Brilliant wish list from Remit Consulting

Got a 'Merry Christmas Greeting' today that included a list to great to spare.
It is Remit Consulting in the UK that put together a wish list for the property industry.

10. We would like one standard reference code for every individual property so that all systems can add information to a property accurately – perhaps searchable on Google?

9. We would like completely standard form, web-based leases so that negotiations for new premises can be swift and cheap. And, in the UK, we would like standard 5 year terms.

8. We think “Black-box” property trading (e.g., I want to buy 3 shops at 6%) would reduce the cost of trading property and commoditise a whole class of property investments. An alternative to derivatives?

7. We would like to see Google Earth updated by live satellite images – perhaps even zooming in to see truck or car movements on our managed sites;

6. We want listed companies to agree a standard of reporting on publicly accessible reporting dashboards – online detail which would make investing in property companies more transparent;

5. We would like to see the last of chasing cheques from tenants – let’s enforce the use of direct debits and monthly rentals in advance – an end to collecting rent on horseback, as Bob puts it;

4. Why can’t we have daily property revaluations? Whole swathes of the residential property market relies on automated valuations – surely there is a mid-way point between a full inspection with detailed analysis of scarce comparables and no valuation at all;

3. Wouldn’t indexed rents be a step forward? Our apologies to the UK rent-review surveyors but this would modernise UK property leases at one fell swoop;

2. Longer lunch breaks to give more time for discussing how to make things better – we are working more remotely, and with tighter deadlines; let’s take the time to consider how things could be done;

And, at number 1 position:

1. We want banks to start lending to each other again. ‘Nuff said.

Brilliant! 
It also make you understand the differences that exist between countries; like 10, 5 and 3...   ;-)   

Keep up the great work and Merry Christmas to you Andrew, Mark, Melita and all of the rest. 

Swedish construction firms starts blogging

Burson-Marsteller (global public relations and public affairs firm) has published a white paper (in PDF and SlideShare) on the use of blogs in companies on the OMX Large Cap list (the Nordic exchange list and the Norwegian counterpart)

The conclusion is;

Approximately 9.1%, or 12 companies, of the 132 Nordic Large Caps have company sponsored blogs. This number represents a lower percentage than the 14.8%, or 72 companies, with blogs on the Fortune 500 list in the U.S. A reason for the lower penetration among Nordic companies could be that the U.S. market in general is ahead on the adoption curve when it comes to both social media and innovation in marketing communications.

More about the white paper is found at Svd (a large Swedish newspaper).

Construction firms in the study
Both Skanska and NCC were among the companies blogging. Both of them to have a conversation with students. You find them here; NCCs blog and Skanskas blog.

Next step
Hopefully they will take this way of communicating to the next step. Anyone that has lived or worked close to a construction site would appreciate information what is happening with the project. A blog could be a great channel for this.

Boligan wins prize at SIME

Boligan, the Danish real estate search engine that entered the Swedish market in August, looked this happy after receiving the SIME Award in category 'Best Internet Strategy'.

Congratulations to the price and keep up the great work!

SIME follow up

We didn't make it to the stage... but at least we made it to the screen at the largest Internet conference in Sweden. (Congratulations to Jaycut for beating us.)

Much has been written about the SIME event, like 1, 2 , 3 (in English), 4, 5 (in English), 6. and 7 (most comprehensive).

My reflections
This was my second SIME event and it's a conference that differs a lot from all other (real estate) events I attend every year. The SIME crew (and especially Ola) makes this more to show and entertainment. But one has to keep in mind that this is a media event focused on the Internet.

It's great to visit an event that has a different approach to Internet and gives you examples of the web that you haven't seen before. For example how the Swedish pop band Ace of Base is letting their fans alter their music and create videos on their site. They don't fight Internets implication on the music industry, they use it.

The best I take with me besides all the great meetings was the presentation by Japp Favler (Forrester) on 'Recession marketing'. Looks like a great knowledge for 2009....

Datscha nominated for SIME Award

(Disclosure: I'm the Product Manager at Datscha and rarely write specifically about Datscha,
but this is to good to be true...)

Datscha is nominated for the prestigious SIME Award 2008 in the category 'Best System Supplier'!

Being the Product Manager for the last 8 years this make me very proud indeed. It has for sure been quite a ride.

SIME 
SIME is the largest Internet event in Sweden which gathers 1 200 attendees every year. The 2008 event will be held on the 12-13th of November in Stockholm.

SIME Awards
The SIME Awards was established in 1996 to celebrate online excellence. The category 'Best System Supplier' focuses on;

"What B-2-B hardware, software or application supplier is delivering the best value to its customers? The prize will be awarded for innovative use of new and existing technology to achieve a superior solution, significant for the customer's core activity."

Hand over the prize...
For right obvious reasons I strongly believe that Datscha fulfil those criterias. We score 90% satisfied customers, in average over 5 years. Not to mention that we have 1 500 users when it costs (from) 10 000 USD per seat and year to log in! It has to be significant. 

Well, at 2 pm on Thursday, we know the answer.
I'm actually already nervous...