DNB Eiendom: – It's About Creating Digital Competitiveness

“What do we do now?”

This was the question Therese asked herself when physical property viewings came to an abrupt halt on March 12, 2020. Therese is clear that digital transformation doesn't always need to be large and complex, but can be smaller incremental changes over time.

The pandemic's limitations and restrictions served as an illustrative example of rapid adaptability.

– The pandemic brought about some small but not insignificant transformations. For instance, having physical sales brochures at viewings was the norm before the pandemic. These are now digital. It is also legally required that the inspection of the property happens physically. To minimize physical customer meetings as much as possible within the law, we launched digital sales meetings and digital contract meetings during the pandemic.

DNB Eiendom is Norway's largest real estate chain with approximately 800 employees spread across about 91 offices in Norway.

We are on the top floor of DNB's headquarters, one of the first buildings erected in Barcode. From the top floor, we have a 360-degree view of the capital's sizzling housing market.

There's no doubt that Therese enjoys her role and the industry. More than 20 years in various roles within the DNB group testify to that. She has an infectious enthusiasm when she talks about creating great housing journeys for sellers, buyers, and agents.

– Changing homes is one of the most important events in our lives. Being able to be part of that, making a difference, and creating the best customer experiences is incredibly motivating and fun. I am so lucky to work in an industry that almost everyone has a relationship with.

She heads the Innovation, Tech, and Market Development department, which consists of 25 people with different skills and expertise.

For Therese, it’s 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, clarifying roles and role understandings to harness the power and full potential of our digital initiatives. Interdisciplinarity is an important principle we work by.

The goal is to use customer journeys as an ongoing strategic management tool. DNB Eiendom has recently been actively working with Customer Journey Mapping.

This aims to remove friction and be relevant at key points in the housing journey.

– For our industry to deliver what customers want in the future, we need to digitize away the things customers are not willing to pay for. Creating increased customer value is our most important motivation for digitizing. Whether customers contact us physically or digitally, we will ensure we have the best products and tools that both empower agents and create great customer experiences.

She is supported by Hans Huseklepp, CXO at Forte Digital, who has extensive experience helping large companies improve the user experience.

– What we experience is that this stems from the fact that digital transformation requires changes in strategy, product, platform, and organization, and that the entire organization must have a common understanding of ambitions and a holistic view of customer value.

Customer Journey Mapping is a tool that gives companies like DNB Eiendom the necessary overview.

– Many are familiar with Customer Journey Mapping from workshop activities where it is used to visualize and map a customer's interaction with a service or brand. What we have good experience with is elevating this and using the customer journeys as a management tool for leadership and something the entire organization can rally behind - so-called Customer Journey Ops, says Huseklepp.

Forte Digital has extensive experience with Customer Journey Mapping with large companies like NorgesGruppen, Flokk, OBOS, and recently DNB Eiendom.

Therese believes the entire industry needs a comprehensive digital uplift, 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. I believe the entire industry has much room for improvement here, she adds.

DNB Eiendom has recently worked extensively to visualize and map the relationship between customer value, business value, and feasibility.

– With limited resources, what has the greatest effect on customer behavior and experience must be prioritized. 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 sure these initiatives will create solid digital competitiveness for DNB Eiendom.

She also believes 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, living, etc.

DNB Eiendom has more than 1 million visitors to its website per week. The real estate giant is continuously working to leverage and connect the value, insights, and data from its various systems.

– Data is one of our most important competitive advantages. Whether it’s about product development, customer journeys, marketing, and more. Good control over the data from our systems gives us a unique starting point to create even better digital products and services.

A new data platform will ensure control over data and increased organizational, financial, and technological flexibility. Such a platform will facilitate the reuse of components and capabilities, reuse of business logic, analysis, and insight across data sources, and contribute to more opportunities to automate and improve processes.

– Easy access to data will make the development of existing and new systems simpler and more agile. And with consolidated insights and overviews, we will create added value for both customers and agents, explains Therese.

What excites you about the future of the real estate industry?

– The advent of new AI technology has opened up unprecedented possibilities for how we can showcase, market, and sell properties - especially in terms of automation and time management. We hope AI and new digital technology will free up time for agents so they can spend even more time on what really matters, namely the customers.