Swedish property owners have difficulty digitizing their properties, even though most people think it is important, a survey shows. GlobalConnect has conducted among 300 property owners. Reduced overhead costs are a strong driver for the digital transformation, but time is not enough. Nine out of ten property owners still have a long way to go to have digitized their property portfolio.

Digitalization is important, but when it's time to make a plan for the business, other things take priority*. This and the fact that property owners feel that there is a lack of necessary expertise in their own organization are, according to them, the biggest obstacles to digitalizing their property portfolio.

Risk of falling behind

It is clearly worrying that many people are not prioritizing and allocating budgets for digitalization. As I see it, the entire real estate industry is at risk of falling behind. AI is becoming an increasingly important part of several industries and property owners need to get on board. The mere fact that you can make data-driven decisions that can increase efficiency should be reason enough to prioritize this issue, says Henrik Hammarström, Head of B2B GlobalConnect Sweden.

Only one in ten has made progress in digitalization
The vast majority of property owners in the survey have begun digitization in some way. This could include digital tools for rental contracts and laundry room bookings, but also security and access systems. However, only one in ten consider themselves to have made any progress in their digitization process. The fact that many property owners have several different systems from different suppliers for different parts of the property means that many experience the process as very difficult.

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It is difficult to manage time for normal operations while implementing new systems, says one of the respondents in the survey.

Difference depending on turnover
The most important reason why property owners want to digitalize is to reduce their overhead costs and to gain better oversight of their operations.

When GlobalConnect has compared companies, those with higher turnover (+10 MSEK) tend to have come further compared to those with lower. A further difference is between public sector property companies and privately owned property companies, where the former consider themselves to have come further. On the other hand, almost all companies state that the need for increased digitalization is great.

It is clear that digitalization is becoming a cost issue. Property owners must identify other things that can be prioritized down in order to move forward. The survey shows that people understand that they can reduce costs. In the longer term, digitalization will pay for itself in many cases, says Henrik Hammarström.

In the report "State of Digitalization" you can read the entire survey.

*This is how the survey was conducted
GlobalConnect has commissioned Norstat to conduct a quantitative survey among 300 people belonging to the target group “property owners” in Sweden. The survey was conducted using CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviewing), where telephone interviews were conducted with a structured questionnaire. The selection process was carried out by an independent third-party panel provider, Norstat Sverige AB. The survey was conducted in the field in June 2023.