Woonopmaat is the landlord of 8,800 homes in Heemskerk, Beverwijk and Wijk aan Zee. Every day, all kinds of notes go out to tenants. By hundreds at the same time. Since April 2020, this has been going digital step by step via POM. At the end of last year, preparations were made to also send the bills for service and heating costs via the POM platform.

“Those preparations took quite a bit of time,” Jeroen Half, information analyst at Woonopmaat, looks back. “Most of the work was in setting up the templates. And you have to think carefully about the content of the letters. Furthermore, we had to set up our ERP system in the right way so that it fits well with POM's. This was followed by a test phase. You have to do this carefully, because, of course, it's about money. You want the right message to reach the right person.”

Barely look back

But once this part of the process was completed, all that remained was the usual work. “After calculating and processing the meter readings, the statements we calculated were put into files and read into POM,” says Jeroen. “Then it was a push of a button and our tenants received an email message: pay, get a refund or a zero invoice. The email contained a payment link and also a link to our website to explain if there were any notable issues with the electricity or gas bill.” In the next few times, Woonopmaat will only have to carry out this part of the process. “For the rest, everything is now ready to go; next year, apart from calculating and processing the meter readings, we will hardly have to worry about it.”

Accessible archive

The new process is a lot easier, faster and more efficient, says Jeroen. “Letters have to be printed, sorted, packaged and delivered. That takes a lot of time. Although it was something that we outsourced, we no longer need to do so. So that also saves us costs.” And there is another big advantage. “The emails sent are stored at POM and transferred to our archive. If a tenant calls with questions, or if a colleague wants to find something back, the messages are very easy to find. To do this, one of our colleagues was responsible for this; he then had to search a certain folder on a hard drive to find that one message. That is a thing of the past. The messages are either at POM or in our archive and anyone who has the rights to view them can access them.”

Pay faster

The digitization process offers other benefits for Woonopmaat, says Jeroen. “The payment link that you can include in the email makes the payment process much easier. In general, people pay faster now. And it's sustainable because you save a lot of paper. The prolongation notes alone are about eight or nine hundred letters a month.”

Tenants' reactions

The tenants went along well with the process, says Jeroen. “We announced the switch in advance in our residents' magazine and also posted it on our website. Overall, the reactions were actually positive. Especially about the additional ease of payment: “How nice that we can now pay via a link.” I have the idea that it was mostly older people who had to get used to it. But fortunately, we see that many of them are now dealing very well with it.”

Letter with QR code

By the way, the switch to digital mail via POM does not mean that a letter will never be sent to Woonopmaat again. “In the POM platform, we can see whether an email has arrived and is being read,” explains Jeroen. “If that doesn't happen, a letter with a QR code will still go out. This way, the tenants always get a message from us and the option to pay quickly and easily.”

Departure and first rental notes

In addition to the final bills for service and heating costs, Woonopmaat also sends the prolongation notes and rent increase letters via POM. The collection process also runs via the POM platform. The next processes that are being digitized are sending the departure notes and the first rental notes. Jeroen: “For example, we are always looking for more things we can do via POM. Data enrichment, for example. Or sending bulk letters electronically. Meanwhile, we are very satisfied with how things are going now. We are very pleased with the service and support provided by POM. Looking forward to our next step!”

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