wowflow: a smart app that organizes a mall’s facility management

As the technical manager of Vienna’s Donau Zentrum, Drazen Ivanis had to keep an eye on all maintenance works in this huge building complex. His experience is now the basis for the wowflow app of his start-up Adage GmbH. “I was responsible for a staff of 80 to 120 from different service providers. On the one hand, I was responsible for projects with million-euro budgets–the overall volume amounted to 16 million euros–and on the other hand I was also the guy to talk to when a power outlet got ripped out or a tile was broken,” says Drazen Ivanis, talking about his time as a technical manager at Vienna’s Donau Zentrum. In this position he was “the first line of defense” in many situations. It turned out to be quite difficult to keep an eye on all of the mall’s maintenance works. These experiences gave him the idea for what he is now doing with his app.

Jakob Dietschy, the Property Manager at “The Mall” at Wien Mitte confirms that the app works particularly well in the current crisis phase, “I have a complete overview of what my teams are doing in The Mall. I can give feedback in real-time and select, which tasks I need to check personally, and which I can approve from distance because of the included pictures and the task workflow in wowflow. This increases my impact from home office and minimizes time I would normally have to spend by inspecting all the tasks on site.”

One system for everybody involved

“Of course, there were other management systems, but they were only used by those service providers who were contractually obligated to use them. Others used WhatsApp groups to communicate. Therefore, it was hard to say what, when, and who reported to who,” says Ivanis. This was when he realized that there was a market for a system that can be used by everybody involved. “wowflow’s principle is quite straightforward: I see something. I record it–with a written statement or a photo. I delegate the task. When the task is completed, I get a report, which can also come with a photo attached. And it includes a rating function,” says the founder.

Management structures within the multilingual app

“Tasks can be delegated in accordance with the respective management or hierarchy structure, which can be stored in the system individually. Even when several hundred people are involved, each individual person can remain in contact with a reasonable amount of people via this app,” says Ivanis. This is how the app distinguishes itself from other systems. wowflow is currently available in German, English, Serbo-Croatian, Polish, and soon in Turkish, and translates tasks automatically. “Therefore, we can cover the native languages of more than 80 percent of all relevant workers in this country (meaning Austria),” says Ivanis.

A clear dashboard

However, usability is not the only selling point. Another key feature is the system’s dashboard (for desktops or tablets). “For example, I can retrieve a detailed summary at the end of the year, from which I can draw further conclusions.” Among many other things, the dashboard shows the administrator, how much time individual service providers need to complete their respective tasks – and the administrator can rate them. “This makes it easier to compare them and helps administrators to fulfil their obligatory documentation duties,” says Ivanis. It saves even more time and enables them to optimize operative costs. According to Ivanis, the app can be used for far more than just facility management.

With the ECE and Center Wien Mitte–The Mall, the start-up’s client list already includes two very prominent names.

What is wowflow

wowflow website: https://wowflow.org