As Oy Espoon Kulttuurimajakka’s housing company board’s experiences on digital housing services
In Espoo’s Tapiola lies an exceptional housing company, As Oy Espoon Kulttuurimajakka. What makes this housing company unique is that the residential building is constructed adjacent to the Kulttuuriloisto exhibition building located at street level. The seven-story residential building has invested in more advanced technical solutions than usual in its building systems, aiming to bring quality and modernity to living.
We interviewed Erik Gustafsson, the chairman of the housing company’s board, and asked about the board’s experiences with the digital housing services in use.
Clear advantage brought by digital booking system for the housing company
Erik explains that the house designer had chosen One4all housing services during the construction phase. Upon completion of the building, a touchscreen digital notice board, resident application, booking calendar, and sauna heater relay control were implemented according to the plans. Shortly after moving in, there was a desire to further complement the services by integrating iLoq access control and a payment service to facilitate residents’ and management’s daily activities.
“We have utilized automation extensively. The advantage brought by the service in bookings is clear. The sauna starts heating an hour before the reservation, and the sauna and clubhouse locks are controlled according to the bookings. The implementation of the payment service afterwards was easy, and now making individual sauna bookings and payments is like any other online purchase,” Erik summarizes.
In addition to the sauna and clubhouse, the housing company offers a free laundry room, which residents book through the booking calendar. This year, a grill was also acquired for the housing company, with its own booking calendar added.
“All in all, One4all has been an easy system to understand and use. It has been convenient to add restrictions to calendars; for example, the duration of a booking can be limited to a maximum of three hours at a time,” Erik continues.
Prompt support earns praise from the housing company’s board
One4all’s technical support has assisted the housing company’s board in utilizing the service to the best of its ability.
“Overall, we have received very good customer service. Technical support has responded promptly, and issues have been resolved. The support has helped us, for example, in the adoption of calendars.
Recently, we discussed the regular shifts for the sauna together. Currently, residents book and pay for individual sauna shifts on the booking calendar, but the regular sauna shifts are still reserved by calling the maintenance company. The maintenance company then forwards the information to the property manager that the sauna fee needs to be added to the maintenance fee invoice. There is a risk that the information doesn’t flow and the bookings are not in sync.
That’s why we are considering establishing a separate calendar for regular sauna shifts. Then an automatic message would be sent from the system to the property manager when a resident adds or removes a regular shift. We will definitely discuss this matter with One4all’s support representative, Waltteri,” Erik shares future plans with a smile on his face.
Digital housing services form a unified whole with modern building technology
In addition to the booking calendar, Kulttuurimajakka uses a digital communication system, which in their case means a touchscreen notice board display and resident application. The housing company’s board actively communicates important communal matters as well as rules and guidelines to residents.
Erik feels that active communication can improve living comfort, community spirit, and safety in the housing company: “Resident communication is important. We communicate through multiple channels in the board because it’s important for us to reach residents as comprehensively as possible. I use push notifications in my messages, so residents get notified about new announcements. It would be nice to communicate more in the future and thus enhance the sense of community in the building.”
The housing company’s board has been satisfied with the digital staircase display. “When a new resident moves into the building, the names are quickly updated in the resident list on the staircase display as the update happens remotely. Additionally, the staircase display is stylish and aligns with the other technical features of the building. It would feel strange if there was a traditional notice board and resident list in use. Now all the services form a unified whole.”
User-friendly and modern service meets the needs of the housing company
“In the One4all system, in addition to communication, there are many other areas, but currently our usage is heavily focused on the booking calendar and communication. Access control is also an important part of sauna and clubhouse bookings,” Erik reflects contentedly.
In the future, he would be interested in sharing consumption data with residents. He also thinks that the food market feature available in the resident application could be interesting, especially for students living in the building.
“I would definitely recommend One4all services because they are user-friendly and modern, and they also have good support. The services have served our needs well.”
This article is an ai-generated translation of the original article in Finnish.