Digitalization for property owners: 6 things to consider

There's a lot to consider before you, as a property owner, invest in new digital services. Here are six questions worth discussing to see how well your needs and goals match what a proptech vendor can actually offer.

1. What do you want to achieve?

Before buying a new service, know why, and think long-term. Digitalization takes time, and bringing in technology just because it's new and exciting is a short-term move. Think about which benefits you want to achieve and let that guide your choice of technology. A service that creates clear value for staff will actually get used — and that's a prerequisite for seeing real impact on the business and creating new value around the property itself.

"The advantage of a SaaS service is that it keeps evolving, and you get to be part of that development. It ends up being a combination of what all the customers want."

Jesper Hedlund, Development Lead & BIM Manager at Örebroporten

2. What are your needs?

Depending on where you are in the digitalization process, your needs can vary. Some property owners still work with paper drawings. The first step might be modernizing your drawing archive so it's easier to keep up to date as renovations happen. If you already have BIM drawings, the focus can instead be on getting your building information in order to make operations and management easier. With some adaptation, BIM drawings can act as a hub for collecting, structuring and sharing information in a shared interface where the organization collaborates on adding and updating it over time. Over time, you can also use aggregated data to make better decisions about maintenance and purchasing — something several property owners are asking for.

"An uninterrupted flow of information that stays relevant across the property's entire lifecycle could save us millions."

Malin Lampa, Head of Development at Mimer

3. What information exists, and where is it stored today?

It's worth taking stock of your existing information structure before buying a new service. Look at what information you have access to, where it's stored today, and how the systems you use are actually being used. Are there systems that go unused? Why do you think that is? Could the new service replace one of them? Which systems work well? Is there information you're missing today that you wish you had access to? Dig into the organization's needs to get a deeper understanding of what information matters in different roles.

4. Does the vendor offer integration with other systems?

Working across many different systems is time-consuming, which is why many property owners are moving away from the old siloed way of thinking. For a property to become smart, different systems and sensors need to be able to talk to each other, so information only has to be updated in one place. For that to work, the vendor needs to provide APIs that are compatible with other complementary services. Even if you don't yet have a concrete picture of what your infrastructure should look like, it's worth planning ahead and making sure the option to connect systems exists — so you don't end up locked into one system.

5. How can the new technology complement your existing systems?

The idea of one property system that handles everything is something many property owners have started to leave behind. Instead, think about which systems you already have that work well and want to keep, and how the new technology can complement them. Check whether your existing vendors have open APIs, or whether that's something they're willing to offer. That opens the door to interesting solutions where systems can benefit from each other. For example, a service that offers location-based information can be connected to an existing work order system, letting tenants report faults on a map — making both handling and locating the issue simpler.

"The strength lies in the ecosystem, where the spatial database — the twin's geographic detail — becomes the hub that ties together harmonized data from other systems."

Fredrik Hörnsten, CDO at Hemsö

6. How do you set your organization up to actually use the technology?

Digital technology on its own is no guarantee of change — it's only once people actually use it that something happens, which makes usability fundamentally important. If keeping information up to date is complicated, it'll quickly become outdated. A pilot project, where the technology is applied to a handful of properties and staff, can be a good way to test whether the system is genuinely user-friendly.

Do staff like the technology? Does it create engagement? Do they see real benefits in their day-to-day work? If the answer is yes, that's a good sign the rest of the organization will feel the same. There's also a good chance that early adopters will inspire their colleagues. In the end, there has to be a genuine willingness to change habits and behavior — curiosity and simplicity are what drive digitalization forward.