It Must Have Been Years

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

So as 'Stand up for the weeks' Paul Chowdhry might say, "So what's happening this year housing IT people?". Well quite a lot actually.

Wokingham met Toon, when everyone in housings (well apparently about 20% anyway) favourite Marmite asset management application Promaster, was snapped up by Orchard back in the summer. Staff numbers grew to 185 making Orchard Systems the largest of the independent HMS (Housing Management System) providers.

Microsnore by popular demand, returned the 'Windows' button to Windows 8.1, but predictably did not link it to anything very useful (like an option to have Windows 7 back on our office desktops). No surprises there, still out of touch...

Civica bounced on the scene to launch their game changing HMS Cx. At last someone has had the nuts to completely design an integrated system, from the ground up, completely browser based, in a Windows8 flat UI style. Well done, its taken a while, but now there's something good to move all those 4Js, UH, Saffron & CTX to. I will be looking with interest at the newer modules when they ship early in 2014.

Blackberry crashes to a $4.4B loss and looks to be going the way of Palm and Nokia. Some local authorities and RSL groups still force their staff to use them as standard issue. You might even have a BB in your pocket and your personal iPhone in another? I wonder how long that will continue? BYOD has hardly started to take off in housing, in places I work with, its still a rarity.

At the start of the year, it looked like SAP where serious about their push into the vertical market-space of UK housing. Apart from the project at Sanctuary engineering an all 'encompassing SAP landscape', I have heard very little. We can assume Sanctuary are getting the SAP massively re-engineered 'Real Estate module' almost for free, as the growing pains will probably need one or more epidurals along the way. An industry insider suggested to me that Northgate were not expecting anyone to give notice on their iWorld system just yet. Watch this space.

Amazon were threatening drone delivery of parcels late in the year. Could this tech, be the key to tackling ASB on our schemes? Maybe filming and recording it, rather than 'taking it out' as can be the case when controlled by less caring organisations?

Google Glass, the Bluetooth headset of 2013, still not cool, wearing it will not make you cool. Talking of cool, the IT Crowd got a C4 special on Christmas Eve. How cool is that? You know Jen, Moss, Roy, Richmond (who lives in the server room) and the despotic Reynholm (I bet you have done some SQL queries for him...), surely from your own offices.

Next up was 3D printed metal objects, like the gun that fired real bullets. How long before the DLO operative can clock up 'Right 1st Visit', by printing that Worcester Boiler part, while the tenant waits? Then she can log her completion on her Winphone6.5 (less than) smartphone. Yes, we have noticed that at various places agnostic mobile apps haven't reached all corners of the UK, just yet!

Telecare moved forward with Motorola's patent for a Bluetooth skin tattoo (I kid you not), brought the Internet of things, one big step forward.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10436521/Motorola-wants-to-patent-microphone-skin-tattoo.html

In contrast, the IDS Universal Credit IT rollout didn't move that far forward, (as predicted, by all but IDS). I bet we would all like a project like that to manage, write, promote, staff etc, with a bottomless pit of cash, moving targets and £payoffs even if you fail. Just 'believe' and it will be so, don't waste time with detail, test plans, use cases, UAT's etc, seems to work for Iain. Avoid these schoolboy errors and your projects will run smoother, with less surprises.

That last one proves that while many things change, somethings, like Government IT projects, just stay the same. No doubt 2014 will bring us new challenges and surprises. I have been fortunate to have worked with some really inspirational people, who are really changing lives, systems and our society, in so many positive ways. There have been some surprises along the way too. Some things that were bad and come good and vica-versa.

My best wishes go out to you, your family, colleagues, customers, service users and neighbourhoods, for a fairer, smarter 2014. I look forward to meeting and working with you this coming year of the horse. Lets be thoroughbreds!

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Read on to, UKHousings next new kid on the block, Cx,

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2014/01/becoming-cx.html

Gary Numan - It Must Have Been Years .


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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Plan A

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

  
A few recent mop up type projects I am involved with have led me to ponder on the effects of poor planning at the start of many software application purchases and major business projects. There is a lot that the recent IDS Universal Credit and HS2 projects can teach us about how to get projects right. As the M&S lorries scream, There is no Plan B. But what if Plan A is somewhat wibble?


