Sescom’s Experts Are Creating the Future Now!

The growing importance of new technologies in retail, a record number in the installation of self-checkouts, an expansion to foreign markets and further savings generated through energy optimisation – these are just some of our team’s activities in 2021. Our experts are sharing their observations after the intense 12 months of 2021.

We support the Store and Facility Management sector

2021 brought changes to the market, especially in retail. They were an impulse for us to use our experience and knowledge on the Polish and European market.

Automation is proceeding. More and more technologies appear for our customers and development is inevitable. Online stores are also based on increasingly automated processes in logistics – says Sławomir Halbryt, CEO of Sescom.

The increasingly digital landscape of retail, requiring relocation or constitution of pick-up and return points in stores, has resulted in our customer’s growing desire to adapt their businesses to new requirements and trends. The creation and adaptation of additional warehouse spaces in order to complete online orders, or the development of POS systems have shown that the online and offline areas will complement each other. Online and offline sales channels connect so that the customer can receive the goods on the same day – explains Joanna Solińska, Business Development Manager, expert on FM on the DACH market at Sescom.

– Retail chains are well aware that in addition to online commerce, customers still shop in-store. There is a need for the modernisation of stores, which must take action to remain an attractive and competitive place for the customer – adds Piotr Kucharczyk, Business Development Manager, expert on facility modernisation and fitouts. Retail chains rely on continuous development. This can be seen with the interest in the hybrid store model. The formula of ordering goods online and picking them up in the store is gaining many followers. – It seems that hybrid stores will be a more and more common. On the other hand, the trend of saving energy, and thus helping environmental protection, will translate into green stores – adds Joanna Solińska. Our technologies draw from our experience to respond to these changes. This is demonstrated by one of the projects we implemented in 2021. – Our success certainly includes the installation of 200 self-checkouts in one of the largest retail chains in Poland. The project was an exciting challenge, as it covered many locations and involved several dozen teams. Self-checkouts improve the speed of customer service explains Piotr Kucharczyk. Last year, we installed 1,723 self-checkouts (SCO) in 421 locations in Poland, which means a 91.7 percent year-on-year increase.

Sescom’s Facility Management on the European market

There is a noticeable increase in the interest in outsourcing-based cooperation. We are currently conducting discussions about a comprehensive package of sevices, including budget management, with a major customer in one of the Southern European countries. It should be added that our leading foreign markets are the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. This is because these were the first markets we entered. At the same time, we are acquiring customers from Spain, France and the Netherlands – explains Dorota Jasińska, Business Development Manager, expert on FM on the CEE market. Of course, these are not the only places where we play an important role.

Regarding the DACH market, Germany is still the country where we operate on the biggest scale. We are simultaneously talking with partners from other destinations – adds Joanna Solińska. Working with various partners, we see a strong trend of global facility servicing – Large networks that feel the positive effects of our actions want to work with us in all of their facilities. It is very uplifting and it emphasises the high quality of what we do best and of our Facility Management. One of the advantages of cooperation with our company is the access to the SES Support Platform. It is a tool designed to facilitate reporting faults, malfunctions and other problematic issues. An important thing is the integration of our software with the customer service. We are flexible and we adapt to the needs of the customer – says Dorota Jasińska.

Sescom Energy knows how to save energy!

2021 brought some interesting trends related to energy. The first is undoubtedly the transformation of many life areas towards renewable energy sources. A sure call for action is the European Green Deal, which assumes that in 2050 Europe will be the first zero-emission continent, and the “Fit for 55” package, i.e. a set of directives on improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by at least 55% by 2030, as compared to the 1990 emission levels.

– 2021 was a year of large increases in energy and gas prices. When contracting energy for 2022, customers pay even twice as much as in the corresponding period of the previous year. As part of business development, optimising energy consumption and resulting savings has become a key issue for many companies. We are observing this trend based on numerous inquiries about our services – explains Paweł Trojanowski, Business Development Manager, expert on Energy at Sescom. In 2021, we ran an interesting project for one of our customers from the fuel industry: our calculations show that Sescom’s optimisation works have resulted in an over 10% decrease in energy consumption, bringing in tangible savings of several million PLN. We expect even better results in the first quarter of 2022!

Piotr Kucharczyk also confirms his focus on energy savings.

Recently, there has been a demand for energy saving in facilities – this applies to, among others, LED lighting projects or media consumption metering. Stores also implement technologies related to customer communication and customer service. Our customers also pay attention to solutions aimed at reducing operating costs.