tonysmiththathousingitguy @HousingITguy

Some thoughts on IT and UK SocialHousing from a unique perspective of over 27+ years working with over 140 RSL's, Councils and social landlord groups in the UK, Ireland & Australia. (c) No reproduction without prior/express permission Available for independent housing RSL implementation, procurement of HMS, Repairs, CRM, EDM, DLO, Financial, Scheduling systems, critical friend etc. In Scotland I work with the folks at Arneil Johnston Check us out on Soundcloud /housingitguy

Wednesday, 18 June 2025

Break ‘Em Off Some

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

How long do you commit to stuff? You know, phone contracts, ISA saving terms, even personal relationships? A old friend of mine when on his third wedding day, his best man (a hat trick of wedding attendances under his belt) described Gary as, “Reliable chap, has been faithful to every woman he has ever slept with”. A bit near the bone, but accurate. I have now long lost touch with Gary, but I would be surprised if he is not already on his 5th or 6th set of nuptials.

Sometimes a break and reflection is necessary, almost essential.

Which brings me to housing software contract terms. Changing HMS or moving to a new solution platform on a CRM perhaps, is no quick decision, or implementation. Take those claims of phasing an implementation putting in a MVP module every 3 months with a pinch of the expensive Himalayan sea salt. Most of those claims are expensive and farcical, much like health claims for that particular sexy condiment

While smaller sites (under 3,000 homes) can usually move faster, most full HMS moves typically take 18-30 months. That’s partly down to suppliers and partly to the organisation implementing. Probably a theme for a whole new blogpost that one - resourcing right. So a 5 year term only may gives us 3 years-ish max of live running, hence aiming for a longer term. Indeed.

Some frameworks will only allow you to contract to a fixed term, maybe 3 or 4 years, then by the nature of those arrangements, the contracting body will have to go back to market. In some cases right back to that same framework. Most frameworks will allow you to contract for a longer period, however after that it is likely your procurement colleagues will expect a new procurement. On frameworks, don’t be confused about the typical three year re-tender term, this is for suppliers not you and generally the framework ID will change. RM1853 becomes RM3821 etc, when some suppliers might be added and some drop off. This 3 year cycle (which often becomes 4 year or more) does not restrict the length of contract that can be entered into. Hence, a 10 or 15 year contract is feasible, although I would say not practical or sensible.

Contracts are best split as something like a '5 plus 5 plus 5' or my favourite, a 5 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 which if your procurement folks will allow it, will give you from 5 to 19 year relationship, with plenty of option to exercise breakpoints. These can be used to reset relationships if service has deteriorated, your supplier has been 'acquired' or decided not remove their focus on SocialHousing, or technology dictates it. For example, who would have predicted the hybrid way we work now back in early 2020?

Another gotcha is anchoring a long term with payment arrangements. What happens if you are on the hook for 8 or more years of paying for a product or service and it becomes end of life mid-term? What if some of its underlying technology or components go that way? Any Third Party Items will have been resold with your primary supplier taking a wedge. |Housing solutions landed with unsupported Silverlight spring to mind (Keystone anyone?). CRM platforms are not a lot better, MS D365 components that can be difficult to upgrade when needed, represent a security risk or (get this) are acquired and then closed down deliberately.

I helped a D365 site that had this latter issue, when its MS Dynamics reseller had this happen and came back to the social care housing provider for another £60k to replace the obsolete component they had on their development. Luckily I could prove the original component had already been declared end of life 3 months before the reseller had started embedding it. Hence they had been negligent and it was not my clients liability. Just a few day's work for me but like many Critical Friend projects, I generally save organisation's more money than I cost them.

Anyway, I hope that helps provide some food for thought. If you have queries on this, procurement etc, please be in touch !

Any comments, observations or queries, please share.

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

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Off the shelf or build your own - how to scope your options ?

Get in touch , I will drop in for a brew & bring the Jaffa Cakes ☕

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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.

