Smooth

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

As I have written a few times on this blog, consistency is pretty much synonymous with quality, as regards customer/tenant interactions. Also as reported quite intensively recently and called out by the regulator, lack of consistent response to repair interactions is a particular challenge. From my experience on social media where I have a few hundred followers who are residents/tenants, the challenge goes way beyond just repairs. Solutions also need to deal with reception of interactions in self-service, as well as via a back office CRM solution used by an agent.

The best route to securing consistency is a good scripting solution, powerful enough to cover all bases (not just response repairs) and very customisable to everyone’s local quirks and specialties. I think the most frequent scripting solution used within Social Housing and councils, has been Keyfax supporting repairs and all other enquiries. A decade ago while on the HMS supplier dark side, I completed many happy successful projects with Omfax and Peter Graddon historically.

The Keyfax scripting environment

These days, for more than a few clients I work with, the traditional HMS is in the bad books and more exploration of Microsoft Dynamics 365 (or other CRM’s, such as SalesForce or Netcall) can be the order of the day with the likes of resellers such as Crimson & Esuasive. While its possible to build elementary scripting into D365, for sure it can be clunky and very time consuming.

The D365 KeyNamics App

Its not surprising that a lot of organisations that previously had good experiences of Keyfax are now using a new proven Cloud version specifically engineered to plug quickly and directly into D365, ‘KeyNamics’. It handles both back office and web self-service facing provision and I had a good rake over it a few weeks ago. I have a particular interest as with many of my procurement projects, I am often retained to be involved as Critical Friend during implementation too.
  

One big bonus I see in KeyNamics, is that in addition to being very scalable taking advantage of native Cloud features, it comes with proven pre-baked in connectors/APIs to make the implementation integration process smoother. 

It has been implemented in just a few weeks and put fully live in under a couple of months.

I have seen a number of badly supported add-ins to D365. KeyNamics is backed up by dedicated helpdesk support, which has certainly made a big difference, for the Dynamics community to integrate/implement themselves, or alternatively for software solution suppliers/resellers to simply and quickly plug it in. Detailed documentation (from http://help.keyfax.biz) is freely available.

Other diagnosis tool solutions are available for sure, but not with the ease of script build that Omfax provides in KeyNamics. In alternative solutions, an out of the box template can be the only starting point, or the need for excessive hand-crafting by originating supplier, which can be expensive. I have seen many Keyfax sites where end-users manage all their scripting themselves, with no dramas. Good to see this has been carried through into KeyNamics.

KeyNamics setup in D365

While I like what I see, how do Social Housing landlords, juggling multiple primary solutions, such as Pobl in South Wales, (or others), find the experience?

Following a series of mergers, Pobl Group were using two different Housing Management systems alongside KeyFax. To both solidify a unified way of working, and improve on previous systems, Pobl chose to use Dynamics CRM as a single central Housing Management System. As part of this we chose to use the KeyNamics Dynamics Integration.

The Pobl Project Manager told me it was a pleasure to work with the Omfax team. "From a project and implementation perspective, it went very smoothly, and we didn't have any major issues. There was plenty of support from their side, which was instrumental to the success of the implementation".

And at Platform Housing, Sarah Clarke Transformation Lead was very complementary :

“Our work with Omfax has delivered real benefits for our colleagues and customers. By using Keyfax we have achieved consistency and efficiency in our contact management. Omfax have understood and supported our ambitions throughout our Dynamics 365 implementation, and we look forward to working with them in the future.”

If your transformation strategy is taking you down the Cloud-First route, or it might be on your radar in the next eighteen months, catch the Omfax team exhibiting later this month at #Housing2022 in Manchester, 28-30th June. I’m sure they will be happy to chat about your Dynamics scripting requirements, on stand TE34. When I chatted to the Omfax chaps last week, they still had a few exhibition passes left, if anyone is interested in booking a slot with them – get in touch at https://www.omfax.co.uk/contact-us/

I will be at the event too, I hope to see many of my regular blogcats & post readers there!

If we at Acutance Consulting can help your organisation with CRM, Digital Platforms, scripting or wider HMS transformation, please just get in touch, for a chat over a brew. 

I will bring the Jaffa Cakes ☕😉

       Related Post: Is Microsoft Dynamics the only CRM option? Why not give Salesforce a look? 

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.

Santana – Smooth.
(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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. . . . . . . . . . . .

(1st) Touch (has gone)

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

Many mobile working solutions within Social Housing, have often been linked by a quite extreme umbilical cord, to its founders. 

