Sell Out

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

I got down to ‘The Smoke’, this last Monday to present at the DIN (Disruptive Innovators Network), invited by Ian Wright. I recall him some years ago lamenting the lack of any significant new Housing System Platforms, being created since way back in the 2010’s. 

 

Paul Hackett CBE,CEO
Southern Housing

It was a very interesting day with input from Glen Robinson, National Technology Officer, Microsoft UK, Paul Hackett CBE, CEO, Southern Housing, Christine Paxton / Steve Key of SHINE (Social Housing Innovators North East) & John Vary, former Head of Innovation, John Lewis.

He had a point as any charity, HA, RSL or council in the UK & British Isles of any real size, has a pretty shrunken choice of solution(s) that offer modern ‘Responsive Browser’ presentation, SAAS and full Cloud. Most COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf Solutions) come from barely a handful of reliable suppliers, since the buy-out consolidations of the last decade.

I thought very carefully how to encapsulate the archaeological dig needed to explain how exactly we got here, of course being gentle to our hosts at Two Kingdom Street, Paddington (Natch). The latter of course has resellers with various degrees of productised config and ability to sell you some bespoke-ing if required, in order to ensure you need plenty of staff to manage that uniqueness way into the future. Other CRM/ERM platforms are available and it would be amiss for me to not name Salesforce too, as the extra economical option with very reasonable licensing for SocialHousing, that those 1980s DJ jocks ‘Smashy & Nicey’, could only describe as ‘C-H-A-R-I-T-Y---M-A-T-E’.

At the end of the presentation, I talked about ‘The Young Pretenders’.

Yes, guess what? There are two new solutions out there, created within the last 5 & 3 years, that meet those basic modern standards, also combining housing/finance.
 

The first was Homemaster from Designer Software, the ex-Kypera Castleton PLC lads. One solution that has been particularly successful in Scotland, converting ex-Kypera, Aareon, SDM and other supplier legacy solution sites. It’s a good COTS solution designed for the under 6k home providers, with self-service portal provided by acquired just last year, ‘Housing Online’. A quick solution to implement, just carefully check your contract conditions.

Secondly, maybe something for the bigger provider, we have Rubixx, maybe the dinosaur supplier slayer solution, attracting larger and larger customers month on month. True multi-tenant Cloud solution that utilises all those technologies that your geekiest developers, would love to be developing in. Modern free open API’s and out of the box integrations with modern Cloud partners, such as MoreIQ, Propeller, HousingInsight, CxFeedback etc. Finance is claimed to exceed the functionality of OpenAccounts, so maybe an alternative consideration to OneAdvanced Cloud Financials.

Rubixx have already converted legacy Capita, Kypera, Aareon, MIS-AMS and MRI sites over to the modern world, at a fixed price per rentable property.

I have worked with clients who have chosen these new solutions and appeared to have had some good experiences.

Well, they do say ‘A week is a long time in politics’, well a week in Social Housing IT seems to be even longer. Its barely Thursday and a big sell out has already occurred. After failing over 4 years to write a new Cloud solution, one of the Jurastic Park big beasts have splashed out on Homemaster. How they beat Plentific to that, I don’t know. That’s who I had on my Bingo-Masters Break-Out card.

No doubt a plan is already in the works to show the new prize to existing QLX & QLF customers later this year, and promise a more elaborately engineered version, on the roadmap, capable of handling bigger stock portfolios. Maybe let someone else be the first bigger pioneers on that one. It would be interesting to see what’s produced, in a 4 way penalty shootout with the bigger modern beasts out there. Hopefully this will not go off-radar like Yuneo, the "QL NG". Its worth rebranding as 'Homeo' I think (Aareon are welcome to that advice for free!).

Having taken quite a few QLX sites over the last five years, I am unsure if those Homemaster customers will be over the moon returning to Aareon’s sales ledger. Also, inevitably a merged helpdesk is sure to result, as all mergers tend to do. How will that continue existing strong relationships and stem ‘brain drain’ of experienced staff? Looking on the brightside, Aareon can at least celebrate their first win of the year at Waverley Housing, once that one is quietly waved through.