The Iain Duncan Smith visit to the Commons Select Committee this week is the latest in a long line of British Government IT projects that have become a horrendous money pit, often being abandoned, rather than delivering anything remotely useful. Watch this latest IDS UC car crash unfolding here in slow motion - http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=14420  For MBA courses, surely this will become a great case study in how not to manage projects. 


So what can we learn in our own projects from this. Well quite a lot, IDS is doing us a service by highlighting how not to do it. Firstly, know what your objectives are, right from the start. The IDS aims for UC were ‘To generate £38b in savings over the next 12 years’. This has now been modified to ‘emphasis the economic benefits of the programme’. Digging down, that breaks down as ‘38% of these savings are to come from fewer overpayments and increases in employment, while the bigger savings – 68% - will come from the economic benefits to claimants’. Thus only £14.44b might be generated in overpayment savings.


So a goal-post in objective has changed here. Also no mention of where the new UC IT system may also tackle the issue of under-payments. Bringing all benefits under one roof means that claimants may well now be able to claim for things they are entitled to, that they were not currently aware of.


HS2 (high speed rail 2 connecting London with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds faster, by 2032), is another project with rapidly changing aims, as casters are added to its goal posts and expected costs double to over £42b. It started off as being about ‘savings in business time, spent travelling on trains’, now mysteriously as many people work via the internet while on the move, the raison d’etre is now ‘Enhanced capacity’. As anyone in the know already suspects, if HS2 was about bringing prosperity to ‘The North’, it would be a high speed train line between Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds & Hull, with a spur up to the East Coast main line, connecting Newcastle & Edinburgh.


This reveals two important areas of any successful project. Number one is know what the project is for. Changing aims reveals that there is probably no basis in benefits for the project in the first instance. Where benefits in ROI (Return On Investment), enhanced customer service, measurable social good etc are expected, document them clearly. These can be measured later. Also examine negative effects of the project and clearly document them. These might offset some benefits, much like the IDS under-claimers, or cities not connected on HS2 losing out. Burying these facts reveal issues that have not been honestly put in the mix.


Number two is do enough detail analysis before committing resources. What my old Bsc Applied Computing lecturer Ian Beeson used to call ‘not being prematurely physical’. For example, if IDS had spent £3m up-front on decent analysis of benefit process, UK Govt PLC would not now be writing off £40m of wasted IT project. Take the project in stages, ensuring each is closed / completed adequately before moving on. Basic PRINCE2 in practice that one.


Number three is set your budget, based on the above, and what you know thus far. Set your contingency too, maybe 15-20%. Where a supplier will give you a capped price on your service/training/implementation days AND your requirements are well researched and firm, then you have something very attractive. Also find out what the additional day rate is. Very important for those valid ‘Out of scope’ elements. Not good to find they may cost you £1,000+ per day. Better to have fixed a more acceptable rate, much earlier on.


Number Four is to run the project in a transparent manner. IDS in his UC project has been dogged by ‘Bad News’ getting in the way of ‘Good News’. Don't suppress bad news, when it comes up, deal with it and correct the little blips that all projects encounter.  Smoothing over blips with good PR and what start as white lies, will dig a hole that will become exponentially difficult to dig yourself out of. As IDS has found out to his cost, £40m has already been written off, in a project at least 2 years late, with over 700,000 benefit claimants still expected to be outside the new IT system. 


We are all aware of projects initiated, where the project director has left way before any deliverables are seen. One particular ‘industry strength’ financials package, that need not be named, generally follows that route. The finance director ordering it will have a new job shortly afterwards (as it looks so good on a CV), be in it two years or more, before the original organisation is anywhere near having it in and working. It has not missed anyone’s attention that one such implementation is ongoing at the moment at a large prominent midlands based housing group. It will be interesting how that goes, all of the bigger HMS suppliers I speak to are aware of it, watching it extremely carefully. If it is delivered on time, to budget and can perform to what UK housing needs. If not, it may well mirror the expensive slow motion car crash unfolding for UC.


Unless he has a ‘road to Domestos’ type conversion, IDS will continue to hype the UC good news, in order to dispel that label he acquired from George Osbourne, just a few months ago. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/02/george-osborne-iain-duncan-smith-bit-thick
While IDS is only wasting all our taxpayer cash, poor execution of housing system projects impact directly on our residents and communities. Think how many new kitchens or improved efficient heating systems, to lift residents out of fuel poverty, could have been put in with your systems project overrun....

