Sir – In the space of one week, I attended two events. The first was the CIH’s Housing Goes Digital event in Birmingham and then the Technology in Housing seminar in Edinburgh. One thing we came across at both events was the absolute enthusiasm of landlords to innovate. I spotted some brave decisions in the sector too, with a well-known housing provider about to stop internal email and another only using Twitter to advertise jobs. I also witnessed some exciting collective projects, such as Housing Big Data, and the general willingness to look at sharing and then analysing information for the collective good.
This is all very good; however I would like to see this all happen a lot more in the sector. At present, it is the few, and not the many, that are trying new things in technology. I used the word enthusiasm earlier as it stops at this in most instances and never gets enough momentum to take it beyond the enthusiast to implementation.
So, let’s get moving, folks. Don’t use the ‘social sector works at a slower pace’ excuse. Let’s innovate and make the social housing sector a shining example of how to improve the lives of our tenants through technology. And if at all possible, could we see even more examples of who is leading the way. It may help others to do the same, and innovate.
Dave Loudon, Director, DtL Creative
