° view of customer interactions keep us context-aware no matter who the customer talks to, and next-best-action guidance strengthens service.
Better segmentation and personalized messaging help marketing reach the right audience, and automated journeys reach customers at the right time.
Giving the Contact Center key customer and property information cuts resolution time and frees Field Ops to focus on in-person interactions.
What the current Helios investment delivers.
| Capability | What’s Included | Focus Areas |
|---|---|---|
| Core Enablers | ||
| Landing Zone, Security & DevOps | Multi-account AWS landing zone and Control Tower; identity federation (Entra ID / Okta / Cognito); networking, encryption and security baseline; governance framework and environment setup | KnowEngageOperate |
| Helios Customer Data Platform | AWS Entity Resolution identity matching and de-duplication; Helios golden record / Customer 360; event-driven, real-time sync with source systems; consent management; journey tracking; NetSuite as the golden-record destination | KnowEngageOperate |
| Amazon Connect | Omnichannel voice, SMS, email and chat; two-way communication with reply tracking; embedded in NetSuite, Customer Portal and Team Member Mobile App; skills-based routing; IVR and emergency outreach; a Contact Center instance with appointment-setting support | EngageOperate |
| Agentic AI | Amazon Bedrock agents for call routing, lead follow-up, property recommendations and resident self-service; real-time agent assist; sentiment analysis, summarization and translation | KnowEngageOperate |
| Data Platform Modernization | Accelerated Azure Data Lake migration to AWS (S3, Glue, Redshift, Lake Formation); enterprise reporting consolidation in Quick Suite / QuickSight; predictive models (occupancy, churn, lead scoring) | KnowOperate |
| Cross-Cutting Capabilities delivered through multiple enablers | ||
| Lead Management & Conversion | Automated lead assignment and AI lead scoring; automated / agentic 5-touch follow-up; unified calendar replacing 400+ property calendars; self-service and AI appointment booking; show-rate tracking; cross-property inventory visibility | KnowEngageOperate |
| Marketing | Campaign orchestration and segmentation; Helios golden record sync to Salesforce Marketing Cloud; AI personalization; marketing analytics dashboards | KnowEngageOperate |
| Compliance Automation | PII / SSN / credit card content filtering; automated blocking of payment communications to bankrupt or delinquent customers, with emergency exceptions | KnowEngage |
| Legacy System | Replaced By | Status | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom | Amazon Connect (two-way email and SMS) | ✓ Complete | Licensing eliminated; reduced legal exposure |
| Zoom Call Center | Amazon Connect | In Progress | Unified agent workspace with full customer context, AI-assisted routing and service, and lower handle time |
| 400+ Office 365 property calendars | Unified booking calendar + availability API | In Progress | Booking time cut from 15–20 min to under 2 min; improved customer experience |
| Manual KPI tracking | Automated “show” and appointment tracking via unified solution | In Progress | Accurate, timely KPIs for commissions and sales optimization; less admin work |
| Azure Data Lake & tools | AWS data estate | Accelerated | One cloud; lower latency; no cross-cloud transfer or duplicate storage costs |
| Salesforce (SFDC), partial | Helios CDP + NetSuite (Marketing Cloud stays as a channel) | In Progress | Lower licensing and integration complexity |
| Other disparate tools & processes | Common, secure enterprise platform and tools | In Progress | Standardizes and centralizes processes scattered across disparate systems, such as miscellaneous messaging tools and customer lead management in NetSuite |
AWS becomes the single hub for our enterprise data, and Helios sits at its center. Data flows in once, becomes one trusted customer record, and powers every insight and interaction.
Customer, property and lead data from every source lands in one governed place.
Duplicates are matched and merged into a single trusted golden record, including consent and journey history.
Analytics, predictions and AI agents that score leads, guide team members and inform decisions.
Two-way, personalized conversations and campaigns across voice, SMS, email and chat.
Today: data moves repeatedly between Azure, Salesforce and other platforms, adding egress charges.
With AWS: core data stays in one ecosystem.
Today: reporting waits on batch syncs across platforms.
With AWS: analytics, AI and apps reach data directly with less delay.
Today: multiple copies across systems raise cost and complicate compliance.
With AWS: one governed copy with consistent retention.
Helios is delivered in three stages, each building on the last.
Lay the foundation and design Helios.
Build Helios and prove it works.
Refine, expand and prepare for production.
Opportunities beyond the current roadmap.
Building on the Helios data and AI foundation: property performance insights, customer lifecycle automation and expanded use cases across our platforms.
Helios is measured by business outcomes. Instead of “one size fits all” targets, success is defined by the type of customer interaction, so every metric points to clear action.
Track delivery progress and team performance during implementation
Near-term results that show the project’s impact but don’t need ongoing measurement
Future-state metrics that drive our operations and must be measured and improved
Illustrative examples of ongoing KPIs. Definitions and targets will be refined in partnership with the business.
A score for the accuracy and completeness of customer data, used to prioritize leads.
Builds on today’s Excel-based sales funnel by measuring conversion separately for each type of lead.
Different inquiries get different target times. A question about an upcoming stay differs from a multi-month sales decision.
Outcome: Solved
Types: Transient Reservations · RV Conversions · Home Rental · Home Sales
Outcomes: Converted · Open · Lost · Inventory Constrained
Interactions are also grouped by customer type, data quality, expressed interest and urgency, starting channel, and available inventory.
The commitments that keep Helios focused, compliant and trustworthy, and that guide decisions as the program evolves.
AWS has been part of our technology foundation for years. Each step has built on a positive track record, and our team is well equipped to support the platform. Helios extends that partnership to the core of our customer and data operations.
Helios is the Greek personification of the sun: the central force that illuminates, powers and brings systems into alignment.
The sun’s core makes up only a small part of the star, yet it produces nearly all the energy that powers the solar system.
Helios plays the same role for Sun. It is a central customer data foundation that generates the intelligence, context and connectivity behind every customer-facing capability, giving our teams one clear, trusted view of every customer.