Brighton Rock

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


Oh to be beside the seaside!

I did just that last week, with a trip to Brighton, along to the Kirona DRS conference. It’s been a few decades since I was last down there, but it does seem to have reached ‘peak beard’, just based on the clientele at the ‘Brighton Beer Dispensary’, where I met up with an old housing chum from down the road in Worthing, for a few scoops. 

Anyone who has worked with me, knows I am a bid advocate for getting involved in user groups, taking the opportunity to participate, shape products and get closer to those back-room folks who write the software applications, that solve our problems, but occasionally make us tear our hair out too!

In a very enjoyable couple of days, when I learned a lot, David Todd again seemed to bring the sunshine with him and kept all attendees engaged and interested throughout.

The DRS scheduler, some still refer to as Optitime, is found with a vast mix of applications, different contractor as well as mobile systems. So this conference is a very diverse and interesting one, always with interesting people to meet, running all sorts of applications in Social Housing. I came away having learned as much about upgrades to other housing systems and which suppliers seem to be the most irritating at present, as well as of course, where the Kirona roadmap will take us.

A big aspect of the sessions this time, besides some free Kirona rock (nice touch!), was self-service and an awareness of digital strategies for socialhousing. As you would expect, self-service appointments were a key topic that came up. It’s been a while coming, while supermarkets have been setting expectations for us. A two hour appointment with Asda or the chance of a one hour one with Sainsbury’s. In relation to that, an all day appointment, which is great for the DLO, but not so good for the modern resident juggling two jobs and childcare.

I have seen no end of charts telling me a face to face costs £10, a call centre interaction £5.50 and a web self-serve just pence. That only holds true if we are managing hundreds of those web self-serve transactions every day. Otherwise that will cost you nearer £2.50 a go. Maybe rewarding our residents who ‘do it online’ might help with persuading them it’s a better idea than hanging on the telephone for 5 – 10 minutes. If we provided carrots like better appointment slots online, we would not need to consider sticks, such as extended waiting times, to beat our customers with.

We shouldn’t be beating our customers up, we should be offering them a number of ways to interact with us, that suit them. If we get it right, we won’t need to have a special digital strategy, just thinking ‘Digital First’ will become our natural instinct. 


Related Post: Do we aim high enough with our web self-service? 

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

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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.

Queen – Brighton Rock.
(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,#InternetOfTenants, #Shout,1st Touch,3squared,Accuserv,Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,AirWatch,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos, Asprey e-state pro,ActiveHousing,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,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, Consultancy,Consultant,Contact 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Door Step It Up

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Over the past months, I have done a fair bit of work in Walsall with whg. Aside from enjoying a few rocking Indian style mixed grills at Champy's, liquid lunches with Backyard Brewhouse ales at John's excellent Fountain Inn, we have been working on the future of mobile delivery.

The project involved a lot of assets mobile mobilisation, integration with Accuserv, and DRS scheduling, modernising those elements, creating a solid foundation for the future. it took some time, but we were using some great tools. I am of the view that as mobile and scheduling, needs serious resource behind it to work well for clients. The days of two men & a dog knocking out a bit of mobile is way behind us I am afraid.

From the very start, one of the aims of the project, was provision of doorstep appointments. When an organisation is lucky enough to have its own DLO resource, it's saving 20% VAT as well as having control of most of its appointments. Of course if an RSL can force use of a shared scheduler, from one or more partnering contractors, improved appointing is possible. Building on solid appointment systems, a number of RSL's are managing to offer slots when on-line self-service is the means of logging repairs. Indeed, offering better slots than just 'morning' or 'afternoon', can be a valuable (yet painless)  driver to attracting customers to channel shift online. Halton Housing Trust are managing to do it via its tenant app. Helena Partnerships offer appointments through its self-service.

Walsall Housing Group have invested heavily in call scripting via Omfax, and this enforces consistency for customers. When DLO staff generate follow on jobs, currently scripts cannot be invoked, unless a call is made back to a repair planner. The concept of 'Door Step Appointments' is that the operative need not make that call, follow-on's occur as consistently, as the initial job was logged. Also importantly, an appointment can be offered to the customer, there and then, selected and confirmed. A confirmation SMS text arriving a minute or two later.

Most of the Doorstep appeal is being completed with 1stTouch Mobile, and uses the same proven ingredients as the 360 dashboard and customer app. In whg's case Omfax scripting adds that 'icing on the cake' element. There are significant savings to be made, in this approach and much convenience for tenants as appointments are agreed when present. So the risk of no shows, waste interactions checking what was arranged etc, is vastly reduced. It's also fast and efficient.       

I can see many social housing organisations going down this route in the future. It's been great to work with some of the pioneers 8-)

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

Related Post: Wow, the power of a 'Thank You' 

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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.


Stereo MC's - Step It Up.
(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,#InternetOfTenants, #Shout,1st Touch,3squared,Accuserv,Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,AirWatch,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos, Asprey e-state pro,ActiveHousing,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,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, Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL, CRS Director, Deeplake,Development Systems,Accuserve,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems , Microsoft dynamics GP 2013, DynamicAI, Dynamic AI, ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e, Finance, Financial Systems, Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Footprint,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP,Genero,GCloud,G-Cloud,HouSys,Housing software,HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housemark, HRA,housingtITguy,Housing Support Pro,HousingSupportPro,Housing Options,Hometeam, Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,Impact Response,iPayPro,implementations,iRobot,In House,InHouse,In4,InMotion, InMotion2016, InMotion2015, InMotion2016 , Exhibition, conference,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Management Consultants, 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tender,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Oracle,Orchard,Optitime DRS,Outsource and outsourcing,OpenContractor,ORS,OneServe, PIMMS Data Systems, Paloma,performance management systems,PfH, Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities, Planned maintenance,People Value,Plus, Peoplevalue, PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid,PRINCE2,prince,Pamwin,PlanForm, Propoints, Pro-Points QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview, QueryView,Queryview reporting,Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC,RobotAutomation,Rave Technologies (India) PVT Limited, Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scenario, Scotland,SDM,sector,TonySmithHou,Safron,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint, Simdel,Simdell,SimPro,Sim Pro,Slash and Burn,Social Media,Software,SQL Open Housing,SQL Reporting Services,SQL reporting services,SQL Server,Star rating,Stores and Stock,Strategic Asset Management,Sunguard ,Surveys,Sx3,System alignment,Symatrix Human Capital Management, TonySmithHousing, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,southview,Sunguard,Service Charges,Spotlight Service, Spotlightservice, SunAccounts, Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, tonysmitht, gotonysmith, tableau Business Dashboards, tonysmithth, tonysmiththa, tonysmiththat, tonysmiththath, tonysmiththatho, tonysmiththathou, tonysmiththathous, tonysmiththathousi, tonysmiththathousin, tonysmiththathousing,Tony Smith That,Tony Smith That Housing IT Guy,TonySmith that housing IT, guy,tonysmiththathousing, tonysmiththathousinguy,tony smith housing guy,sharepoint, share point, SHBVN, Three Star,Today,Total repairs,Tribal,Twitter,U2, tonysmith , tonysmiththat , thathousing , thathousingIT , thathousingITguy, TED,Tagish Casework,TP Tracker,Telecetera,Tagra,Trace, Totalmobile, Total Mobile, UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universalcredit, universal credit, universal credits,UC,Universe,Unrest, UK, United 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