Data Matters 2023

Synopsis TBC

Speakers: Rachael Taylor, Group Director of Finance, ICT & Risk, 3C Consultants and Nicky Hawkins, Head of Data, 3C Consultants

The Social Housing Regulation Act has introduced new powers for the Social Housing Regulator and the Housing Ombudsman to proactively take action where tenants are being failed by their landlords, with the ability to issue unlimited fines, implement short-notice inspections and introduce quality measures to ensure faster issue resolution and delivery of better quality services.

Aareon will share insights into how it’s supporting housing providers and their relationships with tenants through its data-focused approach and how it addresses new technical requirements with sector changes such as the Social Housing Act.

Speaker: Alek Legosteva, Head of Product, Aareon

Alek Legosteva is a fintech product leader obsessed with building efficient product delivery frameworks and solving the right problems. Alek is experienced in growing businesses through integration, and she also values data-driven decision-making and cross-functional collaboration.

This session will highlight the importance of transparent data practices and the role of data governance in building confidence. Gain insights into how Halton Housing has established robust data-quality frameworks, implemented effective data-validation processes and developed data literacy across the organisation.

Speaker: Paul Croston, Director of Technology, Digital & Data

Paul Croston is an accomplished senior IT and digital leader experienced in using technology to drive change, foster growth and enhance operational efficiency in alignment with business strategies.

Hosted by David Bamford, IntoZetta is delighted to welcome Sanctuary Housing’s Priyanka Kakkar and Platform Housing’s Rob Fletcher, alongside IntoZetta’s CEO, Dan Yarnold, to examine the impact of poor data quality in social housing. Based on IntoZetta’s 2023 housing data survey, the panel will delve into the realities, complexities and opportunities provided by improving data across the sector.

Panelists:

Priyanka Kakkar, Group Head of Data & Security, Sanctuary Housing: Priyanka Kakkar has 13 years’ experience helping organisations to make the most of their people, processes, systems and data. She has expertise in areas such as data strategy, data governance, data management, data architecture, data analytics and data security.

Rob Fletcher, Director of Data & Applications, Platform Housing: Rob has worked in the sector for over 24 years and most recently worked for a Microsoft Gold Partner as a housing specialist. His current role includes responsibility for data management and has recently worked with his to migrate Platform Housing’s on-premise data capability to Azure. He has also piloted various AI models to target tenancy visits and damp and mould.

David Bamford, Delivery Director, IntoZetta: David has worked on complex data projects throughout his career. After starting in the high-tech manufacturing sector, he became the programme manager for financial MI at Santander for five years, before becoming nPower’s head of data quality. Since joining IntoZetta in 2018, David has worked directly with all of IntoZetta’s housing customers so has a good understanding of the data space across the sector.

Dan Yarnold, CEO & Director, IntoZetta: Dan began his career in the telecoms sector where he held senior operational, business development, and data transformation roles at BT. He was one of the founding directors of IntoZetta in 2016 and has overseen its rapid growth into one of the leading data software and service providers in the social housing sector.

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone in your organisation who doesn’t agree that data quality is important. However, getting people to understand and accept that they have a key part to play in improving data quality isn’t so straightforward. In this session you’ll hear from Riverside about how it is driving a data-ownership culture by focusing on the ‘carrot’ of value creation rather than the ‘stick’ of compliance, and how the value this unlocked has opened doors for implementing a broader information governance strategy.

Speaker: Chris Nove, Director of Information Services, Riverside Housing

Chris Nove is a data professional with 30 years’ experience of providing high-quality information to decision-makers across a range of business sectors. He specialises in leading teams of data experts committed to helping businesses understand their customers and make great data-driven decisions.

Housing Solutions is using 8×8 to give its tenants a choice of multiple channels while enabling smarter and faster responses. Plus, having all this connected on one platform allows different teams within Housing Solutions to collaborate better and reduce operational costs. Speech and text analytics offered by 8×8 Contact Centre is also particularly useful for Housing Solutions. Real-time insights and conversation-logging make it very easy for Housing Solutions to instantly check sentiment and review performance so it can implement further changes to improve customer service.

Speakers: Richard Harvey, Assistant Director of Digital Transformation & Organisational Design, Housing Solutions

Richard Harvey has worked for Housing Solutions for 20 years. He is in a key leadership role ensuring that Housing Solutions develops, delivers and maintains a digital and information-services strategy that supports the business to deliver great services and maximise performance and efficiency.

Following the merger of Southern Housing and Optivo, find out the highs and lows of Southern Housing’s data assurance programme to establish data ownership, data architecture, process alignment and data quality for seamless integration and improvement planning between the two merged organisations – no mean feat when we’re also integrating systems and staff at the same time (exact synopsis tbc).

Speakers: Nicole Brosnan, Data Quality & Improvement Manager and Amramanjari Singh, Director of Data and Business Information

Nicole Brosnan brings considerable experience in the housing sector and a passion for helping businesses understand the importance of good data and the positive impact it can have on customers. In her current role, she is focusing on long-term improvements in data quality.

Amramanjari Singh has spent 13 years advocating, managing and creating data solutions for varied sectors, with the past five years spent in the housing sector and gaining immense satisfaction from being part of organisations that not only build homes but also build lives and strengthen communities.

Microsoft Fabric is seen as the answer to providing any organisation with everything they need to fulfil their data and analytics needs in a single platform.

Consequently, many housing providers will be looking at Fabric and considering whether it’s right for them, now or in the future.

Speakers: Steve Monks, Group Head of Data & Analytics, Sovini Group.

Steve Monks has been in IT for 35+ years working in both technical and commercial roles. He has spent the past 16 years in housing with Sovini Group, and is a passionate advocate for the power of data to drive business growth and service improvement.

There’s no doubting the growth of data, and with standard data-warehouse approaches no longer suitable, Stonewater has used tooling in Azure to build a source-agnostic, dynamic data platform to suit both what it needs now and be ready for the future.

We’ll talk about how we’ve used a dynamic approach to enable around 400 tables of data each day using only six bits of code; how data is presented back to our analyst engineering team; and how this approach enabled a data-quality engine.

Speakers: Paul Blaydes, Assistant Director of Data, Stonewater

Paul Blaydes began his data career over ten years ago, working on large datasets for Amazon, before moving to financial services and then the Ambassador Theatre Group as head of data.

Switchee will showcase how data can unlock a deeper understanding of housing portfolios. From understanding property health to supporting vulnerable tenants, we’ll discuss how using data for good is revolutionising the social housing sector.

Speaker: Ben Morris, Data lead, Switchee

Boards are under increasing pressure to ensure their organisation’s data is fit for purpose but few board members have direct data management expertise. Hear from a board member about what they need from you to provide the necessary assurance that the organisation’s data management is in good hands, and find out how best to present to boards in the language that will resonate with them so the right senior-level decisions are made for you to implement effective data management into the future.

Speakers: Nick Murphy, Board Member, Trident Group & Tuntum Housing