"What do we do now?"
That was the question Therese asked herself when physical screenings came to an abrupt halt on March 12, 2020. She is clear that digital transformation does not always have to be large and complex, but smaller incremental changes over time.
The limitations and restrictions of the pandemic became an illustrative example of a rapid willingness to change.
– The pandemic brought with it some small, but not insignificant transformations. For example, carrying physical sales tasks was the norm at viewings before the pandemic. These are now digital. It is also required by law that the inspection of the home takes place physically. To reduce physical customer meetings as much as possible within the legislation, we launched digital sales meetings and digital contract meetings during the pandemic.
Therese Frogner Sverre is chain manager for innovation, tech and market at DNB Eiendom.
DNB Eiendom is Norway's largest real estate agency chain with about 800 employees divided into 91 offices in Norway.
We are located on the top floor of DNB's headquarters, the first building to be built in Barcode. From the top floor, we have a 360-degree view of the capital's scorching housing market.
There is no doubt that Therese thrives in the role and in the industry. More than 20 years of various roles in the DNB Group testify to this. She has an infectious commitment when she talks about creating good housing journeys for sellers, buyers and brokers.
– Changing homes is one of the most important events in our lives. Being able to be a part of it, make a difference and create the best customer experiences is incredibly motivating and fun. I am so lucky that I get to work in an industry that almost everyone has a relationship with.
Therese has an infectious commitment when she talks about creating good housing journeys for sellers, buyers and brokers.
Digital competitiveness
She heads the Innovation, Tech and Market Development department, which consists of 25 people with different skills and expertise. For Therese, it is about what she calls "Digital competitiveness" and having a clearer link between strategy, organization and development.
– We have worked a lot on designing good development processes, cleaning up roles and role understandings. Now we are organized in such a way that we get the power and full potential of our digital investment. Interdisciplinarity is an important principle we work by.
Hans Huseklepp, CXO at Forte Digital, has extensive experience in helping large companies improve the user experience.
Customer journey as a management tool
In addition to organizational development, DNB Eiendom has recently worked actively with Customer Journey Mapping. This should help remove friction and be relevant at key times in the housing journey.
– In order for us as an industry to deliver what customers want in the future, we have to digitize away the things that customers are not willing to pay for. Creating increased customer value is our most important motivation for digitalization. Whether customers come into contact with us physically or digitally, we will make sure to have the best products and tools that both play well with the brokers and create the good customer experiences.
She is supported by Hans Huseklepp, CXO at Forte Digital, who has extensive experience in helping large companies improve the user experience.
– What we experience is that this is due to the fact that digital transformation requires changes in both strategy, product, platform and organization, and that throughout the organization you must have a common understanding of ambitions and a holistic thought about customer value. Customer Journey Mapping is a tool that gives companies like DNB Eiendom the necessary overview.
– Customer Journey Mapping is probably familiar to many from workshop activities where it is used to visualize and map a customer's encounter with a service or brand. What we have good experience with is lifting this and using the customer journeys as a management tool for management and that the entire organization can rally behind - so-called Customer Journey Ops, says Huseklepp.
Forte Digital has extensive experience with Customer Journey Mapping together with large companies such as NorgesGruppen, Flokk, OBOS and most recently DNB Eiendom.
Customer value, business value and feasibility
Forte Digital have extensive experience with Customer Journey Mapping together with large companies such as NorgesGruppen, Flokk, OBOS and most recently DNB Eiendom. Therese believes that the entire industry needs a holistic digitalization boost, especially when it comes to creating customer value.
– Together with Forte, we have identified where there is the greatest potential for simplification, improvement, efficiency and opportunities. We look for untapped opportunities and continuously assess which measures create value and loyalty for our customers over time. Here, I think the entire industry has a lot to go on," she adds. DNB Real Estate has recently worked extensively to highlight and map the connection between customer value, business value and feasibility.
– With scarce resources, what has the greatest effect on customer behaviour and experience must be prioritised. We use the customer journey as a tool to set direction and make good priorities. We are still in an early phase, but I am confident that these initiatives will create solid digital competitiveness for DNB Eiendom.
She also believes that the DNB Group has great opportunities to create value for customers across the Group.
– We have unique opportunities to offer our customers even better and seamless experiences since we can cover the entire housing journey from purchase, financing, sale, insurance, housing, etc.
DNB Eiendom has more than 1 million visitors to the website per week.
Data as a competitive advantage
DNB Eiendom has more than 1 million visitors to the website per week. The real estate giant works continuously to exploit and link together the value, insight and data from the various systems.
– Data is one of our most important competitive advantages. Whether it's product development, customer journeys, marketing and more.
Therese explains that good control of the data from various systems gives DNB Real Estate a unique starting point for creating even better digital products and services. A new data platform will ensure control of data and increased organisational, financial and technological flexibility.
Such a platform will facilitate the reuse of components and capabilities, reuse of business logic, analysis and insights across data sources, and contribute to more opportunities to automate and improve processes. At the same time, the platform facilitates the reuse of components and capabilities, the reuse of business logic, analysis and insights across data sources, and more opportunities to automate and improve processes.
– Easy access to data will make the development of existing and new systems easier and smoother. And we will use the overall insight and overview to create added value for both customers and brokers," she explains.
What makes you excited about the real estate industry of the future?
– The advent of new AI technology has opened up unimaginable opportunities for how to showcase, market and sell homes - especially in terms of automation and time spent. We hope AI and new digital technology will free up time for brokers so that they can spend even more time on what actually matters, namely the customers.
