We’ve successfully just gone live with TechLabs London’s iProperty Cloud, built on Microsoft’s Power Platform and Dynamics 365.
Over recent months, we’ve been working with TechLabs to enhance iProperty Cloud to meet our specific needs. This first iterative go-live within our larger ‘better connected’ programme included full CRM capability, providing a 360-degree view of customer interactions as well as end-to-end guided business processes such as complaints, ASB, lettings, voids and full tenancy management.
Integration with our telephony system, Ring Central, has also meant that the contact centre staff now have screen pop-ups that enable them to see the details of the customer they are talking to and provide a much more personal service.
The overall feeling between Raven Housing and TechLabs is that the go-live was very successful, owing much to the strength of the two organisations’ partnership. To get a flavour of when a go-live genuinely goes well, here are a few excerpts from Raven Housing and TechLabs on the day of the go-live:
- Emily Walshe, transformation manager: “What a fabulous day one we have had on the first release of iProperty Cloud – everyone is so calm and working together.”
- Amy Cheswick, director of customers and partners: “And we’re live… The first release of iProperty Cloud has gone really well. We’ve learned loads so far and we’ll be using all that knowledge to make improvements now and in future releases.”
- And from TechLabs London, Matt Hedges: “What a great day (in an actual office!) today with Raven Housing, going live with iProperty Cloud. It’s been a pleasure to work with such an amazing group of people at Raven and our own TechLabs family to get to this stage of Raven’s ‘better connected’ programme.”
Although we all know that plenty can go wrong after the first day, we’re delighted to report that the positive tone continued.
At the end of the first week, Jo Silner, Raven Housing’s customer services manager, said, “As we reach the first week of using iProperty Cloud, here are some fantastic experiences we heard about from the contact centre this week:
- “Raising a complaint is a dream.”
- “Being able to email direct from someone’s contact record is saving so much time, instead of copying and pasting, and it even tracks the email back in – amazing!”
- “A customer with a mental health issue called after his mother was told she had no authority to speak to us. He was a bit agitated and was keen for us to speak to his mother; I reassured him and turned the call into conference call and resolved the problem there and then.”
These may seem like small wins amid such a significant business transformation, but the success of any change programme comprises hundreds of tiny improvements in day-to-day transactions; as the saying goes, ‘little by little becomes a lot’. And as we know from agile development and ‘systems thinking’, a system can evolve no faster than its slowest integration point, so hearing that iProperty Cloud was making our processes simpler and quicker from day one was great feedback.
When asked why they felt the partnership with TechLabs and the launch of iProperty Cloud had been so successful, Jo Silner, our customer services manager, and Toby Wightman, one of our digital champions, said, “Techlabs fully engaged with our own customer-centric approach, attended joint demos of the system and engaged with our staff to showcase the system’s capabilities.
“Techlabs’ knowledge of housing and customer service allowed them to challenge our thinking, promote innovative ideas and ensure we weren’t inventing unnecessary things; this approach generated lots of internal questions and led to better processes. In addition, Techlabs’ experience enabled them to share a visionary picture of the future of omni-channel and customer experience within the call centre. This has enabled us to form plans for how our service will look in future.”
Matthew Hedges, iProperty Cloud’s product manager, TechLabs London, said, “It’s been an absolute privilege to work alongside the team at Raven who have really embraced an agile approach to digital transformation.”
Rachel Irvine, Raven Housing’s programme manager, said, “I’m looking forward to working with an amazing group of people at TechLabs on our second release of iProperty Cloud. They have guided us though our first successful release of CRM, and we’re now excited to be starting on the configuration and deployment of the compliance automation, field services and portal modules as well as prioritising our future enhancements.”
Julia Mixter is the director of transformation at Raven Housing Trust.
