The cooperation with Technopolis has taken SokoPro to the world of real estate portfolios and towards international challenges
Collaboration means growing together. The fast-moving and international company Technopolis is using SokoPro to ensure diversity in data acquisition. The long journey together has shaped SokoPro into a data management service that better suits the needs of real estate investors.
Technopolis specialises in the development, ownership and management of properties, renting of commercial premises, and the provision of related services. It operates in six countries altogether. The company serves as the commissioning party for many construction projects, and it uses SokoPro for planning such projects and managing documents. Data management is also required in property maintenance.
The cooperation between SokoPro and Technopolis started more than a decade ago. Initially, Technopolis used the project bank and printing services, but with growth the company’s needs expanded to encompass the entire life span of properties from development to maintenance and possible divestment. The growth and internationalisation of Technopolis have also increased the company’s user numbers within SokoPro.
Software to meet a variety of needs
According to Kari Kokkonen, the Chief Real Estate Officer at Technopolis, the real estate field is struggling with the difficulty of data management. What this means in practice is that there is lots of information and it is scattered across too many sources. Fortunately, it is no longer necessary to scour a dusty archive for physical file folders as documents can be easily found in SokoPro. Over the years, SokoPro has been developed to better meet the specific needs of Technopolis.
“We worked closely with SokoPro to make the software a better fit for property maintenance. For example, the folder structure has been modified,” Kokkonen says.
The software is capable of meeting a variety of needs. Customisation is a wonderful opportunity for the customer, but it also requires a lot of time and focus. This is precisely why the companies have maintained close contact.
Kokkonen has been very pleased with SokoPro’s helpdesk and customer service. He says that it has been very easy to contact SokoPro experts through them. The collaboration has been effective, and quick help and answers have been available from the experts.
Internationalisation is a challenge and opportunity for the coming years
Over the past ten years, Technopolis has seen rapid expansion on an international scale. The company, which started in Oulu, currently operates in Sweden, Norway, Russia, Estonia and Lithuania, in addition to Finland.
Technopolis’ growth rate and expansion to multiple countries are also challenges to SokoPro, since it is important to be able to meet the customer’s current and changing needs as effectively as possible.
Challenges lead to reinvention and change, which will make SokoPro even more suited to meeting the challenges of property maintenance going forward. According to Mikael Winberg, Granos’s Key Account Manager, the cooperation with Technopolis has been especially rewarding thanks to the aspects related to internationalisation.
“It’s pretty great to be able to enter the international markets with a client,” Winberg explains.
The ever-expanding collaboration between the companies is continuing. Following Technopolis’ example, SokoPro is now setting its sights on international challenges alongside Finnish operations.