Patchwork of systems, long queues in the canteen, and tenants who can't find the information they need. For many Norwegian commercial buildings, this is everyday life. Technology company Izy has spent the last few years developing a platform that brings together all the building's services in one place. We spoke with CEO Kjetil Sinding and CVO Ole Aabel about how they simplify everyday life for all parties.
"Our main goal is to have everything in one solution," explains Kjetil Sinding when we meet him and Ole Aabel at the head office.
What started as a desire to create a digital front for commercial buildings has evolved into a comprehensive platform covering soft facility management – everything that's not about the building shell itself, but about the services inside the building: canteen, meeting room booking, visitor registration, and building information.
"When we started, there was no digital front for buildings. Property owners spend enormous sums building a profile and marketing their buildings as high-tech and modern, but when tenants come through the door, they encounter a patchwork of different systems and solutions," says Sinding.
The solution became Izy – a platform that brings together canteen, meeting room booking, visitor registration, and building information, while each individual user gets customized permissions based on which tenant they belong to.
One of the platform's most important functions is what Aabel calls the "authorization hierarchy," a system that lets portal users set up individual agreements with all tenants and users.
"Izy Portal is the administration tool where property owners and service providers control everything. From here we can handle that ten different tenants in the same building have ten different price agreements in the canteen. Maybe one department within a company also has its own price. All of this is managed easily through Izy Portal," explains Aabel.
The system also handles complex permission structures. One tenant may have access to certain meeting rooms, while another has access to others. Some employees can put lunch on the company invoice, others cannot. Everything is managed centrally through the portal, but is experienced seamlessly for the end user who only sees the Izy app on their phone.
The most visible change for many users is mAIfood, Izy's AI-powered payment solution for canteens. With an image recognition system that automatically identifies all items on the tray, they've cut payment time significantly.
"An average transaction now takes 14 seconds from start to fully paid. The biggest delay is actually when the customer opens their phone to pay," says Sinding.
The system automatically recognizes if there are weighted items involved and handles everything in one image. For canteen operators, this means they can focus on food production and service instead of standing at the checkout.
"The feedback has been very positive. It works, it's simple, and it frees up resources. In canteens with limited staffing, the offering actually gets better because employees can concentrate on keeping the buffet always stocked and maintaining high food quality," says Aabel.
mAIfood offers more than fast payment. The dashboard gives canteen operators insight into sales patterns and the opportunity for better planning.
"We can tell you which products sell best and when. If there's a salad bar, the system knows when it needs to be refilled. But the most important thing is that we can create staffing suggestions based on prediction – you know how many employees you need at work based on expected visitor numbers," explains Sinding.
This prediction capability contributes to reduced food waste by allowing the canteen to plan purchases and production more precisely. Registration of actual food waste is coming as a feature before summer, which will provide even better documentation for sustainability reporting.
The process from first contact to fully implemented system is shorter than many expect. After a 30-60 minute demo and a quote, a workshop is arranged to map the customer's needs.
"The system is designed to support multiple ways of working. The modules can be used in different ways and customized significantly. This is what we map out in the workshop," explains Sinding.
At launch, the Izy team is on-site for one to two days to ensure a good start. All users are invited into the system, and rules are set up per tenant.
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