Flow Fastighetsvärden AB acquisition strengthens the digitalization of PHM Group
PHM Group made its largest international acquisition in July 2021 by acquiring the Swedish company Flow Fastighetsvärden AB. In July 2021 Flow Fastighetsvärden AB had the turnover off app. 25 MEUR and the company was spread across mid and south Sweden with about 20 locations. Its core business is in the property maintenance both out and indoors and in the “estate management” technical and economic management of condominiums.
The acquisition also provided PHM Group with access to Realnode – a digital property management system developed by Flow – which is advancing the digitalization of PHM Group and the whole property maintenance industry significantly.
– We were happy to join the PHM Group last summer. The acquisition has strengthened PHM Group in the path of digitalization, and we are happy to lead the way. For our personnel the change of ownership has not shown that much, Flow personnel continues the daily work as before. We value that the locality of the offices and companies acquired has been kept, which I believe is very valuable for the whole PHM Group, states Andreas Westin the former CEO of Flow Fastighetsvärden AB and the current Country Manager of PHM Group Sweden.
After joining PHM Group Flow has benefitted from larger and synergized procurement in the group in forms of better supplier rebates and increased reliability. Also, stronger IT-support and the strong financial state provided by the large parent company are advancing the growth strategy and digitalization.
– I really value the network with experts and former entrepreneurs that have joined PHM in Sweden. There is nothing better than the possibility to share, discuss new ideas, develop the business, and solve issues together with the national network of experts that we have in the group now in Sweden. At the same time the local freedom of the companies is maintained, says Westin.
PHM Group is continuously prospecting companies is Sweden to join the group. The targeted companies are profitable actors in property maintenance business and in the scale of app. 2–20 MEUR turnover size.
– In many cases we can give the motivational push to take the next evolutionary step for a company. The entrepreneur is the strong backbone of our group, and the development will be supported strongly. This is something that is not easy to do as a stand-alone-entrepreneur. We maintain the entrepreneur spirit and keep the management de-centralized – these are the PHM Group strengths. We are also working hard to be the vanguard of digitalization in property maintenance – our Realnode system is already advancing strongly in Sweden. With us you are joining the winning team, the PHM family, adds Westin.
SHORT STORY: Realnode
Realnode is an in-house developed digital platform that simplifies the administrative work of condominiums and increases efficiency for providing both financial and technical property maintenance. It is the most encompassing digital system for condominiums in Sweden, gathering all economical, technical and maintenance information in one place and simplifies work and cooperation between condominium and service provider.
The board of the condominium has access to Realnode both through mobile app (iOS and Android) and on the web. They can gather all their work and information on the platform and are provided easy-to-use features for e.g., approval of supplier invoices, expense reports, e-signatures, and much more. Accounting and financial reports are updated in real time in Realnode and available for all board members. The board of the condominium can also publish news and information alerts, to be received and viewed by the condominium members and tenants, who also have access to the Realnode phone and web app.
PHM as a service provider is using Realnode as a working tool for financial services, using efficient workflows to assist customers with managing supplier invoices, expenses, remunerations, and to supply reconciliation reports. As Realnode is developed for this purpose the effort required for daily tasks are drastically reduced per customer, much improving business scalability.
For technical maintenance, Realnode is integrating 3rd party solutions for work order management. Board and member users are provided an easy way to create service order tickets in the phone or web app, collecting the necessary information for the job to be performed, while keeping the customer updated on the status. There is also functionality to keep track of e.g. maintenance plans and recurring inspections.
