Alone, Jealous and Stoned

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

I'm afraid to disappoint that this post is not a summary of my pandemic lockdown condition.

Many of us are feeling alone and jealous of those Kiwi’s and Aussies, enjoying their BBQ’s together in the sun, with minimal Coronavirus restrictions. You may too be enjoying a few more drugs of choice, whether that might be wine, the odd tipple or something tending more to the medicinal. Hopefully we are keeping our mental state stable and checking in on our friends & neighbours to ensure they are ok.

My subject in this post is more to do with the ‘alone’ than the ‘Jealous and Stoned’.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 (or just D365 as its increasingly referred to), is increasingly being sold as the modern antidote to your existing sluggish vertical supplier suppliers, you have suffered with and been overcharged from, for yonks.

Now its fair to say I have met quite a few social housing organisations, that feel that way. Possibly that they have been let down by existing supplier integrated solutions, or they have got so complex, even they at times, struggle to have consultants and implementers with broad enough skills/knowledge to get them working properly. 

Many organisations are quite middle of the road in reality and just crack on to use the horses for courses. Also, some of the ineffective solutions out there, can quite easily be the client, not the suppliers fault. Not many are happy if they are hiring me to point that out, but always honesty is the best policy, I find.

Microsoft resellers are targeting the sector pretty actively however and notching up some impressive wins. Whether all organisations totally understand what they are buying into at the outset is doubtful, although that’s perhaps a subject for another post later in the year.

Any D365 reseller worth his salt will always sell it on its CRM capabilities, a true thing of beauty. It should be, it’s a CRM platform after all! No one selling D365 will be banging on about its Rent Accounting capabilities. I have on occasion seen that questioned and occasionally MS Dynamics gets mentioned in passing. As anyone in socialhousing knows, a rent account is a few levels more sophisticated than a Sales Ledger Account. The other suggestion is often, “well just keep your rents  in your old HMS”. Takes me back to the 80’s, what did they say, “Shampoo and Conditioner”?

I thought the sales pitch was that “Your existing supplier is not giving you what you want, that’s why you need to swap to this”? Why then do we need to keep paying for a whole HMS, use just a little bit of it and have D365 over the top, doing its best to hide it from us?

For sites looking to minimise or remove the old HMS, then possibly it’s a hard learned lesson that you will still need a separate rent accounting and in some cases a repairs ordering module. This is becoming a new emerging requirement. Just getting those, relatively self-contained, with suitable API’s / integration, to connect seamlessly to D365, Salesforce, Netcall, Firmstep, IEG4 or whatever.

In work I have done recently, that’s not as easy a task as one might expect. Existing system options can come with all that ‘bloat’ of a big HMS platform, all those config days needed and perhaps getting it fully in the cloud (as most sites desire these days) can be pricy, as the off the shelf set up reflects taking a full HMS, not just one or two modules.

I am not criticising suppliers for this, its how they have been tooled up for the last decade. The future is being sold as SaaS, pay for what you use. It does need a re-think on the part of some suppliers, to compete at a sensible price point for CRM customers.

No-doubt we will be seeing more of this requirement and suppliers need to be aware of how they can offer very good product, that can be easily slotted into CRM quickly and at reasonable pricing. I for one would like to see more suppliers targeting this growing market, so providing more choice and range for RSL’s of from just 1,000 units to over 50,000.     

Clearly, those suppliers quick out of the blocks, have much to gain here.

Related Post: Have you and your team sussed it yet? Transformation is a marathon, not a sprint

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.

The Secret Machines - Alone, Jealous, and Stoned.
(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,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,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,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 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, 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, 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,Netcall,Netcall Liberty, 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, 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, ...
. . . . . . . . . . . .

A Northgate Soul

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



I had a very interesting day last week at the Northgate user group in Edinburgh.

I have got to thank the good folks of Alliance Homes for keeping me fed and watered on Wednesday evening. They were excellent company. The business of the day was in City Chambers, just off the Royal Mile, you have to admit, a pretty iconic location.  I do think suppliers miss a trick picking non descript locations in random identikit hotels parts of the Midlands. For example, the DRS (Optitime) conference often takes in museums or historic sailing ships, which leverages a big draw for attendees, particularly for something, often quite dry like a user group.

Buffets are clearly a big draw for me, clever not expensive tends to float my boat. It was good to chat to Sharon Jackson and Wendy Rafferty over lunch too. There was no lemon drizzle cake on at lunch, but we agreed on a few areas of housing & system change.

User Groups are essential to progress products and software applications, also to connect with end users. Account managers often only see ICT representatives at organisations, and user groups should attract a wider audience. It's a really essential part of relationship with a key supplier and if regular meetings are not organised/available, then at initial procurement, questions should be asked.

The user group should be used (in conjunction with account management meetings by RSLs), to hold suppliers to account. When I was MD at a prominent HMS supplier, I used to work until I was blue in the face, to encourage customers to take part. I managed over 70% attendance,which was pretty high, although there was no fee, apart from any food or hotel cost, to the event. The attraction was that the most popular amendments would be done for free. That was an additional draw into these events.

Occasionally, I have known clients who have 'ganged up' on suppliers at get their way. I sometimes advise organisations to take this tactic if needed. At the Northgate user group, a number of Special Interest Groups (SIG) are used to target improvements to specific areas of the system. Very sensible and as anyone in socialhousing, will know, that rent accounting is where most changes are happening currently. Pay to stay (P2S), Welfare Reform, Universal Credit, young tenant caps are the main problem areas these days.

Some other groups are experiencing less activity, such as repairs. One aspect that I saw was that it seemed very difficult to get users involved in the SIG's. as well as the general user groups.  While clearly Northgate have been doing better than many, it is difficult to attract attendees to participate. Apart from lots of perseverance, there is no silver bullet here, but it is a major conduit to suppliers moulding systems to user needs.

Suppliers often active in tenders, also see the opportunity to improve to the best in their class. USP's are few & far between current suppliers, and a few gems could be the measure between win & lose, in an OJEU procurement. Some users are always keen to improve the application software and for my money, attendance to user groups are one major way, even if getting permission to get out of the office, is getting harder & harder.

As I made clear in my talk to the Northgate User Group, networking is an added bonus too. Making alliances with your peers, of similar size and complexity, is a good trick to pull off. This is essential for helping suppliers meet your needs better and share the risks when upgrading too.         

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

Related Post: Is it just me, or has the standard of training plummeted? 

PS: I am at the CIH Manchester Wed June 29th 2016. If you are there, DM me, be great to meet up 8-)

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

I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.


The Verve - A Northern Soul.
(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, Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce,Information@Work components, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Information Management Server,IMS, Invu,Ireland,Irish,Inphase , IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, iSupport,iSupportPro, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keypera Hometeam,Keyfax,Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice,MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS,mDesign,mobile functionality,mobile platform,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,MDM,Management,CRM2013,Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities,NPS,NPS Housing,NPS CRM,NPS Job Manager Mobile, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,Natural Forms,Nintexworkflow,NPS ASSIST, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open 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 Kingdom ,Ukhousing,UK Housing, Van Stock,Voice and data,Vantage Sentinel,verse one,verseone,vWork,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley,Works Connect,worksConnect, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App ..