Social housing is in the midst of a customer service revolution. We have seen it in many ways already, with the development of customer service centres, web sites, online payments and social media. As a consequence, over recent years we have seen the loss of rent collectors, repairs inspectors, local offices and resident wardens. More…
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Contributed Articles
Building information modelling – Rethinking stock condition surveys
For the uninitiated, building information modelling (BIM) is a technology platform predicted to revolutionise how we visualise and use data within the built environment. Consisting of broadly two elements, BIM can be summarised as: 3D representations of buildings or infrastructure; Interoperable data to support digital models and collaborative working practices. In April 2016, housing providers…
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Flexible payment options for UC arrears
Research conducted by the National Federation of ALMOS (NFA) and the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) recently found that 86 per cent of universal credit claimants living in social housing are in arrears. For 59 per cent of claimants, this equates to more than one month’s rent, with the problem steadily getting worse since…
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Being data driven – Lean manufacturing vs. Systems thinking
Many housing providers’ IT and business teams are now talking about ‘systems thinking’ in terms of their data-driven processes, often as a complement to ‘lean manufacturing’ practices. I have had the privilege of working with both approaches in service and manufacturing environments and the purpose of this article is to detail my findings of these…
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Home or away – On-premise vs. cloud
Following our feature article on cloud computing vs. on-premise IT in the January 2017 issue of Housing Technology, Virso’s enterprise business development manager, David Thomas, has contributed his views on the subject. Move to the cloud vs stay on-premise? You should be asking yourself, “what does our business need to meet its goals?”. The answer…
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Self-service in housing
The UK housing market crisis has left millions of Britons unable to buy a home. The cost of the average house rose by a further 7.2 per cent last year, and while market predictions foresee some stabilisation in the coming years, it will do little to mend a sector which the government calls “broken”. The…
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