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I remember a time when social housing people would pay good money, to visit Halton Housing Trust, to catch a glimpse of the digital future. You were best advised to pack a few sarnies, a snack, liquid refreshment and an energy bar, as catering was not generally laid on for the entry ticket price.
I never did the trip personally, but met many who had.
Reactions differed, its fair to say. Did you or one of your colleagues visit?
Some of my contacts and clients, thought they had seen the future and worked to set off and implement it, others were horrified with such a fundamentalist approach to digital first or no customer service at all. Its fair to say, those sessions generated lots of discussions and were fabulous in that respect. SocialHousing had been in its traditional mould for the most part and needed a shaking up.
Barriers to digital first thinking I encountered, included (almost comically), “Well our tenants are mostly old and won’t go for it”, to asset and repair managers telling me, “Well we can’t trust them to be logging their own repairs, they will be ordering whole kitchens & bathrooms”. No word of a lie.
Well, the world didn’t go to pot when some decent self-service was offered and all ages, took advantage, to various degrees. At HHT famously, hard to crack tenants were equipped with tablets, creatively funded, which was great. All fabulous ideas that reordered workloads to enable Universal Credit rollout to be managed.
Lets not forget that Halton and the borough I live in, Warrington adjacent, were the initial guinea pigs for the ill thought out opening UC rollout. Drastic situations called for radical solutions. Many poor folk relying on Universal credit at that time, waiting up to nine months, to receive any payments at all. Truly unacceptable. So from me maximum credit for taking a bold, alternative approach.
However, perhaps for most organisations, the realisation is that omni-channel, a pick & mix on offer for residents, actually is an ideal solution, if its available. After all, some of us love the caramel pennies, although others like a mix in different situations. Sometimes its got to be a green foil wrapped triangle when the occasion calls.
I engage with many residents on Twitter and they have strong opinions on the mix offered of how they can contact their housing provider. Also how that is followed up, issues resolved and closed out. Its fair to say that its often after remote service failure, sometimes after self-serving, ‘Customer Service’ then kicks in. Repairs being a common theme, as ITV have highlighted.
If it can be supported and resourced, that ‘Customer Service’ element is of value to be there, at all times if needed. It was interesting last year before Christmas, that HHT opened a new customer and visitor reception area, at the Waterfront, Runcorn. More info here - https://www.haltonhousing.co.uk/about-us/news/new-waterfront-point-reception-opens-its-doors-customers-and-visitors
Of course much has changed in the management team at Halton, with some very good additions from the previous Torus Housing Group structure. Some great people I have had the pleasure to work with previously on serious transformation projects and taken a very hybrid and inclusive view of the customer service being offered.
I personally think that its good that Halton has moved closer to an omnichannel approach to customer service. It’s perhaps vindicated some of those doubters, who made those pilgrimages to Runcorn. Maybe a mix of channels to provide different strokes for different folks, was the best strategy after all…
What goes around comes around. Those 80's leg-warmers or 70's penny-round collars may well come back sometime soon!
Do let me know your feelings via DM or comments 😉
Related Post: Are we aiming high enough for our self-service?
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Simple Minds – Waterfront.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009
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