Alternative Ulster

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

I have recently come to the end of a few procurements I have been assisting clients with, for full Housing Management Systems and Digital Platforms. The final stage is ‘Contract Finalisation’, where the software/system solution purchase is recorded legally. 

A bit like a mortgage agreement or contract of employment. Perhaps of all these, only a mortgage is so set in stone, others have the possibility of clauses being dropped, modified, strengthened/watered down etc, based on mutual agreement.

Where a CCS/DAS Government framework is being used, like RM3821, a standard contract is supplied and generally the basis of what can be agreed. Framework contracts do try to be everything to everyone however, whether procurement of 500 Capital Work kitchens or a £1.2m 5 year software contract. As a by-product of that, liabilities are often set very high, to offer very strong protection for buyers, the Contracting Body.

Outside of Frameworks, I would never advise a client of mine to just accept or start from a suppliers template contract. It will undoubtedly be very biased in favour of the software provider, often demanding lots of front loaded up front payments and limited (if any) penalties for late delivery or ‘time of the essence’ style clauses. Most projects I see later, when clients get me in to sort out implementations that have gone wayward, have few contract protections. Always engage experienced software contract solicitors to assist, it will be worth the £8-12k required.

Recently on the subject of ‘when contracts go wrong’, you probably cannot have missed the recent shenanigans in Northern Ireland, around the Northern Irish Protocol, which was agreed as a condition of the UK Brexit. This like a software contract, is legally binding. While most of us recognise we have a liar of a UK Prime Minister, who even wrote his lies on a big red bus and got away with it, the NIP is written into law in black and white. In the same way a mortgage defines how we will make payments to our lender on a periodic basis, the NIP has defined clauses.

The story fed to the people has become that the EU are ‘applying rules and clauses too rigidly’, which is unreasonable. Our UK government never thought ‘Oven Ready’ rules would be applied to the letter and hoped they could be watered down later. Great wishful thinking!

Funnily enough in contract discussions, I often see pushback on clauses, with suppliers suggesting, ‘Well that would never happen and we would never invoke that’ etc. The suggestion is that the contract could be overridden by a shake of a hand, over a few double brandies, or a nice slap up dinner. Nothing is further from the truth and always the contract clauses included are king. Never believe otherwise. If I have ever encountered that, I have always argued that we should leave it in and I am sure the goodwill will work just as well, in the opposite direction. Stick to your guns, as I promise you, contract changes after the event might well have to wait five years and be very costly later.

When clients get me in to help turnaround projects that have gone pear shaped, maybe in their 3rd or 4th year, or 200%+ over budget, my first move is to review their contract. Hopefully it’s got clauses that safeguard my client and we have adequate teeth to bite the supplier with. Of course, it’s better to get the procurement and contract right from day one. A lot of my clients do that with me and see me as a Critical Friend right through the implementation, experience on tap economically as required

It’s a shame our UK government post December 2019 had surrounded themselves with ‘yes men’, otherwise someone could have unpopularly pointed out the follow of the approach and trouble could be expected a few years further down the line.

If we at Acutance Consulting can help your organisation with procurement or projects that may have gone off track, please just get in touch, for a chat over a brew. 

I will bring the chocolate gingers ☕😉

       Related Post:Critical Friends can seem expensive, but can save many more costly mistakes

Catch the blog monthly archive at https://soundcloud.com/housingitguy/

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

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.

