I Bought A Headache

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

Suspects, there were many

After a few rumours that have been circulating since their Yuneo solution had its plug pulled, back last year, one of the well known #socialhousing solution providers has now changed hands. In the end it wasn't MRI , SAP or dinosaur system slayer Simon Reay, with the deep pockets. Aareal Bank and Advent International, are to sell Aareon (mainly) to TPG for approximately € 3.9 billion, so quite a payday for a few directors one would expect. Canadian investment outfit CDPQ are a minor investor too. Closing of this deal is expected to take place in the second half of this year (2024), subject to the usual customary closing competition conditions and approvals.

It should be noted that Texas Pacific Group (TPG Capital) are not a big software house (like MRI), they are investors.

So that includes Aareon UK, home to product such as QLX, QLF, Arthur, 1st Touch mobile (now “Digital Solutions by Aareon”), Fixflo etc. Many sites & some councils will have one or more of these solutions, which were big sellers in many procurements for some years prior to 2020. Products in the marketplace have moved on significantly though and some of the new entrants are snapping away successfully at the smaller Aareon sites. In the medium to large provider space, many are looking now to native browser and Cloud solutions, Salesforce, D365 etc, that still retain convenient and secure access to data.

The press release talks lots about ‘innovation for customers in the European housing ecosystem’ & ‘on a path of sustainable growth with exciting opportunities ahead for all stakeholders’. That’s got a feel for me of potential exciting dividends for stakeholders, it will be interesting to see how Aareon customers react to this development, if support and other costs rise, service delivered improves or goes backwards for UK housing associations, charities and councils.

Aareon staff have clearly been briefed to talk up the possibility of going ‘into an optimistic growth phase’. Its hard to work out how that might be achieved via sales with potentially sub-optimal product, based on the recent few years. Maybe some bargains may be trotted out here, or LinkedIn will flag up more royal staff, looking for other situations vacant. If I were TPG, I would be looking for decent returns within three years. Investors are brutal, that’s why they are successful.

Here is the standard press release I saw here from Business Insider

If you are a contact with one or more of these products currently, feel free to get in touch to chat or maybe explore future options.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ *** Join the discussion with Claire & Aiden *** _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

If you are stuck on a legacy SocialHousing system, reach out

please just get in touch , for a chat over a brew and a Jammy Dodger ☕😋

       Related Post: How can the right Critical Friend guide your RSL to a new system?

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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 Replacements - I Bought A Headache.
(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.

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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,QLX, QLF, QL Yuneo,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,Red Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent 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Victim Of Changes, Progress (the database)?

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

We all try to stay ahead of the curve. No sooner we have Windows 7, we have Windows 10, then 11. It’s a constant fight to stay current and protected. 

The Silverlight support deadline has been & gone. Woe betide any Socialhousing organisations still on Keystone asset management cowering behind their firewall.

One de-support notice that might have passed your attention however, is the close of Progress OpenEdge database version 11.7, next April 2025. Apache Tomcat 8.5 security support has already ended, back in March 2024. While from April Progress based solutions will still operate, however will no longer receive security updates and patches. While not generally web facing, that reduces but not totally eliminates risk.

Progress, very much a database of the 1980’s and mid-90’s still has a large footprint in UK Social Housing. This is due to the number of IBS/Capital OpenHousing and MRI/Orchard housing systems still in use and the large footprint of openAccounts as finance solution, often sold with those solutions. Of course a lot of folk are looking to the market to research alternatives, some with housing/Finance combined.

The sector does have a severe problem with not keeping application solutions up to date. Of course this is not limited to the above examples. I have found it endemic across many applications, regardless of contracts attempting (but generally failing) to enforce frequent upgrades.

Many users will be expected to be way behind with versions of OpenAccounts, Pro2, Ebis, OpenPeople as well as housing solutions.

While there is a good nine months to upgrade, bear in mind that many dozens of sites will need to take this leap and also a year-end will sit in the way of finance users. So how if you are a site affected by this, to move forward smoothly?

Getting across to Progress Version 12 is crucial and a pre-cursor is to get upgraded to MRI Orchard’s latest version, in order to be Progress v12 ready. This will be more clunky for organisations many versions behind. This will involve applying a number of incremental versions with attendant testing/UAT. Interfaces are the most important areas to concentrate on, in addition to any local development outside of what’s supported as supplier IP. Although often helpdesks fall down in spectacular manner!

For OpenAccounts, the target needs to be v10.1 – If this can be achieved by late summer, this would be ideal. Where existing users are still on OA versions 8 or 9, it’s a heavier upgrade path. Getting up to v10.1 will then provide Progress v12 compatibility.

Where Orchard/OpenHousing is used in conjunction with openAccounts, there are bound to be dependencies. Be sure to check these out in detail with whoever supports your solutions.

This all kind of underlines the good sense of upgrading often where you can. You know it makes sense!

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ *** Join the discussion with Claire & Aiden *** _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

If you are stuck on a legacy SocialHousing system, reach out

please just get in touch , for a chat over a slice of LDC ☕😋

       Related Post: Is your finance chart of accounts, the size of Saturn ?

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

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.

Judas Priest – Victim Of Changes.
(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,Cx Assets, 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,CxFeedback, DRS,Deeplake,Designer Software,Development Systems,Director,Document,Documotive,Docuware,Dynamic AI,DynamicAI,Dynamics 365,D365,Dynamics365,Dynaway ECMK,EDM,EDRMS,ERP,ESRI,Elmhurst,Enghouse Interactive,England,English,EnterpriseBI,Estatecraft,Esuasive,Etive,Exhibition,Exponential-e, Facebook,Factorwise,Field Service management,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials,FLS,Footprint,Forms,Freezes,Fusion,Fuzzlab 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,Keynamics, 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,QLX, QLF, QL Yuneo,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,Rubixx, 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,Visitour,Visualmetrics,Voice,Voice and data,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Wheatley,Windows Server,Workflow and,Work Hub,Works Connect, XML,Xen App,XenApp,Xmbrace, Yuneo,TS Acutance Consulting, ...
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