Examples include Microsurveys that was linked only to Codeman, Total Mobile forms that was very linked to the other TM product stack, there was that strange thing created to link with Orchard way back (South View?), OpenMobile, Footprint?, plus does anyone remember ‘Wrekin Hand-e-work’? Apologies if anyone has experienced any unpleasant flashbacks there!

Its been a long tortuous road no doubt. But isn’t that the case when tech is settling down? You know, from GPRS to 3G, to 4G, 5G to goodness knows where?

One solution that was (for a long time anyway) pretty independent, managed a good sized footprint in Social Housing. 1st Touch, emerging from the uni-campus blocks in Southampton, it was free to be sold into all kinds of situations. Examples include with ROCC, Accuserv and other products for contractor applications, as well as with Aareon social housing products, the organisation who finally bought them out.

I was involved with quite meaty projects involving 1st Touch myself over the last six years and even suffered a three day (of my life I will never get back), training course to design forms and workflow. Which I have to be fair, was extremely flexible. With sufficient imagination and experience of Javascript, HTML, advice avec Roy Ménage à trois, you could achieve most things. A great little product, praise where its due.

Once Aareon purchased 1st Touch, they looked to have improved integrations into QLX Housing (or ERP as I often hear it described these days), and I know a number of recent satisfied customers. Unfortunately, as with any product purchase/buyout it often polarises competitors, who may decide to change tack, from past alliances. Early QLX adopters clearly encountered some challenges from what I have seen. Although as I would suggest to any of my customers looking to be application/software early adopters, as in those wild west cowboy films, pioneers generally suffer/die with arrows in their backs. If any of my clients wish to die that way, I do regard it as my duty to warn them first of the risk element.

The recent surprise with 1st Touch, is the newly announced end of life after October 2022, apparently due to MS Silverlight being used extensively in the forms designer. I remember a procurement in 2015 where Silverlight was identified and a forms designer rewrite was due by 2017. A rewrite like so many others on roadmaps, that never occurred. So much for software supplier roadmaps. Remember, Aareon are not alone, Keystone Asset Management also is one other product to be rectified before its MS Silverlight de-support date arrives, (or not as the case may be).

Of course, if the forms designer (Management Studio) requires no internal tweaking of forms, it no longer runs and Silverlight, no longer a significant vulnerability. Bear that in mind if you have 1st Touch now.

I have more than one current client, to who this poses a problem and are predictably cracking on with considering alternatives. A future migration product has been proposed, ‘Versaa’ (also a brand of Fitbit, although no-one is suggesting a Fitbit sized device will be sufficient for housing management and contractor solutions. So that might be an unfortunate name chosen there..). Versaa on the upside is promised to provide an enhanced workflow designer to be BPMN2 compliant, hopefully providing flowchart drag and drop support. There is a suggested migration path from 1st Touch to Versaa. Where sophisticated integrations and parsing of data is necessary, clearly we are unlikely to be looking at ‘drag & drop’ or ‘low-code’ here.

Software re-writes rarely come cheap, so inevitably some additional costs coming down the line too, for existing customers. Many QLX customers may well also be quite heavily embedded into 1st Touch mobile and its tenant app. Lets hope the replacement is a brand new product as promoted. A bit of tweaking around the edges, should not be a costly repurcase. Lets hope thats not what to expect here.

I have also already been asked by more than one contact, “what alternatives, can we easily drop in here to replace this Tony”?

It’s not an easy question to answer. There are plenty of options with rich form functionality, but the Achilles Heal as ever is integration. That is where complication creeps in.      

Are you an existing 1st Touch customer? What are your plans? Will you be a pioneer or follow later with the ‘Women and Children’ like in the cowboy films later, in the ‘Covered Wagons’? Feel free to get in touch with your thoughts and lets see where we are in October 2022(!). As ever, feel free to get in touch with questions or if looking for help and advice.

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Related Post: What other mobile solutions recently changed hands?

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.