I am sure many organisations (and suppliers of course) will mull this over, across the weekend and let it all sink in. Are the dinosaurs waking up to the asteroid, or just hunkering down with new primates, carnivores, herbivores and vegetarians, then hoping for the best?

02/04/2025 Update (a whole week later) - Aareon finally officially announce the acquisition - maybe they were avoiding the MMC, after MRI & Capita challenge ? Do you think choice in the market is being reduced or enhanced? Do let us know.

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Help with your legacy woes or moving to penalty shootout ?

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       Related Post: What questions should be asked at big HMS procurements ?

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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.

Levellers – Sell Out.
(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,Homeo,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, HydrogenBI, Hydrogen BI, 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,Saffron,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, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . . ES | FR | DE | IT | UK |

Contract Killers

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

As most people will be aware, a lot of my work is focused on compliant and successful solution procurement, which always involves an agreed contract. Now, I am far from Rumpole Of The Bailey, however in my three decades in socialhousing ICT, I have had a lot of exposure to contracts and picked up a lot of experiences and gotcha’s.

CCS/DAS and other framework procurements generally come with a ‘default’ contract option, ‘The Model Services Contract’, which comes with yellow optional clauses. Clearly by default this is drafted broadly in favour of the contracting authority and so is not every suppliers cup of Earl Gray. If suppliers are on the framework, they know that the expectation will be to use it. So, its actually very odd for it not to be used.

Two other alternatives can also be used :-
•    The Contracting Body proposes their own contract (likely to be heavily weighted in the favour of the client)
•    The Contracting Body asks the supplier to provide their contract (likely to be heavily weighted in favour of the supplier)

Both of these would be generally provided allowing ‘red line’ points to be challenged, generally via clarifications. In some cases there might be quite a lot of red ink expended here. The types of challenges often will help set a view of the supplier, or maybe the appetite for risk on the client side. Its important to think of this in a proportionate manner. If we are spending £2.6m we might be wanting a lot of contract detail. However, signing up to a monthly subscription of £220 per month for a much smaller purchase, we might be happy to accept five pages of a supplier contract.

Whatever the size of the above, my first takeaway is make sure its properly read (5 pages or 500 !), before signing up. If you are baffled by any legal jargon, get help or engage a friendly legal professional, for English/Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or Republic Of Ireland legal jurisdictions. If I am ever engaged to assist with a failing project or implementation, one of the first documents I ask for is the contract & SOW (The Statement Of Work). Not too uncommonly, that contract is based on a suppliers and has little in the way of teeth for poor or failed delivery, or limited ability to terminate without incurring often excessive costs. My second takeaway is keep an eye on that. Non-delivery needs to be addressed in the contract and provide safeguards.

There is clearly a big and important legal difference between ‘best endeavours’, ‘reasonable endeavours’ etc. In most contracts, the word ‘Reasonable’ does lots of heavy lifting and actually is the logical bridge word, when leveraged to help us share the risk between Client and Contractor.    

Finally, a couple of other takeaways I have recently come across.

Clauses invoked when organisations are renamed, form groups, split from groups, or maybe (as ALMOs have recently) go back into parent councils, can often be restrictive or punitive. These may force a re-contracting exercise, which may mean that a strong contract could be potentially replaced by a weak one for the Contracting Body. Clearly in these cases, this type of clause having to be invoked, may well allow the organisation at that point to look again at the marketplace, or their procurement team might well (try to) force them to. Contracts will generally be expected to run for a set period with extension breaks. EG 5+2+2+2+2, to allow breaks at year 5, 7, 9 etc, but the contract to run for up to 13 years before another (forced) procurement.

Contracts particularly for Cloud/browser applications are often based on number of user seats or set numbers of ‘units’. These being homes/properties, or maybe assets in general. These may change at any point as disposals occur and new developments added and contracts and licensing must flexibly support this. One form of contract I have recently come across, used a clause which casually invoked a ‘reset’ of the procurement / contract term, where unit count was adjusted by any amount. So potentially if during a 5 year contract period, 40 units are added in year 4, the contract now resets to run for 9 years. I seriously doubt if this would satisfy formal 2025 procurement rules, yet if left in a contract can potentially cause you a future world of pain.