Stiff Little fingers – SLF - Alternative Ulster.
(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: #HomesForBritain,#HousingDAY,#InternetOfTenants,#Shout,#UKHousing, 07854655009, 1st Touch,1stTouch,360,365Agile,3squared,4Js, ACL,ALMO,AMS,AX,Aareon,Abritas,Academy,Accuserv,Accuserve,Active Housing,ActiveH,ActiveHousing,Acutence,Advanced,Affinity,Agile,Agile365,AirWatch,Alfresco,Alignment,Allpay,Amazon Web Services,Anite,Apex,App,ArchHouse,Archouse,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Associates,Aurora,Average IT Costs,AWI SX Integration Toolkit,AWS, BI,BO,BPR,BancTec,BigChange,Blockwise,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Planning,Business Process Review,Business social networking, CACI,Capita One Housing,CBL,CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,CEDRM,CHICS,CHR,CIH,CMS,COA,CORE,CPL,CRM,CRM2013,CRS,CTI,CTX,Cadcorp,Capita,CapitaOne,Capita One,Capital Management,Cashflow,Castle,Castleton,Castleton Technology,Cedar Open Accounts,Cerrus,Change,Charges,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, Citrix,Civica,Civica CTX,Civica Cx,Civica 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survey,Housing,Housing Contact,Housing Group,Housing Insight,Housing Management,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Partners,Housing Portfolio Management System,Hub Asset Management,Homeswapper,Housing jigsaw, Housing Support Pro,HousingIT,HousingSupportPro,HyperOptic, IMS,IT,IT Budget,IT Training,ITIL,Impact Response,In,In4,In4Systems Promaster,InfoBoss,InHouse,InMotion,InMotion2015,InMotion2016,InfoBoss,Infoflow,Information,Information Technology,Information@Work components,Informix,Innovation, Informetis,Inphase,Inside Housing,Insight,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Invu,Ireland,Irish,itLab, Keyfax,Keylogic,Keypera,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera, Landlord,Ledgers,Linkedin,Liquid,Locality,Localz, M3,MAVIS,MD,MDM,MI,MIS,MIS-AMS,MISCS,MRI,MS Dynamics,MRI,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Microsoft365,microsoft 365,MWL,Management,Management Server,Manifest,Measuring,Mebus,More IQ,MoreIQ,Microsoft Dynamics 365,Microsoft dynamics GP 2013,Miracle,MobileIron,Mobysoft,Monopoly board images and pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid,MoreIQ NDL,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,NPS,NPS ASSIST,NPS Housing,NPS Job Manager Mobile,NROSH,Natural,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Nintexworkflow,Northgate,Northgate Codeman,Northgate Public Services,Notice, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,OJEU Limits,ORS,Ohms,OmFax,Omniledger,One,OneAdvanced,OneServe,Open source,OpenContractor,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Options,Optitime,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OutSystems, PIMMS,PIMSS Data,PM,PRINCE2,Paloma,Pamwin,PanConnect,People Value,Peoplevalue,PfH,Pick,PlanForm,Planned maintenance,Plenfific,Plus,Portfolio Management System,PowerObjects,Pro,Pro-Points,Prodo,Progress,Promaster,Propoints,Proval,Providers,Pyramid, QL,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,Red Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent Increase,RentSense,RentSenseLite,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,RobotAutomation,Rocket, Salesforce,Salesforce.Org,SAP,SASSHA,SDM,SHBVN,SM,SOTI,SP,SQL,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting,SQL Server,Saffron,Safron,Saturn,Scenario,Scotland,Scots,Scottish,Scout,Sequoa,Serengeti,Serros,Server,Service,Services,Servitor,Sharepoint,Sim,SimPro, Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Housing ICT,Social Housing Software Applications,Social Media,Software,Software solutions,Spotlight Service,Spotlightservice,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic,SunAccounts,Sunguard,Surveys,Streetwise, Swordfish,Sx3,Symatrix Human,System alignment,Systems,Systemwise, T-Files,TEAMS,TED,TFiles,TP Tracker,TSG,Tagish Casework,Tagra,Task,TAIM,Technologies (India) PVT Limited,Telecetera,Template,Terminal Services,That,Three Star,Tilt,TiltAffinity,Today,Tony Smith,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT,TonySmithHou,TonySmithHousing, ,TonySmithHousingITguy,Total,Total Mobile,Totalmobile,Trace,Tribal,Twitter, U2,UC,UK,UK Housing,Ukhousing,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,United Kingdom,Universal,Universalcredit,Universe,Unrest, Valueworks,Van Stock,Vantage,Vantage Sentinel,Version,Virtualisation,Visualmetrics,Voice,Voice and data,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Wheatley,Windows Server,Workflow and,Work Hub,Works Connect, XML,Xen App,XenApp,Xmbrace, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . .

 

Love You More

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

You may have caught my blogpost, touching on the expansion of choice for scheduling Social Housing repairs and other areas, a couple of months ago. Since then I have been doing a bit of a deep-dive into the most exciting full Cloud innovation available for scheduling, from More IQ

For me, that ‘Full Cloud’ and designed from the ground up for Cloud, is these days the most crucial attribute.

Since just before our two years of painful pandemic lockdowns, already I was aware of ‘an about turn’, to the Cloud and browser delivered apps, especially from local councils during procurement.  “If its not Cloud Tony, we don’t want to procure it!”. Very wise too!

Clearly, this seismic shift has understandably wrong-footed many suppliers with older, more traditional Client-Server solutions. Redeveloping/retrofitting those can be extremely expensive and also suffer from not being able to absolutely start again, from the philosophical “blank sheet of paper”. If exploited thoroughly, a well designed Cloud architecture can provide infinite extendibility and expansion. On scheduling solutions, I have seen many projects, as a critical friend where scaling up from a fairly nippy fifty operative diaries to 500, has quickly meant a second or third physical server with 65%+ CPU utilisation, or over a minutes wait, to offer a customer some slot options. Conventional client-server based solutions, do too suffer from many of those 'all weekend' upgrades too!

Out of the box, back office agent view of
MOREIQ, showing estimated cost/journey time

Out of the box, scheduler MoreIQ web user view

The key architects of More IQ, Nick Shipton, Gael Sainson and Katie Evans, who I am sure will be known to many particularly from the Xmbrace days, appear to have cracked this issue using key Cloud infrastructure features. I have seen the More IQ scheduler effortlessly handle 3,000 filled diaries, deftly with performance to spare. On that last point, one of the main asks of any scheduler, on the performance front is being ‘Dynamic’. I surround the word in brackets, as its much maligned and mis-used. What do we mean by it?

Graphical features of MoreIQ

A dynamic scheduler in my book, brings decent automation & potentially allows many more diaries to be managed with a leaner manager/scheduler role headcount. So often I have seen legacy scheduling solutions purchased on a business case of reducing staff and the headcount grows instead. Has that ever happened to you in an organisation you have worked in?

In contrast to quite a few other schedulers out there, MoreIQ ticks a lot of my boxes here. Three operatives phoning in sick at 08:06 is not a drama, just handled automation within a minute. A HR link has been thought through too, so only one system need be updated, not three or more. Metrics available for efficient automation are forward thinking too, covering strategies to favour reduction of CO2, bonus/penalties, mobile journey AI learning, all supported.  

As we know in SocialHousing, scheduling a responsive repairs team is different to managing voids, planned works or coordinated actions, such as an eviction or combined gas/arrears visit. MoreIQ deals with these situations by design, using a concept of ‘parcels’ to better manage our sequenced tasks.

Parcels of dependent work – Eventually in 2022, smarter Voids 😉

With scheduling solutions, like any other, integration can be the Achilles Heel. Traditional solutions built integration links, as they went along. MoreIQ sensibly brings them all with decent documentation, right out of the box. Web & text based integrations are available and being used by a number of early partner adopters such as Propeller Powered, and being considered as an option for the D365 community.

Propeller and More IQ have a first customer live which was completed within a few weeks with no additional hefty ‘implementation days’. The MoreIQ costing model is pretty much a reasonable ‘all in per seat/diary’, so much more attractive to your finance director. No need to recontract and buy it all again after 5 years, which I have seen to be a recent emerging theme.

Quickly customise the supplied MoreIQ working templates with the same team ICT skills being deployed in D365

There are opportunities with MoreIQ in a number of relevant current situations. Firstly, if your organisation is considering or already on a journey with Microsoft Dynamics 365. Secondly, if back-office solutions are under review (quite common in my recent assignment), to squeeze the very most from integration.  Lastly, where it might be felt your current suppliers are not thinking out of the box with alternative scheduling solutions. There’s no excuse for mediocre field service efficiency.

