At the virtual gala night on 2 December 2020, the jury of the Best of Swiss Apps Awards honored the best mobile applications in Switzerland. The app Visits digitalizes and automates the real estate market and won a silver award in the Enterprise category. The jury particularly praised the increase in efficiency and the interconnection of the underlying systems with the buildings, a real digital transformation of existing processes. Visits digitally record all important characteristics of real estate on-site. To date, real estate experts have used paper and pencil to assess the renovation work required. With the app Visits, they can document everything digitally, easily, efficiently, and without switching tools.

Innovate in partnership and create something new

The companies Netcetera, WüestPartner and QualiCasa developed Visits in close cooperation. They had started with a vague idea to optimize the inspection of buildings in order to push the digitalization and automation of the real estate market. The result is a product that creates real added value.

With Visits, during the inspection of a building, the most important characteristics such as condition, standard and materials can be systematically recorded and evaluated via an intuitive and fast interface. The result is a detailed report that depicts the life cycles of the individual components and forms the basis for analyses, evaluations and strategic decisions in the development, evaluation and management of the real estate. Everything the expert enters in Visits is directly synchronized with the valuation systems, including photos.

Creating standards with an open interface

The Visits project was set up in a forward-looking and sustainable manner. The progressive web application works on all mobile devices and operating systems. In addition, Visits is open and fully integrated: The partners' two backend systems, the rating platform Wüest Dimensions and the QualiCasa management platform, are connected and interlinked. In addition, third-party software from external business partners can be seamlessly integrated. This enables smooth cooperation between owners, managers, analysts and property valuers. Until now, there were no standards for APIs in the real estate market. Visits is an advance in this direction and can address completely different systems via one API.