I hope this post has provided a bit of food for thought. If I manage it, I would hope to join up with one of my favourite legal experts and do something in-depth later in the Spring.

In the meantime, do share your favourite experience of contract tosh or most ridiculous negotiations, via comment or DM 👍.

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

Help with your procurement finalisation?

Get in touch , for a chat soon over a cuppa and a cookie or two ☕😋

       Related Post: Does your organisation purposely 'Warm Up The Market' for more effective procurements?

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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.

Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited - Contract Killer .
(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, HydrogenBI, Hydrogen BI, 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,Saffron,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, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . . ES | FR | DE | IT | UK |

Losers & Winners

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

The socialhousing software & solution sector changes through the years, I have seen it in my nearly three decades doing this stuff. Tech changes, discontinued languages, suppliers challenge, often innovate/develop then become established and at times become slightly complacent.  

It’s how this business works. Who would have guessed a decade ago, there would be a rush for Cloud, browser presentation, working hybrid, mobile and flexibly?

I remember Aareon UK winning pretty much everything  for a while in the 2010’s, and quite justifiably with a traditional Client Server solution. These days the norm is very Cloud and responsive browser focused. This is an avenue that this supplier has actively turned away from, for some strange reason. Yuneo was the QLX/QLF future, until suddenly it was pulled.  Now these guys might well know something others are not aware of, and that would be pretty interesting. However this is a supplier I am sure needs some new and cool leadership, otherwise core products maybe going the way of the InHouse, Saffron’s, the Wheatley DLO & Aurora solutions etc. Alternatively, Arthur & Fixflo might be the future, as the big sellers.

On Linkedin, Aareon is a company keen on celebrating time served of existing staff, clearly less mention of staff leaving.  Worth a mention is the departure of Aleksandra Legosteva, previous ('awesome') product guru. I had significant hopes she might sort product out, I have huge faith in females working with ICT and particular in ICT management positions.  We certainly need more of them in the sector. A missed opportunity there IMHO.

This week Mark Le Pensee you may have spotted (or not), was appointed this week as Aareon UK VP of Product. Will this now be the turning point for this housing solution supplier ?

Aareon UK are clearly thrilled & excited (based on the socials PR), but will this make any difference to existing UK RSL or LA customers? Many are already assessing marketplace options. Will Mark manage to turn this suppliers product around to be a winner again? Give it two years would be my guess if I were a betting man (when the fun stops, stop! - As Gambleaware say), otherwise maybe a merger might be as some think, on the cards.

Failure to bow to SAAS & true responsive browser delivery can be a brutal lesson to come to terms with. Maybe some suppliers can bounce back, in some cases, maybe not. Possibly is time for Aareon to acquire one of the new young pretenders. Otherwise for existing QLX uses maybe get rid of that ridiculous 1980s scheduler. Who knows - watch this space!

Others have shown it possible that a whole new modern multi-tenanted housing & finance solution can be built from the ground up, in just a couple of years. Some work to be tackled, challenging, but proved to be possible!

Reviewing your current legacy solutions ?

Get in touch, for a chat soon over a brew & some chocolate digestives ☕

       Related Post: With modern full browser solutions, do we still need so much of the mobile apps? 

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

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.

Accept – Winners & Losers.
(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,Arthur Online,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,FixFlow,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,SDM,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, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . . ES | FR | DE | IT | UK

 

Fool By Your Side

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

Wow, what a time to be alive eh?

I’ve sat through six software demos in the last few weeks, yes broadly stayed awake and guess what? All (but one, I wont say which!) was now ‘powered by AI’. Yes – course they were, until you asked for a real world example in front of you, then the dream slightly soured. Everyone has got some irritating AI these days, Salesforce has ‘Agentforce’ for instance, an iconic team DC Comics clearly left on the cutting room floor at 1325 Avenue of the Americas, many moons ago.

Predictably, everyone’s ubiquitous predictive analytics supplier in the sector, is also pitching a repair issues detector with advanced AI & machine learning technology. Beware though the quality of your data, be sure to improve that before pointing any AI engine at it. Also, keep an eye on where any AI’s have been trained, has GDPR been fully respected?

