Real estate management goes digital
Digitization is conquering every economic sector, including real estate. Here is the opinion of the co-founders of FlatMan, Spin-Off of the University of St. Gallen, on the importance of following the digital trend to remain competitive.
Digitization is transforming more and more sectors, just think of the banking sector which has long since introduced the concept of E-banking and the ability to manage payments independently directly from your PC or Smartphone. When it comes to digital transformation, real estate is reticent in the implementation of new technologies. Yet if you look at the Swiss PropTech scenario, you will find more than 100 innovative companies and start-ups in the field of Property Management, Construction and Smart Building. This is proof that real estate innovations are not lacking. What seems to be lacking, on the other hand, is the predisposition of entrepreneurs to welcome them, too often short-sighted and tied to routine processes. These mechanisms will therefore have to adapt in the next few years to respond more and more to the needs of a digital market. Tomorrow's tenants are today's teenagers, "born with smartphones in hand", and they are unlikely to have the same way of communicating as current tenants. For this reason, it is important to have a proactive approach to new technologies right from the start and implement them gradually, enabling, on the one hand, current tenants and collaborators to adapt and, on the other, to be ready in time for the needs of tomorrow's tenants.
We at FlatMan accompany companies in this digital transformation process, allowing them to face change gradually. In a first phase we propose to install our digital notice boards at the entrance of the buildings, through which it is possible to publish any type of notice to tenants directly from your office. This allows you to save paper and travel times, as well as generate additional financial income through optional advertisements. In a second phase, the platform developed by FlatMan allows you to manage communications between tenants, real estate agencies and craftsmen via App (www.flatman.ch). This allows to optimize most of the processes related to real estate administration, increasing their efficiency and traceability.