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Read on, to a great book on Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2013/06/paperback-writer.html

Dandy Warhols - Plan A .


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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Jack In The Green

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

 
The cost of heating our homes and the phrase 'Fuel Poverty' has gone mainstream lately, has it not?

I remember Ed Milibean being derided as a communist, at the labour conference, when he suggested freezing energy bills. Just 9 weeks later, our coalition government, always keen to encourage the free market, are quietly asking energy companies for restraint and considering shifting green taxes away from our bills. A saving of a whole £50 (barely 4% of the average bill). Not surprising most people are angry, not grateful.


Nobody I notice has been trampled in the rush to sign up to the 'Green Deal' either. An expensive scheme that barely 594 people in the UK had indicated interest and only '360 wished to proceed'. Window dressing at best, more than likely it costs more to administer than actual benefits achieved. It certainly was not the same as the solar PV gold-rush back in 2011. We narrowly missed leading a whole new innovative history there. Grab the Allen key people, hopefully we can rely on our favourite flat pack furniture shop to make PV sexy again - http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/about_ikea/newsitem/ikea_hanergy_solar_panels

Well what of our residents on the breadline? The ones spending far more than 10% on fuel and day to day deciding if to eat or to feed their expensive prepay meters? How should landlords tackle it? What can we all do to help? How can IT and systems help?

At first glance, there's plenty of silver bullets out there for sale. If you have deep pockets and not that bothered about integration that is. Even some 'energy' modules for better known third party asset applications, don't integrate too well together with their core applications. I won't embarrass anyone by naming them, but if you have purchased them, you have surely rumbled it by now. Even if you get that bit right, the elephant in the room is being able to mash up data with your housing management system, to obtain some decisive insights.

Last Friday I had a really productive day with some asset managers wrestling with energy efficiency in a rural setting. No surprise that residents cite high cost of heating their properties, as their number one concern. Not everyone is on mains gas and not everyone can have insulation due to asset archetypes and build standards. Oh, and budgets getting tighter, the board want more done with less. Have you got one like that? (Thought so).

Like in most asset teams these days, the EPC collection is building up. How can IT assist to support the asset team to reach their goals and pull the maximum residents out of fuel poverty?

Many RSLs I come across record a PDF of the EPC, the RDSAP rating (e.g. 49, band E) and date issued. Limiting details recorded to this, does however miss a trick. The EPC is a rich source of data to model. Capture a bit more of that data and we can turn that into some really useful insights. For example, the potential energy efficiency rating, standard recommended measures/indicative costs, typical energy bill savings etc. 

Recording against each EPC of these potential improvements can easily form the basis of our asset energy modelling. Most of the common integrated HMS systems out there (OpenHousing, Orchard, QLX, iWorld, UH etc) can be configured to record these against asset components and attributes. The extra admin of manual entry or the provision of a regular import (where your EPC supplier can provide it) of these fields, makes the job somewhat easier.

Once it's in your database, it's a relatively swift task to combine all related details in a database view to provide a helicopters eye view of your stock. By related details I mean HB status (full/partial/none), primary method of payment (Allpay, Direct Debit, Cash etc), recorded economic status (Inactive, retired, working full/part time etc), area, HO patch, asset archetype etc.

A bit of added work if you are lucky enough to have a GIS system or can find time on Google maps satellite view, can identify any of your south facing roofs, suitable for solar PV. While not the cash-cow it was, it's still an option to offset your residents fuel bills.

On sign up, you may well be helping your residents to account for their new tenancy/shared owner property, pointing them to the local credit union or other places. Data collected during this process could also assist in identifying need. Also the resident age range and type of household, most likely held within your contact details. IE young families, single disabled elderly etc.

In the future, energy companies may well also provide anonymised energy expenditure data to you about your residents. Coming soon the 'internet of things' (due before the 'Jetpacks' they promised hopefully), might allow us to also monitor usage by boiler, live room temperatures etc.  

As you probably realise, this creates access to a pretty comprehensive picture. So should we aim to do with your 'mash-up' view? Well, we can determine where the best result can be achieved for minimum outlay, for the most deserving residents. It creates a concrete case for expenditure for your board and the improvements that can be expected.

Each organisation will be different, but this joined up approach allows facts to drive the improvement process. Another way that housing IT can help make a difference to your residents lives

Read on to: Asking those questions - collecting satisfaction better

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Jethro Tull - Jack In The Green .


