Frank Hohmann & digitalisation – a drama in several acts.
Disclaimer: This article reflects the views of Frank Hohmann. Drawing on his experience in the housing industry, the digitalisation expert has developed a multi-part blog series in which he takes a partly ironic look at successes, insights and lessons learned from various projects. Frank also describes wrong decisions, stumbling blocks and hurdles in an honest & likeable way.
I had already set up a digitalisation strategy. Switching the ERP system was only the first step; more were to follow.
A letting platform, a tenant app and tenant portal and, in the longer term, the digital tenancy agreement.
Let’s start with the letting platform:
Act 4:
My relationship with Immomio and DIT already began at that time.
Both Immomio, with its letting portal, and DIT, with its tenant app, came to me to pitch their respective solutions.
It quickly became clear to me that this was actually exactly what I wanted. Secure solutions, easy to introduce, simple to use.
And I decided against them.
What looks like a senseless decision in hindsight was the right decision at the time.
Why? Because I fell for the misconception that it was fine to sacrifice functionality, maturity and user-friendliness if the solution could be fully integrated into the ERP system.
Full integration was my mantra. After two exhausting years of switching ERP systems, I was probably simply too tired to think hard about the pros and cons.
Here, too, I let myself be guided by a widespread misconception.
Not only can Immomio be fully integrated into Aareon ERP systems as part of the Aareon Smart World, we also have interfaces to all common ERP systems in the housing industry, be it Haufe, Wowiport from Dr. Klein, SAP systems and many more.
On top of that, there was no SaaS solution for the tenant app at the time, and the in-house version looked like an enormous amount of effort to me back then.
To some extent I was right, of course, but in the end well-invested resources are always the better way.
Note: Just because a company builds a good ERP system does not mean that everything else it does is of the same quality. Nobody is equally good at everything, and nobody should expect that either.
Act 5:
Today I know what I would do differently:
Broaden the focus, define the points to be weighed up more clearly and concentrate on those functions of the solutions that really matter to my company, today and in the future.
Look more closely and not let myself be guided by rumoured “facts”. The best example: data sovereignty.
Housing companies would lose sovereignty over their tenant and prospective tenant data, or so the rumour went in the industry. I still hear it sometimes today. All I can say is that Immomio’s customers today include many of Germany’s largest municipal housing companies, for whom “data protection” has the very highest priority, if only out of political necessity.
Back then, many decision-makers and, above all, employees also considered digital communication with tenants and prospective tenants to be unnecessary.
“But we need to see our tenants!”
And COVID be like: “Ahem, may I come in?”
Before my time in the housing industry, I lived and worked in five European countries for many years. I never once set eyes on a landlord – from the property listing and the online viewing, through paying the deposit and rent, to the digital tenancy agreement and a key safe at the front door.
Of course, that does not mean that a process to this extent is desirable for most German housing companies, as there is often more at stake than simply letting living space.
Being able to do it doesn’t mean having to do it. But not being able to do it when you have to is where the fun stops. Over the last few years, we have had to recognise that there must at least be the option of keeping business running without personal interaction.
In fact, more and more people want and expect a digital way of communicating with their landlord.
Sure, the proverbial Granny Erna I am regularly reminded of, who has neither internet nor a smartphone, certainly still exists too – including, as it happens, in my own family.
Nothing could be further from my mind than offering digital communication only, but I consider ignoring the options that exist to be simply negligent.
What I would like to do is support other housing companies in their decision-making. As described above, I have been where you are or where you want to be. I know the motives, the doubts and the thoughts going through your mind.
With Immomio, we can help you drive your digital transformation forward. Our portfolio includes the tools you need to get digital communication with your tenants and prospective tenants off the ground effectively and holistically.