Magazine – Touch and Go.
(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,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,Bynaric, 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,Fixflow,Footprint,Forms,Freezes,Fusion,Firmstep, Gas Tag,G-Cloud,Goss Interactive,GCloud,GDPR,GGP,GIS,GasTag,Genero,GeoSolveIT,Getting best from,GoTonySmith,Grasp,Grip,Group Apex,Granicus,GOSS 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,IEG4,In4Systems,Illumar, 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,Liberty,LowCode, 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,Microsoft Dynamics 365,Microsoft dynamics GP 2013,Miracle,MobileIron,Mobysoft,Monopoly board images and pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid,MRI Socialhousing,MRISocialhousing,acquisitions, 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,necsws,Notice,Netcall,Netcall Liberty,NEC Software Solutions 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,Today,Tony Smith,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT,TonySmithHou,TonySmithHousing, ,TonySmithHousingITguy,Total,Total Mobile,Totalmobile,Trace,Tribal,Twitter,Tilt,TiltAffinity,Tilt Property Software, 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, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . .

The Tracers

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


Amid the pub 🍻closures, panic buying and social distancing, there was some recent interesting Covid-19 tech news from Singapore. A new app (available to anyone now with a Singapore phone number, on the Appstore it appears), called ‘TraceTogether’, was launched yesterday (20/03/2020).

It was developed by the Singapore Government Technology Agency (GovTech) in collaboration with its Ministry Of Health over the past eight weeks. The app just requires Bluetooth to be enabled. At the time of writing, I am aware of a website/app in Spain that allows citizens to log to the health services they have self-diagnosed. Also some similar things starting in Germany.

The app works by exchanging short-distance Bluetooth signals between phones to detect other users of the app who are in close proximity. Current MOH guidelines define close proximity as two metres apart, or up to five metres, for 30 minutes.

TraceTogether APP QR Code

Records of these encounters will be stored locally in the users’ phones and will not be sent to the authorities. Users will only be asked to share these records when contacted by MOH as part of Coronavirus contact tracing investigations. If they refuse, they may be prosecuted under the Infectious Diseases Act.

Currently, contact tracing relies on the memory of interviewees. However, there have been instances when interviewees could not remember all their contacts or did not have information about people they had been in contact with.

The new app will not replace ongoing contact tracing efforts, but it will facilitate the process, enabling contact tracers to inform users who are close contacts of COVID-19 cases "more quickly".

This sounds like a great idea and probably would work well in a society, such as Singapore where the state rules firmly and community is relatively compliant. If utilised in the UK, EU, USA, Australia or other countries, it could significantly help with identification of new virus clusters. However, as has been seen, making use optional (like restricting yourself going to the pub), does not work, its take up would probably need to be mandatory in the UK, to actually make a difference.

Dr Janil Puthucheary, Minister-in-charge of GovTech, said: "The process of contact tracing starts with a recall … and that is the only thing that this app intervenes with. It means that poor memory will no longer slow down the process of contact tracing”. "In contact tracing process, time matters,” he added, noting that contact tracing remains a key part of the country’s strategy to limit local transmission of COVID-19 and this app will augment the speed at which that occurs.

“The faster the contact tracing process can be initiated and can identify the people at risk, the faster we can intervene and impose quarantine if necessary and limit spread locally," he told reporters at a press conference on Friday. Authorities hope to use the app to establish 25 per cent to 50 per cent of these close contacts.

Around data protection and GDPR worries, this app is opt-in. The authorities stressed that the use of the app is voluntary and that users have to give "explicit consent" to participate in TraceTogether. This consent can be withdrawn anytime, according to GovTech.

The app also has several layers of security and privacy safeguards in place. For example, users will submit only their mobile numbers after downloading the app. Each phone will then be assigned a user ID.

This user ID is then used to generate temporary IDs at regular intervals. It is this temporary ID that is exchanged between the phones of TraceTogether users. Such regular generation of temporary IDs protect users from eavesdropping and tracking overtime by malicious actors, according to GovTech.

It remains to be seen if this idea can be adapted for use quickly here in the UK and EU, to assist with the controlled spread of Covid-19 , or in fact there is any interest from Westminster, in pursuing it. I for one, feel that we should be using every means available of protecting wider society and controlling the spread of this dangerous virus. If tech can help, then for goodness sake, lets bring it on and give it a try.

Read the full article from Channel News Asia, here.

Related Post: Covid-19, is it changing the way your organisation measures staff contribution and throughput?
 

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.

Johnny Marr – The Tracers.
(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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. . . . . . . . . . .

Room To Move

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




At a chance meeting in November, I had a chat with Jamie Perry, from Viridian Housing. He is leading the development of a new app, to help in mutual exchange of social rented homes. Its particularly a useful idea in London, but I can see its potential right across social housing. Viridians research & innovation team were winners of Nesta and the ODI's Housing Open Data Challenge last year.

