This article is a repost of EY Real Estate Trends No. 92 – April 2024

SAP’s realignment with the aim of focusing on its core business is in full swing. One cog in the wheel is the partnership with Planon announced in 2023. For owners and users of large real estate portfolios, this partnership primarily brings advantages, such as a variety of new functionalities, but also some questions to consider.

Planon’s strengths summed up:

Planon started life as a maintenance software provider and is now considered a market leader for integrated workplace management systems according to research by Verdantix in 2022. The functionalities offered by Planon include:

  • Data monitoring (e.g. energy, waste, CO2 emissions).
  • Planon delivers fast and accurate Out of the Box (OTB) and custom reports for
    the user via analytics.

  • Mobile apps:

    • Mobile integration of the Planon mobile app creates a comfortable working environment for employees: The app provides users with the option to bookrooms/workplaces, create service requests (e.g. cleaning, move, lunch, repair and AV request) and connect with colleagues.
    • For mobile field services, Planon offers a user-friendly, workflow-oriented mobile app with easy on and offsite operation: The integrated app allows tradespeople to update jobs in real time and capture facilities simply by using the camera to view all the information about the asset or assets on their smartphone or upload images to the job.

  • Integration with third-party systems, such as:

    • ERP Systems (e.g. Oracle, Workday and SAP).
    • BI Tooling: Planon data can be transferred to any BI tool (e.g. PowerBi,Tableau) using a data lake.
    • Room bookings can be automatically transferred to Microsoft Outlook.
  • Option to integrate BIM and CAD drawings.
  • Digital twin/Internet of Things : Option to integrate sensor data, which opens up various applications, such as using the system to monitor air conditioning units, instead of having an employee inspect the equipment on site.
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In view of these diverse functionalities and connections, Planon acts as a single source of truth. As such, it combines data from the areas of real estate management, space management, asset maintenance and sustainability in one system to optimize operational business processes and simplify audit trails and compliance for companies. The system is easy to use: Users gain immediate insights into their properties using functions such as real-time dashboards or process workflows.

Fields of application and implementation time

Planon is primarily used by medium-sized to large companies and organizations from different industries with extensive or complex real estate portfolios. Planon's recent acquisition of Axonize, specialised in IoT-solutions; Reasult, focused on commercial real estate; and Ubigreen, a PropTech company dedicated to energy performance and workspace optimization, was part of their strategy to expand in the area of commercial RE and IoT functionalities.

The time needed to implement a Planon solution depends on the company’s individual business processes and whether legacy systems need to be integrated. Usually, the more structured data the customer already has available, the less time the implementation takes. Generally speaking, a typical implementation project takes anywhere between nine months to a year depending on the modules to be implemented.

Limitations in use

What sets Planon apart is the fact that it is a multidisciplinary system with a wide range of functionalities. For optimum utilization of Planon's benefits, companies should take advantage of all solutions that Planon can offer. Companies with a limited scope could also use a standalone solution, which can be more cost effective. However, when more capabilities are required, a IWMS system will provide better value for money and better utilization of the integrated potential.

In view of the growing importance of sustainability, ESG functionalities are also increasingly becoming a selection criterion for companies. Planon is currently expanding their ESG capabilities and therefore investing heavily into this field in order to become a market leader in this field too.

Conclusion

To optimally deploy Planon, and to guarantee customers a reliable and fast path to digital business transformation, technological and strategic operational issues need to be analyzed comprehensively. While the former is afforded by the software itself, operational expertise is required for implementation and future use in order to fully exploit the potential that Planon offers.

In EY Real Estate Trends No. 91 we already looked at the partnership between SAP and Planon and the resulting changes for real estate management.

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