Kiinteistöässä

INTRODUCTION

Carrying out an audit must not be complicated or require an unreasonable amount of work on the part of the person doing it, otherwise the threshold of reporting will increase. Kiinteistöässä found themselves in a situation where the work required to perform a simple inspection made the processes cumbersome. There had to be an easier way to carry out inspections, as well as pass on information about them to stakeholders.

COMPANY‍

‍

SOK Kiinteistöässä is part of the S Group, which is one of the largest employers in Finland. In its real estate function Kiinteistöässä, 67 employees are responsible for the maintenance, property management, administration and energy efficiency of 725 properties. They are also responsible for the construction of new properties that total up to 2.5 million square meters.

The main goals of Kiinteistöässä are to achieve carbon-negative emissions during the life cycle of properties by the end of 2025 and to optimise property costs as a whole, while still providing the best property management service on the market on a daily basis. Services are also provided to customers outside the S Group.

CHALLENGES BEFORE FALCONY

‍

The previous auditing tool, which had been in use for about a year, did not have proper mobile functionalities, so inspections tended to progress stiffly. “We had to export the audit templates from the system to Excel and from there on to paper. Once done, we had to import the finished audits back to the system on a computer”, says Johanna Häikiö, Head of Real Estate Management. Images that were essentially related to the inspections, had to be attached to a separate Word document, which also created their own challenges.

The previous way of working was complex and took too much time both in carrying out the actual inspections and compiling the reports from them.

‍

IMPLEMENTATION

‍

The new auditing tool had to meet several criteria, the most important of which was support for mobile use. The tool had to be easy-to-use, visually clear and customisable by admins. “We quickly recognised that Falcony could provide a solution to the challenges we faced. It is much clearer to use than the previous tool, the reports are visually pleasing and it has been possible to edit them as needed”, Häikiö says.

According to Häikiö, the implementation itself went very well, and no resistance was encountered. Service providers also quickly realised the benefits of the new tool: “I particularly remember one service provider who took a lot of photos and had to previously attach them to the reports manually. We built an audit template in Falcony according to the needs of this person, who was very pleased to be able to now add the images within the app."

According to Development and Finance Manager Jenna Lehtovaara, the clarity of the system was key to the success of the implementation: “Every system should be so intuitive that when it is first opened, the user immediately understands how to use it. I didn't receive separate training to use Falcony and was able to use it immediately without any challenges."

RESULTS AND BENEFITS

‍

Falcony has brought time savings and is in some form available to almost all employees at Kiinteistöässä. Everything is now truly mobile, with no intermediate steps in scanning papers or filling out separate Word documents. Adding photos is effortless, and when everything is stored directly in the cloud, data is easily accessible at any time. “Once we have performed an annual maintenance audit with Falcony, we can create a PDF of it with just a few clicks to be shared with the environmental authorities. In the past, a paper document was required, which was scanned and could only then be forwarded. It is also easier for us to check previous inspections when it can be done from anywhere", Häikiö says.

Falconys functions are used, among other things, to share customers the scores of inspections performed on their properties. According to Häikiö, Kiinteistöässä highly values ​​how easy it is to now collect information and share it with stakeholders. “Operations have become more transparent and we can clearly report to our customers how we manage their properties. It’s great that the data we collect is genuinely available to everyone, and not hidden in an archived Excel.”

The communication with the Falcony team is also praised. “When we realised Falcony was a top tool for us, we asked them to build other solutions for us. We received a polite response that building completely tailor-made applications is not part of the company’s vision, but we instructed on how we could address these needs with their existing solutions. I have never received the answer that something is not possible, but we are always sought to be served. And when something is asked, the answer comes quickly. This agility is clearly one of Falcony's strengths as a company”, says Häikiö. “It’s great to see how the system is evolving all the time and how we as a customer can make an impact on this. Such cooperation is of paramount importance to us”, Lehtovaara concludes.