Digital transformation is all about transparency, the sharing of information, mutual learning, and common development. Within the last 5 to 6 years especially, various digital tools have been developed to support our daily work better. Now, when we switch from a global view to a local one, we can see things developing in the Finnish market. We realized that digitalisation improves the competitive position and attractiveness of real estate assets as an investment class because transparency is improving.
But since there is no one solution out there, solving all real estate related challenges, the biggest benefit of digitalisation is the integration of various property management systems into a “one-stop-shop” toolkit. And there already are good results with the cooperation between the Finnish companies Assetti and Visma Tampuuri, and the integration of their solution for the Finnish Pharmacy Pension Fund.
On the 19th of August, we arranged a webinar related to this example exactly in order to show the project approach, customer expectations, and implementation.
The keys to efficient and high-quality property management
Providing real estate operators with a comprehensive solution for property management, asset management, and reporting: that is the approach of this Assetti – Visma Tampuuri cooperation which started earlier this year.
“With Visma Tampuuri we offer the industry an extensive, digital tool for high-quality real estate management” states Erkki Ahonen, Partner Manager at Tampuuri. “When we realized the demand for a better reporting tool, Assetti had already a good solution in place. You don’t need to do things yourself if someone else has found a good way to provide solid reporting” Ahonen continues.
“It started all with the customer needs” Terhi Palossari, Account Manager at Assetti adds. “The customer was making a decision on taking a new system into use – the combination of Asset and Tampuuri was the right kind of solution.”
The most important aspect from a customer’s point of view?
“Now we have all information we need in one place – from Portfolio Management to key indicators on a property level,” states Antti Jäntti, Head of Real Estate Investment at the Pharmacy Pension Fund.
The importance of reporting as part of property management
Setting and exceeding property owner expectations keeps your property management company a step above the competition. So increasing your property performance is the main goal.
Business decisions are made on the basis of property management reports. Which item belongs to which portfolio? Or which portfolio is for sale? In order to make the right decisions, we need the right data at the right time. And it’s not just the management which can profit from better reporting. It is something that affects the entire company. From maintenance to renting – reporting is so important because it provides your customers with metrics they need. But how can we improve the process?
We can see clearly the data visualization. Assetti and Tampuuri, together, are offering over 100 different key figures which can be visualized with just one click. Those are available as dynamic metrics but also as static measurements. In regards to reporting, almost any real estate data can be found; from contracts and rental information to data coming from other systems, like financial management. This data can be easily filtered and analyzed on a portfolio or property level.
Key indicators for the real estate economy
In the case of AEK, the profit margin is one of the most important KPIs. Profit margins are one of the most widely used financial ratios in corporate finance. The target is to get those easily calculated for an entire portfolio, or just for a part. Calculations around maturity are also especially important in the field of commercial real estate. “By using Assetti and Tampuuri, we can trust our data better than before” Antti Jäntti concludes.
For Assetti users it is possible to also define the access of data. You can add specific access rights for stakeholders or other members of your team. When it comes to the process of due diligence, it is also possible to give reading access to those involved. And even there, you can very precisely determine if that concerns one portfolio or even just one property.
You also have the possibility to create individual reports like quarterly reports. Assetti offers a kind of model kit where you can build reports by choosing the templates you need for your report. All tenant-related data, like rental records, contract, and payments also plays a significant role when it comes to KPIs. On Tampuuri’s end, the operational functionality plays a big role. On Assetti’s end, those data get visualized and analyzed.
How to facilitate manual work in terms of reporting and portfolio management
Reporting takes time and we know that Excel is still a very common tool in real estate and financial management. But there are specific ways to minimize the manual workload.
Customer satisfaction rises as automating processes rise. It leads to a shift in priorities. When reports are done faster and easier, you have more time to concentrate on other important things. “It definitely brings efficiency when you can utilize interfaces. It replaces copying data from one excel sheet to another or manually counting numbers with a calculator” says Antti Jäntti.
Automated reporting is not just saving time, it also reduces the amount of wrong information in systems. Data also gets easily lost in email chains, which is less likely when using a combined solution like Tampuuri and Assetti. Through the integration of Assetti into Tampuuri, information flows smoothly from one system to the other, which avoids a huge amount of double work.
Up to date and secured data
Data security is another advantage digital tools will bring. You can see who has access to which information or who has changed reports. And by that, you can prevent the wrong application for the data. That brings us back to access rights: you can define the user’s rights and what individuals can do and see. Which, also, assures and maintains the quality of your data.
Assetti collects data from different sources, which means every customer is different. Tampuuri and Assetti are defining individually with every customer what data is needed and where the data is coming from. By doing so, we can guarantee a process to best support your daily work. “As a customer, I can tell: Don’t be afraid of changes. Of course, it is work, but you will be rewarded in the end.” Antti Jäntti sums up our webinar.
