IT&I Magazin Nr. 35 - Ausgabe April 2023

This year, PROMOS consult turns 25 years old. What started out quite small with 13 employees has grown very quickly – today PROMOS advises over 125 customers in the most diverse areas of the real estate world. PROMOS develops and integrates a wide range of digital applications and solutions for various companies – whether they are well-known large companies or up-and-coming small businesses, whether in the area of housing, commercial real estate, property management, maintenance, construction or administration. To mark its 25th anniversary, PROMOS is taking a look back at the past. The first part of this retrospective series is about the beginnings of PROMOS, the employees, the OpenPromos user forum and the longest-standing partnerships.

On 16 December 2022, the German parliament (Bundestag) passed the Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG), which is designed to implement the EU Whistleblower Directive (WBD). The aim of the HinSchG is to strengthen the protection of whistleblowers and other persons affected by a report and to ensure that they are not threatened with any discrimination as set out in the provisions of this law (Section 1 HinSchG-E). The core of the new HinSchG is the obligation to set up internal reporting offices for companies which usually have at least 50 employees (Section 12 (2) HinSchG-E). In Germany, about 90,000 companies^[1] will fall under the scope of the HinSchG and will thus be obliged to set up an internal reporting office.

Making Potsdam a better place to live – that’s the mission statement of the city’s own group of companies ProPotsdam. Among the methods the company employs to achieve this objective are multifaceted construction and housing projects as well as social commitment. The company manages more than 17,800 apartments and provides new housing in Potsdam through innovative construction projects such as upgrading and rebuilding a former tram depot or military barracks. The support, management, rebuilding/renovation measures and the organisation of the social projects require a sophisticated digitisation concept. This is where PROMOS comes in. For example, ProPotsdam was able to digitise its entire company management and residential property management without impairing operating processes by implementing the new operating system SAP S/4HANA^®. Jörn-Michael Westphal has been managing director of ProPotsdam GmbH since 2000 and took responsibility for the majority of the digitisation project in cooperation with PROMOS. We wanted to find out from him how he and the company maintain their success and drive innovation in Potsdam. We asked him seven questions. Here are his responses.