Jeez, I’m no luddite, even my last year of blog posts are now routinely discussed by a couple of AI’s, you might have noticed. If you haven’t, give it a try. I promise you, 11 to 18 minutes of your life you wont ever get back. However, you cannot say I didn’t warn you.

Its been fun to see those AI tech bros recently wetting their panties about DeepSeek the new bargain basement AI heroes showing its workings, dropping in from China, knocking $b’s off share values and worrying Nvidia, Oracle, Broadcom and other holders of financial stock.

Having said that I have less to laugh about when using my own M365 subscription, that seems to have acquired 2025’s reincarnation of Clippy, the ever present ‘Draft (or is it daft?) with CoPilot?’ prompt. Clippy at least could try to make you laugh, ‘I think you are writing a resignation letter, do you need any help?’. This one is of limited use and 40% of the time seems to respond to me as ‘Sorry, I cannot help you with that at the moment’. I'm sure Clippy was designed based on Red Dwarf's Talkie Toaster.

CoPilot has had its issues, offensive & sexualised  images, also training itself on your data without your permission riding roughshod over your and your organisations cybersecurity. The latest version is also worse than its previous incarnation. Perhaps I am being kind comparing it to Clippy, it’s more like Cortana or Bing. That’s before you get into the SSRF flaw.

I am not alone either, as more than a few clients are getting hacked off paying an extra 30 pound/euro a month for the privilege and actively looking to put a stop to it. Stealthily, Microsoft have slipped CoPilot into some annual plans already, with a cost coming down the line the next time you renew. Also, the previously bundled useful VPN will soon be dropped.

As of last month, Jan25, Microsoft 365 Family or Personal customers will automatically get Copilot in their Microsoft productivity apps, if you want it or not. So, with Copilot is now the default package.

In fact what you had before is now renamed as ‘Classic’ and if you have had enough of Clippy (er Copilot) for the moment, you might want to read this article. This for the moment will also save you a price increase at your next renewal.

Personally Microsoft I would prefer to be paying for an AI that was properly, not half-baked. So, I might just sit this one out for a bit.

On a more positive note, some aspects of AI enabled features I am finding more useful. Transcribing recordings in Teams, seeing services to auto-redact or pre-sort CV’s in our HR systems, auto-keywording photographic images, yes all good for doing substantial legwork with an experienced human final signing off. Replacing the human totally, well maybe not yet.

Planning or pining for AI in Social Housing?

Get in touch, for a chat soon over a brew & some chocolate digestives ☕

       Related Post: Damp & Mould, something you don't need AI to get on top of 

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

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.

Hal – Fools By Your Side.
(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, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . . ES | FR | DE | IT | UK

 

Kiss and Tell

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

For way too many reasons I enormously enjoy working in the Social Housing sector. One of the most favourable aspects is the ability of the (generally) open attitude to share experience for the greater good. I have recently written about working with clients recovering from regulator downgrades, looking to improve what they do with residents.

As I work with lots of housing related ICT projects, procurements and recovering where some journeys have seemingly gone off the rails, others experiences are really insightful. At the start of a procurement its particularly salient. With housing providers its generally very open. Where procuring just a contractor solution is a different matter. In one case a company almost the full length of Wales once, was reluctant to provide a reference opinion.

Getting a reference opinion for a product or service is a veritable minefield. Following up from a recent experience with a few lovely clients late last year, I thought it useful to tackle this area for the benefit of others out there. In my long 28 years of experience, I have seen it equally from both sides, particularly as I spent 14 years on the dark side with a housing solution supplier. At that time responding to procurements, I would routinely provide my full list of customers and in a cock-sure manner saying:  “Contact who you like as a reference”. In reality it wasn’t really being cock-sure, as I already knew how well we tried to treat and support customers and made it my business as managing director at MIS-AMS to ensure each and every one got our best attention, as if they were our only customer. That was the aim of the culture I worked to instill then, as I thought it was right and TBH its pretty much my preferred mentality.

Clients occasionally ask me what the point of reference sites are? 

.... Also, could in the procurement we score on references?

These are fair questions and in reality firstly they are most useful during soft-market analysis to understand more about the solutions out there. On the second point, slightly paradoxically during a procurement we should be looking forward not backwards, so references are of limited value. With that strangeness out of the way, lets get on to what reference sites are about. Strap in !

