Sunday 19 August 2018

I’m Not Satisfied

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


Spookily, in the last day or so, I got caught up in a Twitter thread, mainly involving residents, about satisfaction statistics.

Can they be believed, are they always fudged or massaged? If so, surely to the benefit of landlords and housing associations. That seemed to be the common belief, when from what I tend to come across in real life, introducing systems to collect such data, that is not generally the case.

We are in a world currently where we seem to be over-surveyed.

Every time I do a supermarket shop, the bottom of my till receipt urges me to go on line, tell us how we did and have a one-in-ten thousand chance of winning a £200 voucher, to do yet more shopping.

We all make choices via TripAdvisor don’t we?

On eBay and AirB&B, we rate each other. Sometimes its crucial, otherwise we have no accumulated trust or kudos and cannot easily make that sale or purchase. In many cases though, it’s not mandatory and we see no value in it, except maybe to complain.

In socialhousing, its mandatory or accepted that landlords should make attempts to collect satisfaction feedback, but not actually for residents to engage and provide it. This can be improved where reward schemes are in use, but the first step I find with certain landlords, is understanding the benefits of seeing decent quantities of satisfaction and dissatisfaction feedback. Certain landlords, such as HomesInSedgemoor, have shaped the whole repairs service around a lot of that feedback. They now mainly do as many repairs as practical, same day, at no increased cost.

So, why do residents think that the exercise does not take place, or the published figures (and they should be in annual reports or the like), do not seem to reflect reality?

Firstly, some thoughts on how satisfaction should be collected, is needed. The residents opinion, not the contractors is needed. Contractors should not be allowed or encouraged to ‘mark their own homework’. Pushing a reply paid satisfaction card through, or dropping one off, after the work is a fairly passive & expensive way of soliciting feedback. These days if the resident self-serves online, they could receive an email straight after the job completion is updated, with a direct link to a survey for that job. There it can be simply rated & a complaint or a complement raised.

For non-self servers, a scheduled automatic text or call, just requiring a simple key press (for satisfied or not), cheaply can do the job.

For landlords, reducing reliance on manual procedures, Excel spreadsheets, or five bar gates & the like, and integrating satisfaction to real tasks (repair and others), logged in an integrated system is key. This allows reports to be drawn right out of the system, providing a single version of the truth, (no sugar, butter & milk, those ingredients of fudge required). There are plenty of systems I see and help RSLs choose & implement, well capable of this.

Often landlords waste so much time chasing & collating satisfaction figures, they never have opportunity or resource to examine for insights. With ICT systems doing the easy legwork, the insights can be garnered in conjunction with residents, to better understand and improve service. I sometimes laugh when the odd landlord says there is no budget to spend on that. The sad truth is that if service (repairs or otherwise) is improved, it saves money, as we get it right, first time around. That can only lead to higher satisfaction, so a virtuous circle, as they say!

If you are grappling with poor systems for collating satisfaction data, feel free to get in touch!

If you are considering self-service, see you in October, at a new special conference

Related Post: Your software suppliers may be more charitable, than you think! 


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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

The Fall - I’m Not SatisfiedThe Fall - I’m Not Satisfied.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

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

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. , 07854655009 ,365Agile," """" ",,#UKHousing,#HousingDAY, #HomesForBritain,#InternetOfTenants, #Shout,1st Touch,3squared,Accuserv,Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,AirWatch,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos, Asprey e-state pro,ActiveHousing,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,App,Associates,ACL,Abritas,AMS,AX,aspireview,Agile365, BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Planning, 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,Civica Genero,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, Community Reward Services, Consilium, Consolidation, Consultancy,Consultant,Contact 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Wednesday 15 August 2018

Make It Real


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


Rappers & musicians often spend time trying to keep it real. We all should, because before long we will be found out. When that happens, nobody feels good.

In terms of keeping it real, I am very keen in procurements we always see that too. What is sold, should be what is experienced. Why would we want anything else? Of course, consultants who just do procurements, would not see that at the sharp end of getting these things in & working.

I had a conversation recently with a good mate of mine, who has just bought a new BMW. His beef was that pretty much everyone wants metallic paint and it will always be a £650+ bolt on to the eventual cost. Spookily enough as will be ‘head up’ displays and lots of other bolt-ons.

I said, “You are lucky Mike, if you were procuring software, and that was a car, I regularly get offered models at great prices, but with only 3 wheels. We all know we need at least 4 wheels to have anything drivable, but that will be some additional hidden cost, further down the line. Just a spot of change control, we will all have to swallow. Of course, at the sale, the commercial chaps will argue until they are blue in the face, that you will be quite sound on just three wheels.

Of course we remember only one three wheeler, that one from ‘Only Fools & Horses’. Are our Social Housing suppliers touting the 21st century implementation equivalent of the Reliant Robin, in some cases?

It kind of feels like that to me when any supplier suggests that two test data conversions and a go-live one is all you will ever need, and by inference, that only has been costed in. Don’t get me wrong, but my six years plus, implementing various sites and working on that practical side recently, as well as procuring solutions, has taught me otherwise. Maybe these sales people are uninformed, deluded, mistaken or just dishonest?


Clearly, many suppliers work very differently in that respect, particularly where its necessary to keep customers, that need to go from their own legacy system to their new one. At my old shop, many years ago, it was possible to migrate a whole system in just ten days. We did it once, for over 30,000 units. If a well planned process had been engineered well enough, it would be fast, accurate and efficient. Also, honed & improved at each customer migration. No end of lessons that can be learned to speed up the process and make it smoother, better. That was my philosophy anyway.

Clearly, not improving data migration processes, in the interests of the customers, leads to dissatisfaction that soon gets around. Rather than regarding the act of staying with your existing supplier, maybe upgrading to a newer, shinier jalopy, as low risk, its actually a driver to look at whatever else might be available. If you are up for it, go where the grass is greener, rather than suffer apathy or complacency with the supplier you know.      

Of course there is more wrong with the differences between sale & implementation than that, more on that blogged about here.

If you are considering self-service, see you in October, at a new special conference

Related Post: Your software suppliers may be more charitable, than you think! 


_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

The Scorpions – Make It RealThe Scorpions – Make It Real.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

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

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. , 07854655009 ,365Agile," """" ",,#UKHousing,#HousingDAY, #HomesForBritain,#InternetOfTenants, #Shout,1st Touch,3squared,Accuserv,Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,AirWatch,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos, Asprey e-state pro,ActiveHousing,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,App,Associates,ACL,Abritas,AMS,AX,aspireview,Agile365, BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Planning, 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,Civica Genero,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, Community Reward Services, Consilium, Consolidation, Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL, CRS Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Accuserve,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013, DynamicAI, Dynamic AI, ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance, Financial Systems, Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Footprint,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP,Genero,GCloud,G-Cloud,HouSys,Housing software,HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housemark,Housing Portfolio Management System, HRA,housingtITguy,Housing Support Pro,HousingSupportPro,Housing Options,Hometeam, Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,housing predictive analytics, Impact Response,iPayPro,implementations,iRobot,In House,InHouse,In4,InMotion, InMotion2016, InMotion2015, InMotion2016 , Exhibition, conference,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Management Consultants, Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce,Information@Work components, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Information Management Server,IMS, Invu,Ireland,Irish,Inphase , IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, iSupport,iSupportPro, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keypera Hometeam,Keyfax,Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice,MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS,mDesign,mobile functionality,mobile platform,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,MDM,Management,CRM2013,Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities,NPS,NPS Housing,NPS CRM,NPS Job Manager Mobile, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,Natural Forms,Nintexworkflow,NPS ASSIST, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source 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