In preparation for the Covid-19 pandemic possibly lasting longer than one year, SET-listed developer Sansiri Plc is adopting a speed-to-market strategy, improving after-sale services, promoting social distancing at its projects and redesigning products to adapt to the "new normal".
Chief executive Apichart Chutrakul says Sansiri continues to use campaigns to boost sales this year, as the company has forecast since late last year that the 2020 economy would be unfavourable.
"Early this year we expected that the property market would not be good, the same trend as the rest of the economy," he said. "But when Covid-19 spread across the globe, the situation got worse."
Seeing a glimpse of a downturn, Sansiri responded fast with aggressive sales promotions, including discounts and a waiver of mortgage loan installments for 24 months for units at residential projects nationwide.
In the first quarter, Sansiri recorded 11 billion baht in sales, up 70% from the same period last year and the highest in the industry. The amount represented 40% of the 2020 target, aimed at 29 billion baht.
Transfers in the first quarter totalled 9 billion baht, up 36% from the first quarter of last year.
Driven by the 24-month instalment waiver campaign, sales in the first three weeks of April 2020 totalled 4.2 billion baht, prompting Sansiri to raise the sales target for the second quarter to 12 billion baht from 10 billion baht.
Sansiri's new headquarters, SIRI Campus, is on Sukhumvit Soi 77 in the On Nut area. Sansiri invested 1 billion baht in the project.
"Cash is king for developers at this moment," Mr Apichart said. "We need to boost sales to get as much cash as possible because cash flow is critical amid a crisis as we have chosen not to lay off staff."
He said the 24-month waiver will help those struggling to maintain their income or career. They can stay without worries for two years, after which time the company thinks the virus crisis will have subsided.
"Our campaigns promoted on billboards or social networks can draw not only target customers, but also those who think that Sansiri homes are unaffordable and never took a single step onto our project sites," Mr Apichart said.
When housing prices decline to a point that attracts these potential customers, they will eventually visit project sites, he said. This will be the chance to introduce them to a total solution, from product to design to after-sale services.
In February last year, Sansiri and Plus Property Co Ltd, a property management subsidiary, invested 60 million baht to upgrade to a real-time security system called LIV-24.
Using the four technologies of artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G, LIV-24 can detect 28 cases through smart CCTV or CCTV analytics and prevent 16 cases of possible loss.
So far, LIV-24 is applied at Sansiri's 30 residential projects in Greater Bangkok, comprising 12 condo projects and 18 low-rise housing projects. The goal is to increase to 60 projects, including 20 condo sites and 40 low-rise projects.
The campus offers an innovate workplace for co-working and flexible working.
Sansiri this year will launch IoT facilities management and smart meters to detect any anomalies in the water and electricity system at each residential unit.
In 2021, the company will expand LIV-24 to commercial buildings. The system is monitored at the new headquarters, SIRI Campus, on Sukhumvit Soi 77 in the On Nut area, where five six-storey towers with a usable area of 19,000 square metres accommodate 1,300 staff.
Sansiri in February relocated the headquarters from the 18-storey Siripinyo Building to the seven-rai SIRI Campus, where the company invested 1 billion baht in construction.
The new open-plan workplace promotes hot-desking in the co-working space style. Even before the outbreak, staff could choose two weekdays a week (except Monday and Friday) to work from home.
"Our work-from-home policy came at the right time. It used to be an option or an experiment for some, but now it is a mandate," said Mr Apichart, one of Sansiri's three founders.
To support social distancing policy, the company encourages all staff to work from home, depending on their job description.
Measures have been set in place to support the government's social distancing policy. Varuth Hirunyatheb
"As we don't have a layoff policy, efficiency when working from home should be higher," Mr Apichart said.
He agrees with the idea of gradually easing current restrictions and allowing some businesses to reopen, as long as health and safety are assured.
"It is a new normal," he said. "Everyone should wear a mask in public, clean their hands before leaving the house, do it again when going into a building or a public place, and so on."
As the pandemic shapes a new way of life, the company is redesigning residential projects accordingly. Lifts will have an automatic virus-killing UV light. Co-working spaces will be more hygienic with more frequent cleaning.
"Staying home to work will last until the virus ends," Mr Apichart said. "To support people staying home longer, common areas may need to be larger. Exercise equipment may be built in to residential units or become furniture."
Inside the LIV-24 security system
The real-time LIV-24 security system will reshape after-sale services and property management, ensuring the safety of residents, saving costs, increasing efficiency and preventing losses or damage.
Apichart Chutrakul, chief executive of Sansiri Plc, said the system was developed as a new business during the Covid-19 crisis as safety became a growing concern among those working from home.
"Parents and kids spend more time at home," he said. "A case like kids falling into a pool will not happen, as the movement sensor system in CCTV analytics will report immediately when kids are found playing around or near a pool."
Big data technology plays a key role, as it can help predict future incidents and prevent them before any loss or damage occurs.
Security monitoring in LIV-24 also includes a digital fence. When there is an intrusion onto a property or someone is too close to a balcony's edge, the digital fence will alert the juristic office and the LIV-24 command centre.
While the juristic person at the project will manage the incident, the command centre's 24-hour monitoring, run by Sansiri subsidiary Plus Property Co Ltd, will report to the relevant emergency responders.
Security guards will make the rounds all night in the project area carrying a handy alert device with a button they can press in case of emergency. Visitors will be required to have their ID cards recorded at an entrance gate.
Because staying at home for longer could lead to higher electric bills, LIV-24's smart metre will monitor power usage at each unit and report any unusual consumption.
"The total living solution we provide will upgrade property management and uplift after-sale services, which will make us different from other developers," Mr Apichart said.