Welcome to the team, chatbot!

Hardly any other topic has dominated media coverage of recent technological achievements in our industry as much as intelligent language assistance systems and bots. They handle customer service, look for usable answers to standardised searches via voice control and even predict our shopping behaviour. Modern service applications are currently changing companies and their dialogue with customers.

AI for real estate management

However, their potential is not limited to a company’s external service processes. As a specialist for the digitisation of real estate business processes, PROMOS consult crafts technological applications that revolve around property management. Just imagine the following scenario: your property manager sets off to work in the morning. While on the road, he uses voice control to ask his launchpad what’s on the agenda for today. A friendly voice tells him that a defect has been reported in one of his properties via your company’s tenant app. When he asks whether a craftsman can be found to repair the defect, the system proposes the standard vendor. The property manager confirms the selection ad hoc and commissions the craftsman on the move without a single click or tap. The first task is therefore complete before the employee has even reached his office. Does that sound too good to be true or strike you as overly futuristic? It certainly shouldn’t.

Process transparency as a success factor

“We are experiencing a real breakthrough now that the new technologies are finally showing up in software solutions and becoming practicable in the concrete application scenarios,” says Thomas Brösicke, COO of PROMOS consult, emphasising the progress. For many years, PROMOS consult has been continuously developing the popular process control tool easysquare workflow. With its newly integrated chatbot in the Fiori^® frontend, the company offers real added value to simplify work for customers and employees (Figure 1). “If we determined one thing last year, it’s that staff work in different places and at different times. The best processes can’t help us if they don’t deliver transparent information about which step the process is at and who is responsible for it,” Brösicke continued. And this is exactly where easysquare workflow comes in, proactively making information available – be it when the launchpad is asked “Hey Fiori^®, tell me what work tasks I have today. Are there any defect reports?” Or when your employees arrive at their desks in the morning and the system automatically recognises, “It’s Monday morning? Then please first look at the escalating maintenance reports. You’ll have time for the rent receivables tomorrow.” The ERP system acts as a central hub providing your employees with all the relevant information they need in an application-oriented and user-friendly manner.

Using trailblazing technology in your company’s workflow-driven processes not only directly increases productivity through automation, but also contributes to your company’s success in the face of Germany’s growing shortage of skilled workers.

5 stars for AI

The respondents to a survey^[1] conducted during the OpenPromos User Forum on Air also have a similar assessment. When asked to assess how helpful the artificial intelligence solutions were in the daily work environment, 85 percent of the participants awarded four to five stars. A clear indication that we should continue developing these solutions. There are still many areas where companies have room to become even more efficient. The optimal integration of mobile employees into workflows on site is just one example of many. The application scenarios are diverse. Survey participants see enormous business potential beyond maintenance (Figure 2) – from appointment scheduling in rentals or order and budget approvals all the way to voice-controlled reporting to management. The operation of your ERP system for people with disabilities can also be optimised for accessibility with a chatbot in the Fiori^® launchpad.

From assistant to colleague

One thing we can definitely promise you is that voice control will not only change your company’s relationship with your customers, but also your employees’ relationship with your ERP system. Intelligent use and clever algorithms will extend the functions of your digital assistant and make the chatbot a new colleague in the future. So, do you already have an idea of what to name your new colleague?

1. According to the results of a live survey among participants of the OpenPromos User Forum on Air on 15 June 2021 under the motto “Fit for Innovation”. The participants were asked about their assessment of the current state of digitisation in their companies in the areas “use of artificial intelligence in real estate workflows”, “content for the tenant app”, “digital construction and utility cost management” and “the future of payment”.
   

redaktion@openpromos.de