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. 07854-655009 , 07854655009 , 07854 655009 ," ""07854 655009"" ",07854-655009,#UKHousing,1st Touch,3squared, Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,App,Associates,ACL,Abritas,AMS,AX,aspireview, BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking, Blockwise, Block wise,BI,BancTec,BluTek,Bluebox, CareNotes, Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,Cx,Change,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, CHR,Citrix,Civica,Clearview,CMS , CCS IT Keystone CCSIT, Contractor Systems,CORE,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,CRM,Crosscare, Crystal Reports,CTI,CTX,Customer Relationship Management,Cashflow, COA,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Competitive Dialogue process,complex IT procurements,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,Caresys, CPL Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013 ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance,Financial Systems,Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP, HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,iConnect, Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Invu,Ireland,Irish,IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keyfax, Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice, MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS, mobile functionality,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,Management Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX , NINTEX workflow,Nintexworkflow, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing tonysmith@hotpixuk ,,Opti-Time,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OpenContractor,ORS,OneServe, OSKA , PIMMS Data Systems, Paloma,performance management systems,PfH,Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities,Planned maintenance,People Value,Plus,Peoplevalue,PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid,PRINCE2,prince,Pamwin, QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview, Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC , Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scotland,SDM,sector,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint,Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Media,Software,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting Services,SQL reporting services,SQL Server,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic Asset Management,Sunguard ,Surveys,Sx3,System alignment, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,south view,Sunguard,Service Charges, Tagtronics, Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, tonysmithth, tonysmiththa, tonysmiththat, tonysmiththath, tonysmiththatho, tonysmiththathou, tonysmiththathous, tonysmiththathousi, tonysmiththathousin, tonysmiththathousing, tonysmith@hotpixuk , tonysmiththathousingg, tonysmiththathousinguy, sharepoint, share point Three Star,Today,Total repairs,Tribal,Twitter,U2, tonysmith , tonysmiththat , thathousing , thathousingIT , thathousingITguy ,TED,Tagish Casework,TP Tracker,Telecetera,Tagra,Trace, UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universalcredit, universal credit, universal credits,UC,Universe,Unrest, UK, United Kingdom ,Ukhousing,UK Housing, Van Stock,Voice and data,Vantage Sentinel,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App

Beat Dis

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

  

It's not often the social housing world beats the Barclay's etc. of the business world, the Scottish FA and Cancer Research in IT innovation. Sure we figure annually  in the lists of 100 best places to work. So we should, most of us are a fluffy, caring lot. 

But IT innovation? Did you think you mis-read that one?

Our IT budgets are not the biggest out there, frequently we have to do more with less in a constantly changing regulatory  environment. Frequently IT people come into the sector and criticise the system and applications that we have at our disposal to work with. Often I spend time trying to fit projects to shrinking budgets and am used to meeting some pretty innovative folk.

One of my favourites I have worked the last year with is Yarlington, based down in Yeovil, South Somerset. Granted, a county many may think of as quite sleepy (if people can actually place it on a map at all, that is). We probably race through it to get to Devon or Cornwall now and again, but leave the inhabitants to have a quiet life, make excellent craft cider and those flying machine things at Westland & BAE.

Well, a quiet revolution has been going on down there. In contrast to many with GIS, they have worked with local authority, ESRI, and their stakeholders, to provide a global view of geography, people, YHG customers, crime, listed buildings, social factors etc. Yarlington then found a cost effective method of deploying that to everyone in the organisation, using tools from the great Mapchannels resource, who might be able to make use of it. All existing internal data sources are available too, providing over a hundred different layer combinations. This helps Yarlington put customers and residents further at the heart of what they do.

New sign-ups can view their new neighbourhood in terms of proximity to nearest Post Office, surgery or recreation facilities or parks. Also crime hotspots, local transport provision etc. the repair team can be more efficient as they know where listed properties, trees and features are present, saving time, effort and reducing (paid for) local authority searches. New developments can be targeted to new areas of need, many in successful new developments further afield than the traditional heartland of South Somerset. In these austere times, Yarlington is doing all they can to be in their customers corner. This is a tool that makes that a reality, day in day out.

I saw the presentation and video Karen Dumper and Chris Reed put together for the initial sessions for the UK IT Industry Awards. It was inspirational and showed the outcomes not the under the bonnet techie aspect of the solution. Emphasis was on how they had satisfied their customers, a theme and a message I make myself blue in the face trying to do, with many housing organisations. It's about them (the customers or customer users) not us stupid!

