“The integration is a perfect ten!” – Slättö on Parakey & Avy

Image: Slättö

In its newly constructed property in Vega, south of Stockholm Slättö automated its access management in connection with moving in and out. This has been made possible by the integration between Parakey's mobile access solution and the housing platform Avy.

"The digital ecosystem and being part of connecting it is very important to us. Therefore, a very important part of our mission is that our product can be integrated with the hardware available in properties and the integration with Parakey is a very good example of this, "says Joacim Gustafsson, CEO of Avy, who works to develop the digital customer journey for housing companies and managers via its housing platform.

The integration between Avy and Parakey has initially focused on two parts:

1. The possibility to book, for example, a laundry room, roof terrace or sauna and automatically get mobile access to the booked area.
2. Digital key distribution, where a new tenant automatically receives a mobile key via Parakey when moving in and correspondingly that the tenant who moves out no longer has access.

It is the latter part that Slättö uses for public areas such as entrance, pram room and bicycle room in a property in Vega.

"Noll access management"

When Slättö signs a lease with a new tenant in its real estate system, Avy automatically receives information about the agreement - who moves in and when - and the tenant automatically receives an invitation to start using Parakey on the day the lease takes effect.

"This means that we offer a digital and good solution for the resident, and that we minimize the administration. There will be zero access management for the public doors in the house", says Oskar Gustafsson who works at Slättö's management department for their housing segment.

Slättö is a private equity company focusing on real estate investments in various segments, including housing. In their rental and management of their properties, they have the vision to always develop, refine and digitize these properties. This led them to be involved in the integration between the two Proptech companies.

"We have a tenancy law to follow," explains Oskar. "If a tenant moves in on the first day of the month, they normally get the key at 12:00 on their move-in day, and the outgoing tenant has the right under the tenancy law to keep their key until 12:00 on the day after the end of the tenancy. We achieved this with Parakey and Avy. It's a great solution, I can't say anything other than that it's a ten point winner."

He continues: "It helps us in terms of resources, we can rely on the product and we deliver a good service to our residents, so there are several added values in this." 

"There is a lot of time to catch up"

It is clear that Slättö is open to new forms of digital solutions and that Oskar himself is very much in favor of it, but he emphasizes the importance of it generating added value for them as property owners and the residents.

"It is still somewhat conservative in general in the real estate industry and there you probably just have to dare a little more and see new solutions, because there is a lot of time to be gained and a lot of savings that also provide increased value throughout the value chain," he says.

"It's difficult to say exactly in dollars, but indirectly there will be a cost saving from not having to add resources to access management," says Oskar. He also emphasizes that the savings become greater the more properties you use the automated solution on, but that it gives a positive effect directly from the first property. In newly built residential properties, the relocation rate is generally higher, which generates more relocations and the effect is even more apparent there.

"Time is money and that's where we see the biggest benefit. We know that the key is sent out, we don't have to spend any time on it. You can focus on other things in your core business."

"Rent out!", Joacim adds.

"Letting, of course. And our external management partners out in the properties don't have to think about it either. It saves them time too," says Oskar.

In addition to time and cost savings, Oskar also sees the service to residents as the greatest value of mobile access and automated access management. He would certainly recommend the solution to other real estate companies.

"It has gone really well. For us, it's worth its weight in gold and it's well received by our residents."

Avy sees that the demand for mobile access is growing steadily and Joacim likes that there is a continuity of need - someone is always going in somewhere or moving into a new place. With the integration with Parakey, they have increased the service in their offer.

"Very happy to hear that the solution works as well as you experience, Oskar", says Joacim.

Finally, Oskar highlights the security aspect of mobile access:

"We also want to try to minimize the number of keys and door codes. Partly to increase the safety of our residents, but also to make it easier for us to keep track of our properties.