Housing organisations are complex and both their internal and external environments are evolving, which can lead to complicated problems. No one can deny that housing providers rely heavily on their IT systems to pursue their number-one goal of delivering excellent customer service. But IT managers are often frustrated by the number of different systems needed…
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Contributed Articles
Front-line views on mobile working
We know that mobilising your workforce is a good way to drive efficiencies and capture key performance data in real time, all of which are good for your management team. But what is the effect on the workforce itself? How will your operatives react to leaving their paperwork behind and cutting down on their trips…
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Wanted: Innovative leaders
With the intense demand for UK housing, the challenge facing the Government to deliver its strategy for increasing the provision of housing has never been greater. Latest assessments conclude that as a result of reservations on new homes falling by up to 50 per cent compared with last year, 20,000 of the 45,000 flats and…
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Making shared services work
Elmbridge Housing Trust and Richmond upon Thames Churches Housing Trust, operating as Paragon Community Housing Group, have benefited significantly from implementing a shared services approach to IT, including an estimated joint saving of £330,000 per year. Of course, as with any partnership, there are challenges, for example, cultural differences and the decision about which ICT…
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Coping with anti-social behaviour
The range of responsibilities of social housing providers for handling and managing neighbourhood issues has broadened considerably in recent years. In particular, the focus on anti-social behaviour highlights how the relationship between landlord and tenant is changing; there is an ongoing pressure to remove barriers between departments and to provide ‘joined up’ services. Service providers…
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The integration game
One of the biggest issues that 62 social housing respondents in our customer service survey said they faced in 2008 was managing the integration of new software with existing business systems. Indeed, they have every right to be worried. Organisations are under increasing pressure to update their IT systems in order to meet their operational…
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