Last week I was knocked out to hear that they had beaten the competition hands down. A humble housing 'David' taking on 'Goliath's. Read more about it here http://www.yhg.co.uk/news/13-11-14/Yarlington_wins_top_award_for_I_T_project.aspx 

In my book we need more of this. IT working properly for the users & residents, people being freed up to innovate and think out of the box.

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Read on to The End of those dial-up days:

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2013/09/end-of-my-high-wire-days.html

Bomb The Bass - Beat Dis .


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. 07854-655009 , 07854655009 , 07854 655009 ," ""07854 655009"" ",07854-655009,#UKHousing,1st Touch,3squared, Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,App,Associates,ACL,Abritas,AMS,AX,aspireview, BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking, Blockwise, Block wise,BI,BancTec,BluTek,Bluebox, CareNotes, Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,Cx,Change,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, CHR,Citrix,Civica,Clearview,CMS , CCS IT Keystone CCSIT, Contractor Systems,CORE,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,CRM,Crosscare, Crystal Reports,CTI,CTX,Customer Relationship Management,Cashflow, COA,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Competitive Dialogue process,complex IT procurements,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,Caresys, CPL Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013 ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance,Financial Systems,Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP, HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,iConnect, Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Invu,Ireland,Irish,IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keyfax, Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice, MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS, mobile functionality,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,Management Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX , NINTEX workflow,Nintexworkflow, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing tonysmith@hotpixuk ,,Opti-Time,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OpenContractor,ORS,OneServe, OSKA , PIMMS Data Systems, Paloma,performance management systems,PfH,Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities,Planned maintenance,People Value,Plus,Peoplevalue,PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid,PRINCE2,prince,Pamwin, QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview, Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC , Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scotland,SDM,sector,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint,Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Media,Software,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting Services,SQL reporting services,SQL Server,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic Asset Management,Sunguard ,Surveys,Sx3,System alignment, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,south view,Sunguard,Service Charges, Tagtronics, Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, tonysmithth, tonysmiththa, tonysmiththat, tonysmiththath, tonysmiththatho, tonysmiththathou, tonysmiththathous, tonysmiththathousi, tonysmiththathousin, tonysmiththathousing, tonysmith@hotpixuk , tonysmiththathousingg, tonysmiththathousinguy, sharepoint, share point Three Star,Today,Total repairs,Tribal,Twitter,U2, tonysmith , tonysmiththat , thathousing , thathousingIT , thathousingITguy ,TED,Tagish Casework,TP Tracker,Telecetera,Tagra,Trace, UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universalcredit, universal credit, universal credits,UC,Universe,Unrest, UK, United Kingdom ,Ukhousing,UK Housing, Van Stock,Voice and data,Vantage Sentinel,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App

Olympian

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

Are you going to any of the London based housing events next week? (19th/20th November 2013).

You can find me at Olympia for the NHF IT Managers conference and exhibition on Tuesday. Please come and say hello if you follow this blog or my twitter feed at @hotpixUK

Prices look to be much more reasonable this year and rightly so, in the current climate of austerity. Worth getting out of the office for, plenty of interesting sessions and the exhibition of IT suppliers, looking to help spend your IT & systems budget too!

I will be going to Mr Grants excellent HT (Housing Technology) Magazine annual bash at Pizza Express too, so do say hello if you spot me by the bar with a beer!

The day after, Wednesday it is Homes at Excel on the east of town, which is also looking like a good event this year.

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Gene - Olympian .


