Before I sign off the year and spend some much-needed time with family and friends, I wanted to share a few thoughts on 2022 and my outlook for 2023. This year, we expanded our client footprint across the UK, USA and Germany, hitting some major milestones along the way. Here are some of my highlights.
A year of big numbers.
Earlier this year, we broke the 1 million unit mark for properties managed by Plentific globally. This takes the number of residents whose lives we impact to over 1,520,000.
Plentific now operates nationwide in the UK, 96 unique postcodes in Germany and two major cities in the US. The platform saw over 350,000 work orders posted to our marketplace, many more directly to internal teams and appointed contractors, with 168,000 compliance jobs created and just under 165,000 inspection reports generated. Client adoption has increased exponentially with around 8x revenue increase potential with existing clients alone.
Our tech team went above and beyond this year, delivering an astounding 118 prototypes, which were transformed into 77 major feature releases on the platform. We also welcomed 49 new members to the tech team, bringing our diverse tech talent up to 149 people from 20 different countries.
We communicated a lot as a global team, sharing 3.5 million Slack messages, 34% of which were read in public channels, 13% in private and 53% in direct messages.
A year of new launches.
We were thrilled to globally launch Plentific Inspections this year, a best-in-class digital inspections tool that is transforming how residential and commercial property providers approach surveys, tenancy reports and compliance checks and most importantly gather structured property data.
We also worked closely with one key client to augment our Voids solution's configurability, by deploying custom data fields and sections to expand the tools' project management functionalities.
On the finance management side, we introduced bank transfers to Plentific this year - in partnership with market-leading online payments solution Stripe. Adding bank transfers to the mix now gives Plentific clients full control over work order payments, with no training or onboarding required for finance teams. This also creates the fastest payment process for contractors to streamline their cash flow needs. Gone are the days of waiting to get paid on time!
A year of new talent.
The incredible talent team managed an influx of over 35,000 applications and conducted nearly 6000 interviews across the business. We had 150 new hires this year and implemented a new joiner training programme for them, to make onboarding more seamless.
Alongside, we launched a global benefits programme for our colleagues, including enhanced parental leave, reinforced health insurance and a work-from-abroad policy, amongst many others.
A year of accolades.
On the awards front, we wrapped up the year on a high with two incredible wins at the UK PropTech Association (UKPA) Awards. We took home the prize for Transformational Business Award (PropTech) and it was an honour for me to win Inspirational Leader of the Year.
At HOMES UK, one of the nation's foremost built environment events, we won the coveted 'Best stand' award. The event has 4000 attendees each year and over 150 exhibitors, so this win was an extra special one.
A year of creating new opportunities.
The Women's Trade Network (WTN), our initiative to promote gender equality in trades, has been running for over 18 months now. We work alongside 60 supporting organisations to break down traditional barriers to entry in the sector. This year, the WTN had 13 women join our programme, five additional women graduate with a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card, three programmes running alongside in London and the Midlands and three award nominations for the initiative.
One of my biggest, most heartfelt thank-yous this year goes to everyone in the Plentific team who launched, organised and participated in Voluntober, a global month of giving back to the communities that have helped us achieve so much.
From mountainous climbs to virtual bingo and food bank donations; there was an ever-growing list of events for the Plentific team to get involved in - and we raised over £3900 for our efforts. We packed 510 bags with fresh produce for the needy in Berlin, took care of furry friends in New Jersey, taught children to code and prepared aid items for the needy, received from all over Turkey.
There were some challenges…
From uncertainty in the economy, to entering new sectors and even the pace of rolling out new tech in real estate organisations the world over. The last 12 months have taught us a lot. Change management is never easy and all our clients require our help navigating it. We refined our approach towards establishing long term plans for each client and learned to better define achievable short term goals that enable us to operate as an agile organisation.
We also discovered where our strengths and weaknesses lie in finding a working policy that best suits our team and goals. We took our time to establish a hybrid work environment to stay adaptable as an organisation - and emerge stronger by creating an open mindset within our team.
What to expect in 2023.
We have bigger ambitions for 2023 and will continue pushing the boundaries with our clients, both existing and new, on the road to establishing a new standard in global Proptech.
In Germany, we recently signed on as an Repairs and Maintenance (R&M) partner for a leading real estate agency operating across Chemnitz, Dresden, Leipzig and Halle. Exciting things are brewing in the US as well, where we are set to establish key relationships in San Francisco and New York early next year. In the UK, we focus on increasing our market share across the residential sector.
Seamless integrations will form another key part of next year's goals. We will build on the momentum of our continued success integrating with Small and Midsize Business (SMBs) in both the UK and Germany, ensuring these business' clients can self-sign up for Plentific features through a single solution.
There are many exciting upcoming product launches for 2023, starting with a standalone Inspections solution that will work independently of our product suite, opening up a world of possibilities outside of our core platform offering.
Our highly anticipated native app for Field Service Management is also scheduled for release early next year. Designed for both iOS and Android, it will enable clients with an internal workforce, contractors and their respective operatives to easily manage jobs and bookings on the go and improve the last mile experience for residents significantly.
Our rate card and automation features will enable clients to streamline all existing and new contractor relationships through a single platform across all service types
Plentific's ESG Retrofit Centre of Excellence is also set to have its big launch next year. We've put in plans to develop a market leading, compliant and Trustmark-endorsed, end-to-end retrofit solution to support clients and suppliers towards their zero carbon targets. This will thread through compliance, data driven stock analysis, asset management strategies, resident engagement, PAS 2035 compliant project delivery and more.
As we head into 2023, I want to thank all of our clients, partners, contractors and the Plentific global team for making the year a success. Our team embraces every challenge with the highest level of integrity, doing whatever it takes to become the defining real estate operating platform in the world. I'm super optimistic for all that's to come in the New Year. No matter what the world throws at us, it will always be superseded by the energy and will of the Plentific community. We remain fully committed to delivering the absolute best for our customers. In 2023, let's embrace every possibility to create a better world for everyone. Building stronger communities by streamlining Real Estate operations to enrich lives is our purpose.
Wishing you a wonderful festive season and Happy New Year from all of us at Plentific.
