The road to digitisation – the success story of Hilfswerk-Siedlung GmbH

Digital transformation: the daring step into the unknown

Many real estate companies are still lagging behind when it comes to digitisation, as the latest digitisation study by ZIA and EY Real Estate shows. But some are overcoming the challenges and, despite uncertainties in the market, placing their trust in state-of-the-art technologies. Aygül Özkan, Deputy Managing Director of ZIA, explains: “The fact that companies are pressing ahead with their digital initiatives despite these hurdles is proof of the industry’s open-mindedness.”^[1] Hilfswerk-Siedlung GmbH has long been a pioneer in this area. The management recognised early on that technological innovations are indispensable for increasing efficiency and tenant satisfaction.

From analogue to digital: the transformation of core processes

Lena Karohs explains: “Digitisation is very important to our company. We are already well advanced in this area and have fully digitalised our core processes. We have developed our own digitalisation roadmap that shows exactly how we are implementing this step by step. PROMOS and our ERP system play a central role in this.” ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning, meaning all of a company’s business processes, such as finance, human resources and warehouse management, are brought together in a central database and controlled from a central system. The advantages are obvious – streamlined processes, a better overview, centralised administration and no need for manual transfers or bookkeeping.

However, many fear the changeover. After all, it affects all areas of work and can be very time-consuming and cost-intensive. When did Hilfswerk-Siedlung take the plunge? Jörn von der Lieth explains: “In 2016, we asked ourselves how digital tools will change the world. We then travelled with our entire management team to Hanover for two days to attend CeBIT, the largest digital trade fair at the time. We looked around and decided that we needed a new ERP system. Together with a group of employees and managers, supported by an external consultant, we defined our requirements and launched a major tendering process. In the end, PROMOS won.”

The key to successful digitisation

And how did you overcome the concerns and integrate your employees? “A new system always means change, and change brings with it a high workload and emotional stress. This was a major challenge, as the introduction took place alongside the normal everyday work. In order to reduce the workload, we hired three additional employees on a temporary basis to help out during peak periods,” says von der Lieth. Training courses were also made available: “The training courses were of a very high professional standard and a lot of fun. Our employees were never stressed afterwards. Successful implementation is only possible with good training and an employee-centred approach, and that’s exactly what we have achieved together with PROMOS.”

The tightrope act of the industry: mastering challenges

If it’s that easy, what’s the problem? The greatest challenges for property companies are staff shortages, non-transparent data structures and poor data quality. 47 per cent of those surveyed in the digitisation study do not have enough human resources. Data protection also remains problematic: despite a slight improvement by 2021, hardly any progress has been made in this area since then.^[2] In fact, all of this is actually getting worse, and not just in the German property sector, but across Europe. The former President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, warns of a major existential crisis – Europe is lagging far behind in important areas such as technology.^[3]

Tenant service 2.0: digitisation for better service and efficiency

However, companies such as Hilfswerk-Siedlung GmbH show that there are pioneers even in more traditional sectors. Because the ERP system wasn’t all that was needed. They also wanted tenants to benefit from modern, streamlined processes and a round-the-clock service. Which is why HWS introduced a tenant app with the support of PROMOS. Can you describe this? Dorit Brauns explains: “The tenant app has been in use since 2019. Our vision was to create something that most people here already experience in their everyday lives: the ability to communicate when you have the time and desire, and to control things yourself. You can call up documents when you need them or submit your damage report wherever and whenever you want. So the idea was to create a permanent point of contact for our tenants. At the same time, we also benefit as a company, as they do some of the work for us. We no longer need telephone operators to take damage reports and pass them on to the technicians. Everything flows digitally directly into our ERP system. The result is a high level of tenant and employee friendliness – a classic win-win situation.”

Health meets technology: what other companies can learn from us

Tech companies such as Google have long been leading the way, but a healthy work-life balance has also arrived in Berlin – even in the property sector. Home-grown honey in the kitchen and stand-up paddleboards on the nearby Schlachtensee lake – digital, labour-saving solutions aren’t the only way that Hilfswerk-Siedlung GmbH takes care of its employees’ mental and physical health. Von der Lieth concludes: if digitisation has long been integrated into our everyday lives, why not into our working lives too? “The greatest advantage is that our working lives are now being harmonised with our private lives. Workflow-orientation and fast digital processes make many things easier. It used to take up to 14 days to obtain certain data – today, it takes just 14 minutes. This is a huge improvement for everyone.”

1. Press release on the Digitisation Study 2024 by ZIA and EY Real Estate from 3 September 2024. Link (in German): https://zia-deutschland.de/pressrelease/digitalisierungsstudie-2024-von-zia-und-ey-real-estate-digitalisierung-bleibt-zentraler-fortschrittstreiber-in-ki-steckt-revolutions-potenzial-fur-die-immobilienbranche/
   
2. ibid.
3. Gross & Cohen (09/09/2024): Europe’s ‘Reason for Being’ Is at Risk as Competitiveness Wanes, Report Warns in The New York Times. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/09/business/europe-economy-competitiveness.html
   

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