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. 07854-655009 , 07854655009 , 07854 655009 ," ""07854 655009"" ",07854-655009,#UKHousing,1st Touch,3squared, Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,App,Associates,ACL,Abritas,AMS,AX,aspireview, BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking, Blockwise, Block wise,BI,BancTec,BluTek,Bluebox, Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,Cx,Change,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, CHR,Citrix,Civica,Clearview,CMS , CCS IT Keystone CCSIT, Contractor Systems,CORE,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,CRM,Crystal Reports,CTI,CTX,Customer Relationship Management,Cashflow, COA,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Competitive Dialogue process,complex IT procurements,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013 ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance,Financial Systems,Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP, HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company, Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Invu,Ireland,Irish,IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keyfax, Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice, MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS, mobile functionality,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,Management Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX , NINTEX workflow,Nintexworkflow, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing tonysmith@hotpixuk ,,Opti-Time,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OpenContractor,ORS,OneServe, PIMMS Data Systems, Paloma,performance management systems,PfH,Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities,Planned maintenance,People Value,Plus,Peoplevalue,PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid,PRINCE2,prince,Pamwin, QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview, Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC , Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scotland,SDM,sector,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint,Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Media,Software,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting Services,SQL reporting services,SQL Server,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic Asset Management,Sunguard ,Surveys,Sx3,System alignment, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,south view,Sunguard,Service Charges, Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, tonysmithth, tonysmiththa, tonysmiththat, tonysmiththath, tonysmiththatho, tonysmiththathou, tonysmiththathous, tonysmiththathousi, tonysmiththathousin, tonysmiththathousing, tonysmith@hotpixuk , tonysmiththathousingg, tonysmiththathousinguy, sharepoint, share point Three Star,Today,Total repairs,Tribal,Twitter,U2, tonysmith , tonysmiththat , thathousing , thathousingIT , thathousingITguy ,TED,Tagish Casework,TP Tracker,Telecetera,Tagra,Trace, UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universalcredit, universal credit, universal credits,UC,Universe,Unrest, UK, United Kingdom ,Ukhousing,UK Housing, Van Stock,Voice and data,Vantage Sentinel,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App

Something Better Change

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

What on earth is Marissa Mayer of Google, er no sorry Yahoo thinking about?
First she directed a makeover of photographers social media website Flickr to be more like Facebook, losing most of the sensible features that photographers enjoyed, back in May 2013. See old Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marissa_Mayer&oldid=556752091 , the current one has been edited by a loyal Yahoo employee to erase that.

The official Flickr help thread of more than 298 pages and 29,000+ of complaints was ignored at http://www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157633547442506/ The ever helpful Thea Lamkin closed the monster thread because of the amount of disk space being chewed up

In October, a few weeks ago Yahoo Mail was Google-ised. Now Marissa was Google employee 20 and still maybe has those letters running through her like a stick of rock. Unfortunately now she has brought all the stuff that people hate about Google mail to Yahoo Mail. Without fixing some of the faults in the last incarnation.

So, neat tabs that allowed you to work with 5 or 6 emails or a search site by side were gone. A bit like the old MS-DOS you close what you are doing and have to open your new thing. That annoying but not readable history view is displayed, a-la Gmail.

Contacts are a mess too. Due to poor use of the screen estate, the contact page is now longer. Most of the common fields you need are hidden and need revealing before you can fill them. E.G. Address, Website, even ‘Job Title’ to add to the always present ‘Employer’. So, more clicks than ever before. Why not just let customers switch on a view of all, all the time. Was that a problem needing fixing then?

The biggest irritation for me is that when I add a contact and need to select my country. An irritation already my country does not come up defaulted ‘United Kingdom’. No, we get the leader of the free world, ‘United States’ at the top (where else), but a list that cannot be navigated by typing a letter. A ‘V’ for me, used to get me to ‘Vanuatu’ and three arrows up, would find me ‘Blighty’.

I use Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail. Sad to say that Hotmail I now find the most usable and that is rubbish.  I don’t know if any of my readers have been frustrated by the Yahoo mail redesign? Then again we are used to it in housing. Anyone done the migration from Optitime DRS 4 to 5, Windows 7 desktop to 8 or even just Windows 8 to 8.1? While you might have to do the first one, put the last two completely out of your mind, for a few years...

The situation might get worse too as more of our business solutions are hosted and updated for us in the cloud. Something we need to be aware of when procuring these solutions, our freedom to take or delay upgrades that might have a detrimental effect on user productivity, customer satisfaction or other key metrics in our organisations.

We must not let ‘suppliers’ think we don’t have a choice. We can check our contracts, give notice and up sticks. Even ‘free’ software takes a slice of revenue from us, in ad referrals and click through’s. New ideas and companies come along all the time to challenge the status quo, then decline. Just like Ford, Courtaulds, GEC, IBM, DEC, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook have in the past and A.N.Other will in the future.

Paraphrasing from Darwin “It is not the strongest of the software that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change, in the way their customers find useful”. If Marissa survives another 18 months at Yahoo I will be very surprised

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Read On, Bigger, faster, better, is there any point upgrading then?

