agconnect best practices: France and Quebec

For 3 years now, the field of real estate has been able to see the democratization, as much in France as in Quebec, of digital solutions like agconnect, which allow better practices in General Assemblies.

So, what are the good practices that are observed on the field, thanks to the implementation of agconnect in the processes of co-ownerships and the holding of General Assemblies?

On the French side, we see that good practices mainly revolve around the question of timetables.

Indeed, agconnect makes it possible to hold assemblies during the day (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) rather than in the evening as was done before the pandemic, without the dematerialization tools of the GAs. It turns out that around 65% of meetings are now held in this time slot, which undoubtedly allows managers to provide a better quality service, in addition to allowing co-owners to connect for a few hours during the day to follow their GA rather than moving just to follow it. On the subject of moving precisely, by holding meetings during the day, travel time is saved by the co-owners but also by the manager (and by the co-ownership in terms of costs!). Saving time, but also much less stress for the manager, who can then concentrate his efforts and his energy on holding the meeting itself, on its preparation in particular, and therefore on the ‘’profession side’’ as such. The difference is actually easy to calculate if we ask ourselves the question: how much time does the manager waste traveling each time for the GAs?

On the Quebec side, we observe on the field that it is rather the use of services related to the agconnect tool that really makes the difference in terms of good practices.

We think particularly of the agconnect assistance which not only helps the manager to prepare for the GA, but also during the GA, where the manager can delegate certain technical elements such as managing people speaking (including via tchat, which is managed by the agconnector) or the opening and closing of votes. The manager can thus save precious time and once again provide a better quality of service to the co-owners. The use of agconnect services actually changes the game, especially in hybrid GAs, where you have to manage the physical room and the remote people. In addition, the risk of error is lower, which reduces the stress and pressure exerted on the manager.

At the level of co-owners, it has been noted that hybrid assemblies have become THE solution to overcome the rate of absenteeism during general meetings and to deal with certain realities, in particular difficult climatic conditions in the province during the winter, and also recurring travel realities like the Florida Snowbirds.

Both in France and in Quebec, the agconnect tool has also changed the way co-owners vote: indeed, a co-owner who wants to ensure that he exercises his right to vote can very well give a power of attorney in case he is absent, and if at the last minute he happens to be present, then he can vote physically. Thus, the commitment of the co-owners vis-à-vis their co-ownership and their manager is reinforced and the quorum is reached more easily, which is a significant element knowing that this represented one of the main problems of co-ownerships before the pandemic. In addition, the use of this tool would increase the transparency of the votes (possibility of displaying the results’ graphs after each vote with the list of for/against/abstentions).

As far as votes are concerned, and more particularly their entry, the time saved is undeniable thanks to tools like agconnect. With help for entering postal and proxy votes in particular, and with smartphone voting, we not only save time, but also money. Whether it is dematerialized or not (the more it is dematerialized, the more time is saved), it is considered that the time saved in a GA with agconnect versus a classic GA is around an hour, which is obviously not trivial. In the end, even during a 100% in-person GA, the time saving is there, because just the fact that the voting process is dematerialized is enough to save time. Indeed, manually recording 50 votes one by one, and recording 50 votes at the same time (received via the participants' smartphones, tablets or computers), is not the same thing!

In the future, one can imagine that these good practices will be further developed, for example concerning time savings and the carbon footprint of a GA: at the request of customers and co-owners or even possibly by legal obligation, GHG savings (Greenhouse Gas), or the time saved in grams of CO2 could be displayed for example, as entities such as Google Map or SNCF in France already do. As for the calculation of the carbon footprint, current tools can already take into account the various data that contribute to GHG emissions around the holding of the GA (whether it is dematerialized or not), including participant travel if applicable, energy consumption relative to the room used (for in-person and hybrid modes) as well as that of the computer equipment used, GHG emissions related to the catering service (especially for Quebec), and data related to the sending of registered mail, if applicable. Speaking of which, check out our article on the subject right here!

In reality, the good practices are more or less the same in France and in Quebec, except that the specific practices on the field may be slightly different, depending on the habits of the profession, but also on the legal side.

One thing is certain, it is that the best practices observed on the field on both continents are the practices of the future, those which are changing and will continue to change the way in which the profession of manager is exercised, the working conditions and, eventually, to restore the reputation of the profession and attract more young people to it!

agconnect is one of the digital solutions allowing managers to access these good practices without delay and to help improve their daily professional activities.

To implement these best practices now and to learn more about agconnect, its offers and the digital solution, go to ag-connect.ca!

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