This is  the real deal as regards industrial strength truly reactive scheduling, and an enabler of potential outstanding field service efficiency. Check MoreIQ out. It does come with its full browser GUI, which is easily customised in a way most others out there struggle to achieve, as well as having the ability for your existing partners to fully white label it

Grab some additional info at More-IQ.com -  via the white paper at https://more-iq.com/#whitepaper 

They are on my doorstep, at CIH Housing 2022 Manchester 28-30th June (Stand TE22), arrange in advance to have a look yourself.

If we at Acutance Consulting can help your organisation with any aspect of scheduling, transformation issues/procurement, please just get in touch, for a chat over a brew. 

I will bring the chocolate digestives 😉

       Related Post: SocialHousing can turn voids around quickly, but is it effective for new tenants?

Catch the blog monthly archive at https://soundcloud.com/housingitguy/

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

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.

Buzzcocks - Love you More.
(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: #HomesForBritain,#HousingDAY,#InternetOfTenants,#Shout,#UKHousing, 07854655009, 1st Touch,1stTouch,360,365Agile,3squared,4Js, ACL,ALMO,AMS,AX,Aareon,Abritas,Academy,Accuserv,Accuserve,Active Housing,ActiveH,ActiveHousing,Acutence,Advanced,Affinity,Agile,Agile365,AirWatch,Alfresco,Alignment,Allpay,Amazon Web Services,Anite,Apex,App,ArchHouse,Archouse,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Associates,Aurora,Average IT Costs,AWI SX Integration Toolkit,AWS, BI,BO,BPR,BancTec,BigChange,Blockwise,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Planning,Business Process Review,Business social networking, CACI,Capita One Housing,CBL,CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,CEDRM,CHICS,CHR,CIH,CMS,COA,CORE,CPL,CRM,CRM2013,CRS,CTI,CTX,Cadcorp,Capita,CapitaOne,Capita One,Capital Management,Cashflow,Castle,Castleton,Castleton Technology,Cedar Open Accounts,Cerrus,Change,Charges,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, Citrix,Civica,Civica CTX,Civica Cx,Civica Genero,Civica Saffron,Clearview,Clik,Cloud Dialogs,CloudDialogs,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Commontime,Community Reward Services,Company,Competitive Dialogue process,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation, Consultancy,Consultant,Consultants,Contact Manager,Context,Contractor Systems,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,Crystal Reports,Customer Relationship Management,Cx, DRS,Deeplake,Designer Software,Development Systems,Director,Document,Documotive,Docuware,Dynamic AI,DynamicAI,Dynamics 365,D365,Dynamics365, ECMK,EDM,EDRMS,ERP,ESRI,Elmhurst,Enghouse Interactive,England,English,EnterpriseBI,Estatecraft,Etive,Exhibition,Exponential-e, Facebook,Factorwise,Field Service management,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials,Footprint,Forms,Freezes,Fusion, Gas Tag,G-Cloud,GCloud,GDPR,GGP,GIS,GasTag,Genero,GeoSolveIT,Getting best from,GoTonySmith,Grasp,Grip,Group Apex, HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,HRA,Hardware,Hitachi Systems,Hitex,HomeMaster,Hometeam,HouSys,House,Housemark,Housemark survey,Housing,Housing Contact,Housing Group,Housing Insight,Housing Management,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Partners,Housing Portfolio Management System,Hub Asset Management,Homeswapper,Housing jigsaw, Housing Support Pro,HousingIT,HousingSupportPro,HyperOptic, IMS,IT,IT Budget,IT Training,ITIL,Impact Response,In,In4,In4Systems Promaster,InfoBoss,InHouse,InMotion,InMotion2015,InMotion2016,InfoBoss,Infoflow,Information,Information Technology,Information@Work components,Informix,Innovation, Informetis,Inphase,Inside Housing,Insight,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Invu,Ireland,Irish,itLab, Keyfax,Keylogic,Keypera,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera, Landlord,Ledgers,Linkedin,Liquid,Locality,Localz, M3,MAVIS,MD,MDM,MI,MIS,MIS-AMS,MISCS,MRI,MS Dynamics,MRI,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Microsoft365,microsoft 365,MWL,Management,Management Server,Manifest,Measuring,Mebus,More IQ,Microsoft Dynamics 365,Microsoft dynamics GP 2013,Miracle,MobileIron,Mobysoft,Monopoly board images and pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid,MoreIQ NDL,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,NPS,NPS ASSIST,NPS Housing,NPS Job Manager Mobile,NROSH,Natural,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Nintexworkflow,Northgate,Northgate Codeman,Northgate Public Services,Notice, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,OJEU Limits,ORS,Ohms,OmFax,Omniledger,One,OneAdvanced,OneServe,Open source,OpenContractor,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Options,Optitime,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OutSystems, PIMMS,PIMSS Data,PM,PRINCE2,Paloma,Pamwin,PanConnect,People Value,Peoplevalue,PfH,Pick,PlanForm,Planned maintenance,Plenfific,Plus,Portfolio Management System,PowerObjects,Pro,Pro-Points,Prodo,Progress,Promaster,Propoints,Proval,Providers,Pyramid, QL,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,Red Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent Increase,RentSense,RentSenseLite,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,RobotAutomation,Rocket, Salesforce,Salesforce.Org,SAP,SASSHA,SDM,SHBVN,SM,SOTI,SP,SQL,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting,SQL Server,Saffron,Safron,Saturn,Scenario,Scotland,Scots,Scottish,Scout,Sequoa,Serengeti,Serros,Server,Service,Services,Servitor,Sharepoint,Sim,SimPro, Simdel,Simdell,Slash and Burn,Social Housing ICT,Social Housing Software Applications,Social Media,Software,Software solutions,Spotlight Service,Spotlightservice,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic,SunAccounts,Sunguard,Surveys,Streetwise, Swordfish,Sx3,Symatrix Human,System alignment,Systems,Systemwise, T-Files,TEAMS,TED,TFiles,TP Tracker,TSG,Tagish Casework,Tagra,Task,TAIM,Technologies (India) PVT Limited,Telecetera,Template,Terminal Services,That,Three Star,Tilt,TiltAffinity,Today,Tony Smith,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT,TonySmithHou,TonySmithHousing, ,TonySmithHousingITguy,Total,Total Mobile,Totalmobile,Trace,Tribal,Twitter, U2,UC,UK,UK Housing,Ukhousing,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,United Kingdom,Universal,Universalcredit,Universe,Unrest, Valueworks,Van Stock,Vantage,Vantage Sentinel,Version,Virtualisation,Visualmetrics,Voice,Voice and data,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Wheatley,Windows Server,Workflow and,Work Hub,Works Connect, XML,Xen App,XenApp,Xmbrace, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . .