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2012/02/harder-better-faster-stronger.html

 

The Stranglers - Something Better Change .


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. 07854-655009 , 07854655009 , 07854 655009 ," ""07854 655009"" ",07854-655009,#UKHousing,1st Touch,3squared, Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,App,Associates,ACL,Abritas,AMS,AX,aspireview, BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking, Blockwise, Block wise,BI,BancTec,BluTek,Bluebox, Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,Cx,Change,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, CHR,Citrix,Civica,Clearview,CMS , CCS IT Keystone CCSIT, Contractor Systems,CORE,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,CRM,Crystal Reports,CTI,CTX,Customer Relationship Management,Cashflow, COA,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Competitive Dialogue process,complex IT procurements,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013 ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance,Financial Systems,Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP, HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company, Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Invu,Ireland,Irish,IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keyfax, Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice, MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS, mobile functionality,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,Management Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX , NINTEX workflow,Nintexworkflow, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing tonysmith@hotpixuk ,,Opti-Time,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OpenContractor,ORS,OneServe, PIMMS Data Systems, Paloma,performance management systems,PfH,Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities,Planned maintenance,People Value,Plus,Peoplevalue,PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid,PRINCE2,prince,Pamwin, QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview, Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC , Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scotland,SDM,sector,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint,Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Media,Software,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting Services,SQL reporting services,SQL Server,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic Asset Management,Sunguard ,Surveys,Sx3,System alignment, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,south view,Sunguard,Service Charges, Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, tonysmithth, tonysmiththa, tonysmiththat, tonysmiththath, tonysmiththatho, tonysmiththathou, tonysmiththathous, tonysmiththathousi, tonysmiththathousin, tonysmiththathousing, tonysmith@hotpixuk , tonysmiththathousingg, tonysmiththathousinguy, sharepoint, share point Three Star,Today,Total repairs,Tribal,Twitter,U2, tonysmith , tonysmiththat , thathousing , thathousingIT , thathousingITguy ,TED,Tagish Casework,TP Tracker,Telecetera,Tagra,Trace, UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universalcredit, universal credit, universal credits,UC,Universe,Unrest, UK, United Kingdom ,Ukhousing,UK Housing, Van Stock,Voice and data,Vantage Sentinel,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App

Life In The Hacked Lane

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

What a week it was. My favourite German Chancellors phone, an estimated 10 million Europeans and 2.9 customers of Adobe's Creative Cloud hacked. See http://blog.gsmarena.com/some-2-9-million-accounts-compromised-in-adobe-creative-cloud-hack/

Last month too, hackers got close to fleecing Santander using a £10 KVM switch attached to an office workstation. I bet you have the odd KVM switch lying idle in your server room, don't you?

So, in theory I might have been in that list somewhere. Due to inter-nation eavesdropping rules, my emails etc likely might have been hacked more likely by the French or Italians than GCHQ. I doubt they would have understood my housing IT rants. Still it demonstrates that hackers are live and well, applying maximum imagination and originality as ever.

It does all open up that debate about "How secure is cloud hosted data", when apparently the telcos may well be providing wire tapping at a data level? Is it all paranoia and conspiracy theory's?

More and more housing applications are being delivered in a cloud based form. ReAct is one we have used for years, without too much fuss, which holds address, contact, victim and perpetrator details, for instance. Payment solutions you use (including that Alliance & Leicester, now Santader one), may also hold debit, credit, payment card, sort codes and bank account details.

If your whole Rent Accounting module is cloud hosted, huge amounts of personal customer/resident data is potentially present. Maiden names, dates of birth, password confirmation questions etc. However secure that data in the hosting domain, could someone be listening to it being piped into your office?

While these places may hold partial data on your residents and their neighbours, with card strip codes not held, there's potential for some of the minimal data being enough to allow identity theft to occur by a telephone call and a reset. Identity theft complete. Identity thieves typically obtain and exploit personally identifiable information about individuals, or various credentials they use to authenticate themselves, in order to impersonate them.

Chatting to a friend a few weeks ago, who works at a chip design company, have recently invited a hacker in to try to crack security. With the aid of a spoof router, and a Pringles tin to enhance his wifi detection while parked across from the HQ on the street, he had located all the servers on the network in about 24 minutes and had a dozen back-doors into very valuable commercial designs using in Samsung & Apple devices. It just showed me how vulnerable we can be.

