Conducting a virtual inspection of an apartment or booking a housekeeping service via a tenant app – things like this could be a matter of course in the future; this is because “the property industry has recognised that it needs to embrace digitalisation; most housing companies agree on that.” This is just one of the findings that Arash Houshmand, Managing Director of Ampolon Ventures at Aareon, gleaned from a survey conducted among landlords. Although property companies are generally considered less progressive in terms of innovation and more focused on core business, the study showed that they were actually highly interested in innovative products and services. In autumn 2018, Aareon surveyed customers from the property sector in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and the Netherlands on their attitudes to innovation.

“It was interesting to note that the key factor motivating the housing companies to provide services via portals and apps was, apparently, to improve customer i.e. tenant satisfaction. They are clearly wanting to gain an edge on the competition by positioning themselves as particularly innovative companies. This is a new trend because up to now, cost cutting and process efficiency have always been the key motivating factors,” said Dr Imad Abdallah, Head of Group Strategy at Aareon.

Which technology and for what purpose?
Building Information Modelling (BIM) gained the most traction among the housing companies surveyed, around half of which stated that they intended to deploy this instrument in the next five years or so, mainly for the purpose of cost estimation/control. With regard to big data analytics, around 30 percent of the companies could see themselves using this technology, for example to identify rent arrears or provide a tenant-matching service. Of interest to landlords were networked sensors for use in predictive maintenance, smart metering and building security, while artificial intelligence could be of assistance when processing repair queries or providing other tenant services.

More service for tenants
A quarter of the companies surveyed were already offering services to deal with minor repairs. Many were already planning to introduce more services for tenants, including digital options via apps and portals. “The focus here is on minor repairs, building security, providing essential services and services for special target groups – for instance, outpatient care, meals on wheels, and housekeeping services for senior citizens. These areas really do harbour great potential for Aareon,” emphasised Houshmand.

Many innovations in the pipeline
In principle, Aareon conducts research and development work in many different areas, this being a central pillar of its corporate strategy. Virtual assistant solutions that combine artificial intelligence with chatbots are almost ready for implementation and could be integrated in Aareon’s digital solutions for the benefit of the customer. “These processes will not only be supported by Amazon’s Alexa, but will also work with Google Home, too. Our customers will also be able to interact with tenants using bots via commonly used messag­ing services such as WhatsApp, Skype, and Facebook Messenger,” explains Dr Abdallah. Aareon is currently conducting research into the use of drones in the area of building security and property maintenance. In the future, Aareon will be focussing its research efforts on issues such as Big Data and the Internet of Things, as well as pushing ahead with the Building Information Modelling concept, as this is where the greatest benefit for the customer is to be found.

Who’s paying?
Then, there’s the small matter of cost. The companies in the survey could not agree on their estimation of tenants’ willingness to pay for additional services booked via digital applications. According to Houshmand, this is not surprising in view of the dearth of sample applications currently available to test this postulate. “The relevance of paid services to tenants seems to correlate with the disposable income of the household. And, of course, this willingness is greatly influenced by the design of the individual product and the added value it generates for the tenant.”

Mr Wilkin, you were in charge of the survey on behalf of forsa. What were the key aspects of the review?
The questionnaire is the key instrument of data collection in market research. It has to be tailored specifically to the object being examined and kept as straightforward as possible for all participants. Especially in a market as highly specialised as Aareon’s, it’s important to use technical terms in a way that ensures that they aren’t inter­preted differently by the individual parties.