Hey Student!

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

I’ve worked on many successful self-service projects in Socialhousing, repairs and other areas. Software suppliers have also had me in as Critical Friend, to critique and design some of their web portals and other offerings.

In everyday life, we all encounter self-service web portals for all manner of things. Banking, shopping, interacting with our local council etc. It’s fair to say after a decade or more of interacting like this, there are certain expectations, everyone has. I say this whether you are a social housing tenant, customer, member of some organisation, refugee, homeless person etc, having to navigate ‘digital first’ solutions.

The initial signup is crucial to get right, as is providing alternative channels, for anyone incapable of signing up, people with disabilities or without the means. Swiftly identifying a person to register is crucial and to securely/easily make this possible.

Famously in the cult 1970s TV show, The Prisoner, Patrick Mcgoohan stated, “I am not a number, I am a free man”. However, Increasingly we are all acquiring more & more numbers, such as an NI number, NHS ID, unique taxpayer reference, as well as separate usernames etc that help Google, Meta, Amazon and others track our every move, for the benefit of their advertising revenue.

Last week I applied to the Student Loans Company, to register as a parent, for my little fella, who hopefully will be starting Uni in the autumn. Following an emailed link I landed at a signup/sign-in page, looking for my name, place of birth, DOB and NI number. Imagine my surprise when the response that came back was that I already have an account and I should call them for 30p a minute. On trying to ‘retrieve my previous details’, I was presented with a question, ‘Is Alans****@gmail.com still your email address’? Needless to say it is not!