Cyprus Hill - Break ‘Em Off Some

(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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Monday, 9 June 2025

Self Help

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

I’m still often surprised at how limited self-service options are for residents today.

Either its incomplete, has a UI for residents looking more like our back-end 2000’s HMS system, not there at all, or in many cases not so convenient for residents as evidenced by poor take up of 15% or less of tenants that are regular users.

Poor integration is often presented as a challenge or excuse, as is often seen from some of the laggard legacy suppliers, possibly still feeling their way on their digital journey. Also sometimes the web platform developer people come unstuck too. As usual here, I’m too polite to name the guilty, after all some suppliers can at times surprise us for the better !

Thinking back, I remember talking at a summer self-service conference, hosted by the ActiveHousing chaps in 2018. Those guys now are part of the wider Plentific - https://www.plentific.com/ property operations solutions offering, one of the most feature rich platforms in the sector. Back then I outlined seven whole years ago, what ‘good’ probably looks like and will persuade tenants to choose that Digital First strand, from the available omnichannels we can offer. The cost of self-serving is still pence (but only) if volume can be achieved, failure to channel shift, still generally results in a telephone chat costing £10 upwards.

Fast forward to today and we have a more aggressive regulatory environment, post Grenfell and just prior to Awaabs law coming to support socialhousing residents this October, 5 months away. On the latter, it is definitely a concern and reason for CEOs to lose sleep and there is no shortage of providers looking to ‘come up with something’ as part of their self-service. It’s often a mad long form of 30 questions, with the ability to upload your damp & mould at the end (if as resident you get to the bottom, without actually losing the will to live!). Anyone can knock up a website form, its cheap and cheerful, but what might create real change, and improve the resident experience?

On a chat a week or so ago with Simon Wilkes, who was at that conference, now with his Plentific hat on, I asked him what they thought ‘good looked like’? Luckily, this is no laggard supplier and has a wide portfolio of proven integrations with most HMS and repairs solutions out there. On quite a few of my own projects, I have had these guys in the room solving API problems generally quickly. In one case working with four other of the ‘rutting stag’ suppliers, bottoming out integration challenges in hours, not months.

On integration I am sick of hearing the answer/excuse, “well there’s nothing we have failed to integrate to as yet”, when clearly it cannot be evidenced as yet. In these cases your go-live may well seriously over run the introduction of Awaabs law - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/awaabs-law-to-force-landlords-to-fix-dangerous-homes being introduced (and perhaps the Grenfell Enquiry finishing too. I kid you not).

So, what’s new in Plentific’s resident experience solution – originally known as ActiveHousing?

Well in the proven solution that can be implemented in as little as 3 months, there’s a new key tool I am liking a lot, in readiness for Awaab’s law, in helping to identify and address damp and mould hazards within tight fixed time frames. All the emphasis is on early reporting, diagnosis with AI support to nip small incidents in the bud, before there are major spore health hazards for residents and landlord asset damage can escalate. This, like other platform aspects are being continually developed, so unlike bespoke homegrown self-service web developments, its back to the SocialHousing provider to maintain, keep secure and maintain regulator alignment.

The bonus of having the advantages of proven integrations to the wider Plentific repairs and housing solutions stack & tech development roadmap, open up ever richer opportunities to access and act on real-time information, particularly around compliance. There is neat diagnosis support for integration with video calling technologies, ability to capture images and videos of resident damp and mould. This underpins regulator compliance confidence, as there is before and after evidence collation, proving rectification actions undertaken.

More important than pleasing the regulator of course, is the confidence that councils and RSL’s are keeping residents safer, particularly some of the most vulnerable in our communities.

Catch up later in June (24-26th) with me at Manchester Central at Housing 2025 .

Plentific, will be there too on stand E24 in the main hall. Ask Simon or any of his colleagues, if you can take a butchers.

Any comments, observations or queries, please share.

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

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

Off the shelf or build your own - how to scope your options ?

Get in touch , I will drop in for a brew & bring your fave chocky biscuits ☕

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

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

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