The SVIT AWARD honors property management companies that have implemented innovative solutions for smaller or larger challenges in the management of rental properties or condominiums in the last three years. What is needed are exciting solutions that inspire SVIT members to question working methods, rethink processes, further develop business models or offer new services.
The entries make it clear where the shoe pinches for managers: Increasing work volumes have to be managed more efficiently and difficult business areas have to be made more attractive. Changed customer needs must also be recognized and satisfied. The solution approaches are dominated by digitization projects that simplify processes, integrate systems, facilitate communication with customers and service providers or process big data in such a way that smart buildings can also be managed smartly.
Even if the pandemic has done a lot in terms of digitization, innovation cannot simply be reduced to the introduction of new proptech solutions. Rather, the decisive factor is whether digitized work processes and information flows create measurable added value for employees, customers and service providers – and whether companies find ways to break the power of habit and to incorporate user needs as well as specialist knowledge and expertise into the development of technical solutions.
The jury evaluated the entries based on three sets of questions: How innovative is the approach? How well can the effect be measured? And how easily can the solution be transferred and scaled? Solutions were shortlisted that have proven themselves in practice, make companies more competitive, and can inspire and advance the industry.
The choice of the three candidates for the public vote was not easy, but it was unanimous. From August 10th to September 11th, SVIT members have the opportunity to vote for their favourites. The winner will be presented at the SVIT AWARD evening on September 26, 2022 at the Selnau power plant in Zurich.
Smart buildings for user-oriented management: F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG
Roche employs around 14,400 people in research, development, production, marketing and sales at three Swiss locations. The approximately 1 million [CB1] m 2 office, laboratory, production and logistics areas are managed in-house. The Digital & Site Engineering team has the task of optimizing buildings and sites for the two business areas Pharma and Diagnostics.
As part of the Smart Building Initiative, Roche collects building and facility data that supports employees and service providers in their work and makes the company more attractive, efficient and sustainable. In order to prepare relevant information and decision-making bases for buildings with different degrees of automation, the Digital & Site Engineering team uses an open IoT (Internet of Things) platform and use cases that are developed with users.
Thanks to the open architecture, sensors and actuators can be easily and inexpensively integrated into the IoT platform and linked to data from building management systems, WIFI access points, systems and devices. The information gained from this on the use of space, workplaces, technical systems and devices is visualized using use cases in apps or integrated into decision-making aids. The use cases cover a wide range of needs that not only connect buildings, but also tasks: employees are made easier to work together in agile teams. Those responsible for the location can optimize the space available or the use of space. FM knows when rooms need to be cleaned, and lab device asset tracking enables researchers to share expensive facilities and equipment.
Many farmers struggle with not having enough data. With smart buildings, however, large volumes of data quickly become a challenge. Roche shows how Big Data enables smart management of business premises. The jury appreciates in particular that the Roche team does not simply focus on what is technically feasible. The insight that the added value is generated by end users and that technical innovations require a use case sharpens the focus on what is important, especially in complex digitization projects: the company's success. The jury appreciates that the approach not only makes property management companies more competitive, but also explicitly makes tenants more competitive.
Making digitization as easy and convenient as possible: Certimo AG – Zurich
Certimo AG is a small company with two locations in the canton of Zurich. Well-established teams with long-standing employees manage around 1,000 rental apartments and 100 condominium apartments. Even before the pandemic, the company started digitizing the management process and reorganizing processes.
Thanks to a dedicated specialist and a boss with an affinity for technology, employees can now digitally process work steps from the tendering of rental properties and the selection of tenants to the signing of contracts and deposit payments. This allows the company to take on additional mandates. Employees can devote themselves to tasks and projects that were previously neglected in day-to-day business. Because digital filing and processes save the daily (detour) trip to the office, new employees can be recruited from a larger catchment area.
Behind the success is not simply a proptech solution, but the willingness to try digital products, to actively support the further development of a promising solution with technical and specialist knowledge, and to make the introduction of new processes and functions in the company as easy and convenient as possible . Facilitations were demonstrated for step-by-step onboarding and new procedures were documented in concise checklists. A resource-saving rollout was made possible with the decision to completely digitize new business and the portfolio only in the event of changes. Building on the successes, the next digitization steps were planned.
Digitization is not a sure-fire success: many experienced employees fear that supposedly innovative solutions will not prove themselves in practice, that innovations will make established processes more confusing and error-prone, or that switching to new systems will tie up too many financial and human resources. Certimo shows that a paradigm shift is possible thanks to a clear focus on user needs and results. The jury appreciates that Certimo, as a small company, not only advanced the digitization of management processes far-sightedly and anchored it organizationally with a light hand, but also actively supported the further development of a proptech solution in terms of content, thereby taking the entire industry one step further.
Managing condominiums with less stress: H&B Real Estate AG
H&B Real Estate AG is an SME that offers a wide range of real estate and transaction management services in the greater Zurich area. In the specialized condominium team, five employees take care of a portfolio of around 500 apartments [CB2] .
In order to make condominium mandates more attractive and to relieve the team during the meeting season, the SME has adopted a proptech solution with which condominium meetings and the upstream and downstream processes can be digitized. Condominium owners can view documents independently and around the clock. Farmers can record agenda items throughout the year. Agenda lists can be easily compiled and distributed. Votes can be easily counted and decisions can be quickly logged. A ticketing system simplifies communication, in addition to owners, tenants can also be informed directly.
H&B Real Estate AG entered into an innovation partnership with the developers in 2020 so that the software solution appropriately takes management needs into account. The cooperation ensured that management processes were mapped correctly and problematic media and system breaks were eliminated. Thanks to more efficient processes, the company was able to acquire additional mandates, thanks to better structuring of the meetings, larger meetings require less specialized staff, thanks to the task and order system, inquiries can be dealt with more quickly, the management of condominiums is not only more efficient overall, but also more transparent become.
Condominium ownership is unpopular in the industry and often onerous during congregation season. With its innovation project, H&B Real Estate AG is signaling that the business area is important to it and that it wants to relieve the STWE team. Digitization simplifies processes, reduces misunderstandings and enables up-to-date communication with owners and their tenants. The jury recognizes that H&B Real Estate AG, with its innovation partnership, has provided important impetus for the development of a proptech solution that benefits the entire industry and helps to make the management of condominiums more attractive again, especially for young employees.
Link to public voting (for SVIT members): www.svit-award.ch
Voting from August 10 to September 11, 2022
20 tickets for the award ceremony on September 26, 2022 at the Selnau power plant in Zurich will be raffled off among the participants.
