A diverse range of events on the programme at the OpenPromos User Forum 2023

Day 1: Keynote, discussion round & evening event

On the first day, the programme will be formally opened at eleven o’clock by PROMOS Managing Director Jens Kramer. This will be immediately followed by an exciting and controversial topic in the form of a political discussion round: “A sector under stress – companies in the real estate and housing industry struggling to survive in a multi-crisis era”. Here, experts from the real estate industry, such as Managing Director of DOGEWO21 Klaus Graniki, Board Member of GEWOBA Dr. Christian Jaeger and Senior Manager of Ernst & Young Real Estate GmbH Alexander Hellmuth, will speak about and debate how real estate companies and their employees can survive turbulent phases. Today, it seems that there is one crisis after another. This poses serious challenges for every company. But the real estate industry in particular is struggling with a lack of resources and skilled workers, rising prices and growing inflation. Nevertheless, young companies that act with foresight manage to identify gaps, fill them and rise quickly. Many older, established companies are constantly reinventing themselves, steadily increasing their employee satisfaction and boosting their turnover. What are their tips and tricks? Employees of these companies will give insights into their success stories and clear recommendations for action during the discussion round and in the subsequent presentations on the second day of the event.

Following the discussion round, keynote speaker Gerriet Danz will talk about another highly topical and important subject – a constructive error culture. Mistakes happen all the time and are often unavoidable. Nevertheless, dealing with them in the wrong way time and again leads to frustration among employees and slows down their success. At the same time, dealing with errors in the right way can increase employee satisfaction and have a significant impact on the development and success of a company. Danz talks about goal-oriented approaches and methods. The guests in the plenum can ask questions and make comments at the event. Remote participants will also have the opportunity to contribute via live chat. As was the case last time, moderator Philip Bächstädt will guide the audience through the diverse programme. Lastly, the first day of the Forum will be rounded off by the evening event. Here, participants can exchange ideas with other guests and speakers and make valuable contacts. In addition, there will be the opportunity to take part in an unusual activity in keeping with the motto “We’re flying high on digitisation”.

Day 2: Presentations & speed sessions

On the second day of the event, various topics will be covered in the form of presentations and speed sessions. Employees from various departments of real estate companies will present their strategies and talk about solutions that modernise and digitise their operations. Manuela Howe from GEWOBAG will get things underway with her presentation on construction cost controlling using SAP^®. GEWOBAG is one of the leading housing companies in Berlin and manages over 74,000 homes. Through new construction, the company creates much-needed living space while demonstrating social commitment to the citizens of Berlin. Howe will talk about how the company organises its diverse housing stock and the construction of its properties efficiently and with foresight in the SAP^® system.

Bayerische Hausbau brings together the construction and management of the Schörghuber Group’s properties. Like many modern real estate companies, they use SAP^® for this. With easysquare workflow, the employees control the workflows in their SAP^® system intuitively, efficiently and without media discontinuity. Thomas Pfeiffer from Bayerische Hausbau GmbH & Co. KG and Catharina Schroll from Schörghuber IT will talk about the large number of processes and coordination tasks that are covered by the application and how this affects the company. In the next slot, Heiko Schlüter from WSL Wohnen & Service Leipzig GmbH and Tamara Erdenberger from PROMOS consult will answer questions from Dirk Krause, also from PROMOS, about highly integrated consumption cost statements at WSL GmbH. They will provide exclusive insights into how the data migration and go-live proceeded at WSL.

When tenants change, the refurbishment of vacant properties plays an important role, especially in view of the high level of competition in the rental market. With a digital application, this workflow is made more efficient and digitally documented. Gero Scheebaum and Carlotta Martin-Bullmann from DOGEWO21 report on empty property refurbishment with the easysquare Professional app in conjunction with solutions in the SAP^® ERP system. The next presentation will be dedicated to Vonovia SE’s ecowo customer portal – an innovative approach to enabling property owners to engage in a constructive and lasting dialogue with experts in managing condominiums and rented houses. In the presentation, Alina Heinrichs and Ralf Kuratis from Vonovia will talk about the portal, onboarding and a purely digital document check and delivery system.

The above-mentioned presentations will take place on the main stage and will last about 30 minutes, after which there will be enough time for comments and questions from the audience. For those who want to get a brief overview of current solutions, the speed session format allows the latest solutions to be shown in a maximum of 15 minutes. These include the presentation on the PROMOS Data Governance Tool, presented by Ina Hüther and Albrecht Hempel from TAG Immobilien AG and Björn Schwarz from PROMOS. The fast entry tool for maintenance notifications in the Fiori^® Launchpad will also be presented by Maria Niemeijer from PROMOS.

Our popular Innovation Lounge format will also be back. Here you will have the opportunity to enter into a one-to-one discussion with our experts. Questions will be answered directly and individually and solutions can be presented live in the system. Meet our experts and discuss all aspects of the EED Directive, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the proper handling of sensitive data and other topics that are close to your heart!

What’s the next step?

“Practical experience for practical application” remains the OPUF’s credo. Or, as Jens Kramer would say, “It takes people who have the vision to think about things in a new way”. And there are plenty of these people at the OPUF. Especially in challenging times, constructive approaches to solutions and new ideas are needed to give employees motivation and goals and to lead companies to innovative business models and success. All information on tickets and programme items can be found on the PROMOS consult website. “We’re flying high on digitisation” is not just a motto, but a mindset that is being brought to life at the OPUF.

redaktion@openpromos.de