Housing Technology interviewed housing experts from FLS – Fast Lean Smart, Mobysoft, NEC Software Solutions, Nolijwork, RoomApp and Wordnerds about the effect of the government’s Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) on housing providers’ operations and how technology can help.
The difficulties of TSMs
Chris Fleck, chief technology and product officer at Mobysoft, said, “The introduction of Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) has added a new layer of complexity for housing providers. One of the main challenges is the sheer volume and variety of data that has to be collected and reported. TSMs cover broad themes, such as repairs, safety, complaint handling, tenant engagement and neighbourhood management, requiring data from multiple sources, often stored across disparate systems. Furthermore, ensuring the data’s accuracy and consistency while meeting tight reporting deadlines can be resource-intensive.”
Kay Aston, head of product for housing at NEC Software Solutions, said, “There are two big pain points with the TSM reports. The first is to do with the data. If you don’t have the right processes to ensure your teams are recording relevant data into the system correctly to begin with, there’s a risk that your TSMs will be inaccurate. Added to this is the problem of multiple systems for, say, gas safety checks, repairs and complaints, resulting in duplicate data which then involves significant manual reconciliation.
“The other challenge is knowing how to get hold of residents for the tenant perception surveys. It’s vital to work out how residents want to be contacted before any surveys are done otherwise you risk only hearing from one group of people when what you really need are voices from across your community.”
Sarah Wilson, account manager at Wordnerds, said, “As soon as TSM results are put into a league table, it becomes less about the actual experience of making tenants’ lives better and more about comparing scores and positions. Therefore, the most important thing is to ignore your position in the tables and focus on how your customers feel about what you’re doing and how to improve that.”
Improvements or just a ‘tick box’ exercise?
Jeremy Squire, managing director of FLS – Fast Lean Smart, said, “TSMs can leverage meaningful resident feedback to drive real change, with technology playing an important part in transforming service improvements, but only if housing providers can act on the insights.
“Engaging with tenants improves the two-way flow of communications between housing providers and their tenants, providing an opportunity for them to raise their concerns. TSMs also provide a benchmark for tenants’ associations to quiz housing providers, hold them to account and help them to make comparisons.”
Paul O’Neill, co-founder of NolijWork, said, “This is ultimately down to housing providers themselves, in terms of what they need and might choose to do about their results and performance. From NolijWork’s own analysis of TSM data, the key areas for improvement are repairs and complaint handling, which align with other feedback mechanisms from both the Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing.”
Mobysoft’s Fleck said, “While it’s easy to view TSMs as ‘window dressing’ by a government under pressure to improve social housing, their potential to drive meaningful improvements shouldn’t be underestimated. TSMs create an opportunity for housing providers to rethink their tenant engagement strategies, improve service delivery and foster greater accountability.
“However, that depends on how housing providers approach TSMs. If treated as a mere compliance exercise, the impact will be minimal. Conversely, leveraging TSM data to inform proactive service improvements can lead to more responsive communications, better repairs management and, ultimately, higher tenant satisfaction.”
Wordnerds’ Wilson said, “Our experience is that TSMs have already resulted in improvements. Two years ago, we frequently heard, “We’re data-rich, insight-poor.” That’s no longer the case; housing providers are becoming more data literate and more likely to base their decisions on insights rather than instinct, with TSMs massively accelerating this process.
“Regarding TSMs being a tick-box exercise, it’s easy to be cynical about things imposed by regulators but it’s clear that something had to change in social housing in the wake of various PR disasters we all know about. Things are much more likely to improve now as a result of TSMs.”
Getting better at gathering tenants’ opinions
Camarlo Richards, chief executive of RoomApp, said, “While TSMs aim to enhance transparency and accountability, housing providers often face challenges in gathering consistent and actionable tenant feedback. Traditional feedback methods, such as paper surveys or phone interviews, can be slow and yield low responses. Digital platforms, such as RoomApp, offer a more efficient alternative by enabling tenants to share their experiences in real-time through apps and portals. This immediacy not only increases response rates but also provides housing providers with timely insights into tenants’ concerns.”
NEC’s Aston said, “It really shouldn’t be an annual activity to find out how customers are feeling. Technology enables housing providers to use dedicated mobile apps for convenient two-way communication so that there can be continuous feedback, keeping customers involved and informed.
“The easier you make it for a resident to contact you, the more information you will have to see if they’re happy. And if they receive a quick reply and fast action is taken then it’s very likely that satisfaction rates will improve.”