I hope your organisation has robust data protection and security policies. Also that they are continually reviewed and tested, particularly in the light of recent hacking prowess. Security and awareness of it does not start and end just with that RSA key generator device. One of the biggest risks might well be your own staff, or unauthorised visitors tail-gating in behind them. Be imaginative, as much as the hackers, if you can manage it!

Read on to: A new Windows 8 style housing management system coming soon, on a tablet near you 

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

The Eagles - Life In The Hacked Lane .


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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Never Satisfied

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

Housing Management System IT Users, who would have them, never satisfied are they? User groups, surely the best things for them?

Well maybe not. An interesting discussion I had just a few days ago centred around, "Do Users ask Enough Of Their system Suppliers"? An interesting question considering at my tenure at my old shop, I worked until I was blue in the face, to persuade customers to take a part in user groups. My most memorable was once trying to persuade one to cross the border from Yorkshire to Burnley for one (20 miles). they admitted they had sadly only left their town twice. Once was to Leeds to the Christmas Market, the other to Tenerifee for two weeks honeymoon in the sun.  Burnley vs Tenerife, no contest I guess!

Still, what are user groups for, if not to shake up your supplier and get them to satisfy your needs? Gang up if you can with others to ask your supplier for what you want.  If enough of you want or need it, you should have a great chance of getting it. The housing software world moves much slower than the commercial software world, as so may IT people moving into it always exclaim.  User groups are the means of changing that. Ignore them at your peril.

Many RSL's I meet tell me how unhappy they are with their suppliers, but never go to the user groups and haul them over the coals. Many say they used to go and it made no difference. Well take it from me, if you have a genuine grievance, after the third time you raise it vocally, your supplier will take notice. You just need to keep at it. Realising improvements is a marathon not  a sprint.

The other danger is that customers perceive that they are content enough, that they don't need to attend. Someone else will fight their corner. Well, the reality is that only you will really fight your corner, so it's up to you to take part. I go to lots of supplier events and I would like to see many more fighting their corner. The result will be better housing management systems, happier neighbourhoods and more satisfied residents. So do your bit to get your own piece of IT satisfaction.  

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Read on to, The race

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-race.html

Judas Priest - Never Satisfied .


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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Long Gone

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

Recently I have been reading the excellent book ‘Nudge’ by Richard H Thaler. Also, quite spookily I have been working with a few clients on rechargeable repairs process.

‘That old chestnut’ you are thinking. I have encountered many organisations over the years that take a sceptical view of these, mainly because hardly anyone bothers to collect them. Or at best manage to collect about a quarter, if they are lucky. It always baffles me why rechargeable repair costs are not just sold on to a factoring company, to recover at least 30% of the invoiced value. That would at least be 25% more efficient and save the time of staff chasing them currently.

I think that having an efficient recharge policy, driven by customer services, can trap a lot of those lost keys, broken doors and tenant caused blockages, at a stroke. It’s essential that tenants are made aware of that first or course, at sign up and easily accessible on your website. More importantly, the ‘nudge’ potential of this, in reducing costs, can potentially be even greater. Once a tenant has been threatened with a charge of £40 for losing their keys and tells their friends, word will spread.

What I have described there, what I would call ‘transactional recharges’ is one thing, what about ones initiated by a property becoming void and the tenant is Long Gone? Stolen white goods, criminal damage, unauthorised modifications etc. Most of our staff now have a video camera in their pocket, in the form of a Smartphone. A 20 second video pre and post void works would work a treat. Possibly standing up in court too! Better still, if you have a mobile solution, have you considered incorporating that into your workflow?

Again a handy nudge would be to build a charging sheet and put the horrifying details on your website or Facebook pages, and explain that 99% of people vacate your tenancies without extra charge or being pursued in court. With costs of rectifying this type of void repair incident often over £3,000, just dissuading a third of tenants not to do it, makes a sizable difference.

In fairness, many of these incidents occur over time and can be picked up by staff (trades & otherwise) being the organisations eyes & ears. If your safeguarding training and systems to allow staff to easily report and track what they see are easy/convenient to use, void recharges can potentially be picked up before they happen.

Related Post: Are you & your users on the Qlikview bus?

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You can link with me on LinkedIn here - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy It would be great to connect !

Johnny Marr - Long Gone.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, or you could benefit from any of our services please get in touch and let me know!

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Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems or issue.
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