On phoning them, after a mandatory quarter of an hour listening to muzak, the softly spoken Durham Geordie ‘Kevin’ answered and informed me that there might be another person in Manchester with my name, DOB and place of birth. I agreed, but swiftly pointed out to him, that they are very unlikely to have my unique NI number too! He couldn’t really argue with that one, but couldn’t seem to do much else than blame the ICT system. An easy cop out.

He said he would ‘log a support call’ and ‘My account might have to be set up manually’ (i.e. not via self-service that promises ‘it can be done in 30 minutes or less’. So that wasn’t good. I asked him if he could cut out the middle man and start a manual account, so I could log in and continue adding details on-line. He said he couldn’t as I needed to put my own personal details in. I did remind him I had already shared them all with him already on the call. Very disappointing.

The help desk call must have been logged, as I received a PDF form by email the following day. It could be completed digitally and signed. However, it stipulated that a digital image of a signature cannot be used, also that it cannot be emailed back to them for automated consumption. Ten pages of it needed to be printed, an ink signature added and posted by snail mail the next day.

I did think this sort of stuff disappeared back in 2005. It clearly didn’t. Its rubbish, amateurish and unprofessional, as well as being inherently inefficient for everyone. It’s a great example to examine elements that can be improved, pitfalls we can avoid ourselves in our self-service to customers. Lots to unpack and learn here.

1-Make it as easy as possible for customers to signup and start interacting.
If ‘unique information’ is requested, use it to correctly identify and validate customers. EG NI Number, Account ID, Property ID, DOB, Address, Mothers Maiden name etc. Aim for it to be friction-free, with no human interaction. Just like Amazon. Know what unique identifiers you can work with

2-For customers who can’t get started themselves, have a strategy to help
Don’t keep them on hold for yonks, they might never sign up to self-service at all, and we have lost them. Have a way to speed to the on-boarding if we have proven their identity. Allow front of office/CRM customer service agents to set/reset online accounts, communicating login links etc that can be verified as ok for the customer before the call is ended. Have staff trained to a level they can be ‘self-serve evangelists’ and introduce/convert customers to self-servers in their homes (or in your reception area).

3-Don’t resort to providing a form that just needs printing off & posting.
Not everyone has a printer at home. (don’t get me on “plug and play WiFi printers”. There’s perhaps a whole blogpost there to vent my spleen on!). Public libraries etc are becoming an endangered species, even if you have one nearby and can pay 50p a page to print that form. How eco-friendly is it to be always printing stuff anyway?

4-If you provide a PDF form to download, allow it to be completely filled in digitally
Digital signatures have been acceptable for a decade or more now. This is the first form I can recall printing and signing for over 10 years.

5-Provide a means of emailing completed forms back securely (or complete online) and set up methods of automatically extracting the data.
This allows efficiencies to be leveraged, data to be reliably consumed in seconds, not 10-20 minutes per form, possibly re-keyed by temporary staff.

6-Provide a means of checking progress
With anything submitted, give a means of checking how its going, even if ‘no news’ is no news.
Any self-service initiated, which results in anyone calling in manually to check ‘did you get my request’, ‘where is it up to’, ‘when will it be completed’ etc, is a fail. Everyone of those is a waste call. I have engaged with many tenants via Twitter and social media, that log repairs using self-service without either being offered appointment slots or given a target completion date.
Guess what? That leads to more waste calls, in some cases stress, worry and complaints, carrying with it bad publicity (especially around repair fails).

7-Think of the consequence of the self-service offered (& what customers will want/do next)

Fail to do this and possibly push up conventional interactions with customers. Much like an experience I had with a bank, some years back.

Our organisations and software suppliers, particularly the integrated HMS ones, need to be heeding some of the above points and making improvements available. Its no wonder we have a whole industry around good third party web developers, polishing some of the self-service turds, provided out of the box.

If we can help your organisation with any aspect of self-service setup, transformation issues/procurement, please just get in touch, for a chat over a brew. 

I will bring the chocolate covered gingers 😉

       Related Post: Can we manage to have self-service so good, its always first choice ?

Catch the blog monthly archive at https://soundcloud.com/housingitguy/

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

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


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