FLS’s Squire said, “Digitising tenants’ opinions and feedback to capture the tenants’ voice helps with transparency and speeds up processes by removing manual activities. For example, tenant self-service apps for repairs and maintenance can support better analysis of tenants’ sentiments by extending the use of automation and the potential of AI.”
Nolijwork’s O’Neill said, “Housing providers are already sitting on a wealth of untapped data with respect to the services they provide. It is perfectly possible to identify ways to improve services from that data alone – this is exactly what NolijWork does.”
How to act on tenants’ voices
Mobysoft’s Fleck said, “Collecting feedback is only the first step; acting on it is where the real change happens. Housing providers must establish clear processes to translate feedback into action – this involves integrating tenants’ insights into strategic planning, service design and daily operations.
“Data analytics tools enable housing providers to identify recurrent issues, such as persistent repair requests, and address the underlying causes rather than just the symptoms. Furthermore, closing the feedback loop by telling tenants about how their input has influenced changes builds trust and encourages ongoing engagement.”
NEC’s Aston said, “Listening and acting on feedback is everything; when residents speak up, they need to see real changes happening. Even if you can’t fix something immediately, let them know what steps you’re taking and keep them in the loop.
“If you ask people’s opinions but never do anything to address the concerns they raise, they’ll simply stop bothering to share them. Real engagement means proper two-way communication where residents can see their voice actually matters. However, beware of survey fatigue – constantly asking for surveys to be completed can get irritating.”
Can technology help with TSM reporting?
Nolijwork’s O’Neill said, “Technology can really help to build a richer picture of what tenants actually value. Although many housing providers have outsourced their TSM surveys, we think that the real work only begins after the tenants’ data has been collected. Data analysis at both individual provider and sector levels is where insights are revealed and subsequent actions can be initiated.”
RoomApp’s Richards said, “Collecting feedback is only part of the solution. Housing providers must demonstrate that they are listening and acting on tenants’ input. By integrating digital sharing platforms such as RoomApp with their existing housing management systems or CRM tools, housing providers can create a seamless feedback loop. This integration ensures that tenants’ voices directly influence service improvements, from expediting maintenance requests to refining communication strategies.”
Mobysoft’s Fleck said, “Technology simplifies the complexities of TSM reporting through automation, data integration and real-time analytics. Platforms that consolidate data from various sources ensure accuracy and reduce manual workload. These tools offer dashboards and reporting features that track key metrics, flag performance issues early and provide actionable insights.”
New IT tools for TSMs
FLS’s Squire said, “As we become more connected, data collection becomes more nuanced. There are more integration opportunities for housing providers as alternatives to the expense of new IT tools. Connected CRM and housing management systems provide trends that can flag problems and KPI pressures to housing operators. Dynamic scheduling receives instruction in real-time from the HMS or CRM and calculates an optimised appointment offer. Schedulers and dispatchers improve their first-time fix rate, reduce no-access fail rates and optimise efficiency for planned and reactive maintenance appointments.”
NEC’s Aston said, “You shouldn’t need new tools to deal with TSMs. For the TSMs measured by landlord data, a housing management platform that enables the recording of data in a single system will provide a single source of the truth about properties and customers. This makes it a lot easier to collate the data needed for TSM reporting without the need to manually manipulate data from multiple systems. Furthermore, if you have a strong digital customer collaboration system, this can be used to support the capture of tenant perception surveys.”
Nolijwork’s O’Neill said, “According to the Regulator of Social Housing, over 60 per cent of surveys were done by telephone. Furthermore, while many providers outsource the core TSM survey exercise and subsequent data analysis, there is definitely an opportunity to increase customer feedback mechanisms at the point of service delivery.”
Wordnerds’ Wilson said, “Specialist tools should be used for specialist jobs. For example, Wordnerds would be ineffective at triggering surveys – housing providers would want to use Qualtrics or SurveyMonkey for that. Conversely, Qualtrics and SurveyMonkey aren’t the tools you’d want to use for text and sentiment analysis of surveys and other feedback data.
“For example, by using AI-powered sentiment analysis, Raven Housing Trust gained unbiased insights into customer experience, identified unexpected problems and targeted its improvements more effectively. By finding meaning in ‘customer silence’ and connecting sentiments with demographics, Raven Housing can now spot and address problems that might previously have gone unnoticed.”
Housing Technology would like to thank Jeremy Squire (FLS – Fast Lean Smart), Chris Fleck (Mobysoft), Kay Aston (NEC Software Solutions), Paul O’Neill (NolijWork), Camarlo Richards (RoomApp) and Sarah Wilson (Wordnerds) for their comments and editorial contributions to this article.