MoveMaker  (previously the admittedly, less catchily named 'Housing Tinder'), seeks to connect tenants and then their landlords / RSL's who are working with the app, can work with genuinely interested parties. The key to it is hooking into that mutual interest, so it saves time for everyone. Once downloading the Android or Apple app and completing the pain-free registration, tenants can look for what they need, number of beds, area, rental cost etc. With bedroom tax still affecting low paid tenants, this can make a positive impact.

There is then the facility to chat, possibly to arrange a viewing. Chat allows questions to be asked like what's nearby, parks, shops, medical facilities, community organisations etc. These are possibly queries that a housing association or other registered provider, might struggle to answer.

Also, there's a great feature, if it doesn't all look kosher, you can also report a user, all providing a level of safety. Once tenants have had a chat, a viewing can be quickly arranged. If that goes well a swap can be agreed, pending landlord approval.

There is a dedicated landlord portal to make this latter part more easy to execute. This is being offered as a twelve month free trial currently, with support. This is in the form of technical support, as well as promotional collateral.

Learn more about MoveMaker here http://www.movemakerapp.co.uk/tenants
You can also follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MoveMakerApp

A brochure can be accessed via DropBox here.

     Catch the blog monthly archive at https://archive.org/details/@housingitguy

Related Post: Whats the best way to tackle gas servicing in socialhousing then? 

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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.


Climie Fisher - Room To Move.
(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: 360,1stTouch,4Js. , 07854655009 ,365Agile," """" ",,#UKHousing,#HousingDAY, #HomesForBritain, #Shout,1st Touch,3squared,Accuserv,Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,AirWatch,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,App,Associates,ACL,Abritas,AMS,AX,aspireview,Agile365, BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Planning, Business Process Review,Business social networking, Blockwise, Block wise,BI,BancTec,BluTek,Bluebox, Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,Cx,Change,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, CHR,Citrix,Civica,Clearview,CMS , CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,Civica Genero,Contractor Systems,CORE,CorVu,Cost Reductions, housing tinder for mutual exchangers,Covalent,CRM,Crystal Reports,CTI,CTX,Customer Relationship Management,Cashflow, COA,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Competitive Dialogue process,complex IT procurements,Component Accounting, Community Reward Services, Consilium, Consolidation, 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Reality Poem

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK

or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

A week or so ago I was chatting to my local PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) at a Police Surgery at the community library that I am involved with in South Warrington.

We were talking about the levels of crime around the streets we were in and I pulled out my iPhone firing up the CrimeMap App (itunes.apple.com/gb/app/crime-map-england-wales/id422541257 ).

Once 'Everything Everywhere' had got its finger out I could see a range of ASB and other pretty minor crimes from up to Feb 2013. I was quite pleased to see that to encounter some violent crime I would need to travel a fair distance! If I needed some drugs it looked like they may only have been twenty minutes walk away.

NB: CrimeMap data only available in England, NI and Wales.

He was amazed I had this in my pocket. It is just one of a range of Augmented Reality ( AR ) apps starting to emerge of interest to the general public and organisations such as RSL’s and other Registered Providers. Initially the realm of wraparound video glasses, the emergence of most of us having smartphones and tablets is bringing AR down to a more useful and practical level.

Layar (http://www.layar.com/)  is another cracking app, apparently with 40,000 editors adding content worldwide, great for use within a strange town or city to view what you see differently. Find a museum, a piece of history or a restaurant using a layer put over what you point your tablet at and where your GPS location is. Comments can be added by users and with events can be rendered over the view of the device camera. Additional digital content can be added to print or images. Lonely Planet are one publisher currently onboard.

When abroad after a sticky situation on an overnight train from Madrid to Algeciras many years ago backpacking, I always learn some local language to get by. It’s tempting though to look at apps like Google Translate, which will attempt to translate local signs and text directly, just using your smartphone camera.

The potential this has is a great mash-up of channels, all working to enhance everyone’s day to day experiences of the real world. As you would expect, advertisers are already on board with this. A quick search on the apple store for ‘augmented reality’ gives over 1,400 apps. Excluding games, there are a number of useful apps here, from identifying that plane flying overhead, to sales apps (from companies like Tesco & others) to the NCP car park finder.

How could your organisation innovate using AR for social housing? Downloading that CrimeMap App for your ASB team, to use on the scheme might be a good start!

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Read on to: So is social housing getting the message across yet?

LKJ (Linton Kwesi Johnson) - Reality Poem.


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

PS If there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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