What exactly does the Aareon Smart Platform do?

The new Aareon Smart Platform offers a wide array of web-based services, which Aareon’s customers and partners as well as start-ups can use to design and develop their own IT solutions. These newly developed software solutions for apartment and property management can be directly integrated into the Aareon Smart World digital ecosystem and, consequently, in the customers’ own ERP system. They can include, for example, software solutions for customer relationship management, smart-building systems, software for supplier relationship management, mobile solutions, apps and specialised tools for lift management or emergency lighting.

Why does a platform offer more opportunities than risks?

An open system definitely offers more opportunities because it creates a win-win situation for everyone involved. Companies – including those in the property industry – explicitly desire flexibility when expanding their digital ecosystems. Sometimes, they want to be able to integrate new solutions quickly. That’s precisely what the Aareon Smart Platform makes possible. It enables us to add value for our customers and their partners; and we derive benefit too from using the service ourselves and being able to enhance the loyalty of our customers.

What were the decisive steps in the development process?

We began developing the new platform in 2016. Our objective was to design the new cloud-based technical platform for all of our next-generation digital solutions. One of the key factors was having as many of our colleagues as possible, from many different areas of the company, participate in the process. Their expertise and specialist know-how were essential – and were decisive in ultimately ensuring widespread understanding and acceptance of the new product.

What are the platform’s technical underpinnings?

In technical terms, our digital platform is based on a microservices architecture. Web services are used for every business process. This enables our customers to develop digital solutions that are closely tailored to their needs as well as to integrate the digital solutions of partners via these business web services. That puts them in a position to hone and refine, in an easy and secure manner, their own individual digital ecosystems to dock into Aareon Smart World.

To what extent were our customers involved in the development process?

Collaboration with our customers is crucial. They are the ones who ask us about our ability to work with different partners in many different areas, and they need end-to-end solutions. Beyond that, they actively asked us to offer them a secure, standardised way of expanding their IT ecosystems. In fact, we are intensifying the collaboration with our customers as early as the study phase of each development project so as to get the clearest possible picture of the sort of solutions they are interested in and the specific added value they want. But close collaboration with customers has always been a guiding principle of Aareon’s.

How many pilot customers were there and what does the rollout plan for the platform look like?

We have three pilot customers in France – Erilia, odhac and OPH 05. Erilia is by far the largest of these. The company has been using the platform since 2018 and its input has helped us to develop the basic version more user-oriented. We kicked off the market launch of the basic version in Germany, France and the Netherlands in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Pilot customer Erilia

Erilia has been an Aareon customer for almost 25 years and is one of three French pilot customers to initially use Aareon Smart Platform.

The company was the first one to develop and launch a tenant extranet (“extranet locataire”) via Aareon Smart Platform. This portal enables tenants to view and manage their personal data, make online payments, set payment reminders in order to avoid unpaid bills, request repair work and much more besides. As a result, the tenants are better integrated in the administrative side of things. The service is available around the clock and has been adapted to run on all mobile devices (smartphones, tablets).

Cyrille Vincent, Head of IT at Erilia, assesses the progress made thus far:

“The Aareon Smart Platform offers multiple advantages thanks to the streamlined access to the web services. These new services make it possible to respond to new needs and develop new applications to satisfy them. Business data can be accessed more easily, and interfaces have been eliminated, laying the groundwork for the Aareon Smart Platform to offer more flexibility and autonomy.”