Futures Housing Group is using a text-messaging solution from Orchard to better engage with its tenants. The solution was co-developed by the two companies, with Orchard using the housing provider’s insight into tenants’ preferred means of communication and the most relevant operational areas for the initial roll-out of an automated SMS system.
Gavin Hitchcock, head of ICT, Futures Housing Group, said, “Responsive repairs is probably one of the most transaction-intensive services we offer so there was a lot of scope for adding value by streamlining tenant contacts. We chose to focus on the income team because welfare reform has increased the team’s need for timely communications and text messaging was seen as a way to ‘pull’ communication from tenants, as well as ‘push’ information to them.”