With whatever you are procuring, always ask for some reference sites. They should be similar to us, of our size (small or large) and actually have similar product in use as we are asking for. A lack of seeing reference sites (much like getting a 'No' sometimes ) should be a red flag. Are you going to be a pioneer with this product/software supplier? Have they no satisfied (or installed?) customers in the British isles?

Is the supplier providing its own reference? Don’t laugh, I saw one just a few weeks ago. That is not a reference, it some sales claims. I would not name that supplier here, it would be rude to do that or maybe invite some ‘cease & desist’ communications, which I am sure you would agree would be less than good. If you have no customers happy to talk positively about you, that could well be a problem.

What of the references provided?

Are they local? Are they similar in size and complexity to your organisation? Have they users & clients quite close to you that are not being suggested? Why might that be? Have they even implemented these proposed solutions?

So many questions.

Its quite common for customers serving as ‘reference sites’ for suppliers to be seeing some benefits for being a named contact. Don’t get me wrong, reference sites are doing us a favour by finding valuable time for us and to some extent we should be grateful. I always also urge my clients to return the favour too. Named reference sites might gain free consultancy days and other freebies in signing up to assist. Its suspicious where suppliers rely on just a single or limited number of reference sites. How many sites sold this particular solution are still waiting to be implemented and taken live?

My advice is to try your own contacts and peers first. Also take advantage of forums and other resources such as HR Ninjas etc. Many parts of our sector has them, such as the DirectWorks for DLO teams & solutions. These might well be more local and have a wider view of experiences. Starting with these gives much food for thought, for when you might encounter the ‘official’ references. There will be lots to learn from these, including how they had challenges as well as ones from suppliers. Also that on occasion, sloppy procurement leaves doors open for suppliers to levy additional charges (Change Control anyone?). While this phase can be very useful, it should be taken with a wee pinch of salt. Remember, we are more inclined to complain about stuff than celebrate things at times.

Issues and problems garnered from peers can often form the basis of the questions to ask of the ‘official’ references.

A few ‘top tips’ to consider in your reference questions –

• Ensure you are speaking to reference sites that actually have the same product that is being proposed. They might be clients of the supplier, but have completely different products purchased
• Have these folk actually implemented the products. A fun trick is to recommend someone just starting to implement. While that is useful, there should also be some ‘already live’ references…
• Have any aspects of the sold solution been de-scoped or potentially replaced by alternative products potentially from other suppliers?
• Were there any aspects of the solution that were claimed and could not be delivered? What were they as these could be focused on better in the tender process that emerges.
• Have any of the aspects of the sold solution been aborted or shelved? Why was this, supplier or client issue? Requirements might have changed rather than product fallen short.
• What problems/issues did they encounter? How were these challenges resolved? The latter more important than the former
• What timescale was sold and what was actually achieved?
• What budget was sold and what was achieved? What elements should have been better costed from the start?
• What aspects work poorly and why? Particularly around integrations ?
• Which supplier implementers and consultants worked best with the reference site and any that can be named as working less well? These are possibly the ones we might want in a new project…
• What has post-go-live support been like? Has help-desk response been decent, did user groups and events promised materialised?
• Have requested or costed changes been delivered in a timely manner?
• What is account management like? Have personnel remained static and you have felt well managed with supplier being knowledgeable about issues or not?
• What are upgrades, patch releases and bug fixes like? Are they regular and controlled well? Have upgrades caused issues?

Remember that some of the above might result from poor project management or not having a Critical Friend on-board driving accountability, safeguarding against poor resourcing, or management sponsors not correctly setting priorities when required. Issues need not always be caused by the supplier.

Intelligence from all of the above can feed into the formal tender, framework or other procurement questions, enabling better value to be leveraged and improved choices to be made. Good references certainly aid great procurement and way better governance.

I hope I have left some good food for thought and useful nugget takeaways. As ever, you are welcome.

Planning a procurement or test of the market coming up?

Get in touch, for a chat soon over a brew & some Fox's Classics (you're worth it) ☕

       Related Post: Warming up the market will always improve your procurements 

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

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.

Brian Ferry (of Roxy Music) – Kiss and Tell.
(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 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