Mistakes

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



Are your mistakes to be penalised or something to be learned from?

I have recently been reading the fascinating book, 'Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage in Human Consciousness', by Frederic Laloux. It is a testament to 'Teal thinking'. I have found it a real eye-opener and it really connects organisations back with us as humans and not as the machines the hierarchies of our organisations attempt to enforce.

In the examples that are highlighted, in social and commercial organisations , there is hope that we can value our mistakes. Moving quickly and acting on our mistakes is the future secret of success. I am aware of many organisations, suppliers and clients, who sometimes repeat the same mistakes, over and over. As each iteration of the same error or mistake occurs, the response is, "We should really tackle that, or that person". Clearly, to act quickly prevents that problem occurring again. Change is hard, but it is necessary.

People in social enterprises such as housing need to be empowered to highlight mistakes in a positive way, with suggested solutions to help us think differently. Our suppliers make many mistakes and clients pick up the tab. If clients are forceful, suppliers spend more money on repeat days. But do we learn from those mistakes and prevent them happening again?

The existing hierarchical organisation model is failing, if that hierarchy is two or nine deep. ask yourself, are your staff cogs in a machine or empowered to contribute to the greater good?

The case studies, from real enterprises, in the book are pretty enlightening and there are many practical ideas that can be cannibalised for wider needs. There  are some great ideas that could be used in a 'lab' style environment, championed by socialhousing leaders, such as Bromford Group and Halton Housing Trust.

The vision of 'Teal' is the imagination of the possible, for commercial and social enterprises. If you truly want to transform your organisation, product sales and delivery, this is a book for you.  Laloux gets these concepts over really well. You would be hard pressed to not improve your organisation, after reading this.

Check the book out on this link

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

Related Post: Easy, cheap and convenient project management, check out BaseCamp... 

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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.


The Charlatans - Mistakes.
(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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Cyber Insekt

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

Between my last blogpost I published and now, Europe as we know is now at war. Not a ‘Cold War’ like in my youth in the 80’s, but a very ‘Hot’ one as Russia have invaded Ukraine. My hopes and prayers, as I am sure yours do, go to my friends of Ukraine origins in the North West and the poor people of the country, for a speedy resolution.

Over the last decade or so, we have been told that UK conventional forces (apart from Trident nukes), can be reduced and new wars are more likely to be fought in cyberspace. Well, Ukraine hasn’t quite played out like that, despite the Russian GRU having its own ‘Fancy Bear/APT28’ team, dedicated to hack for the soviet government. There has been few recent high profile reports of cyber attacks on Ukraine internet infrastructure etc in the last few weeks, matching the shells/missiles dropping in. By all accounts, over the last five years, since Crimea and Donbas invasions, there has been a lot of probing Ukraine cyber infrastructure, by its neighbour to the east.

Recent sanctions appear to be causing the Russian people problems already, despite not really having an effect on Putin. While the latter is unlikely to unleash his weapons on The West and NATO anytime soon, it is not so far fetched that Russia could be unleashing cyber attacks which could be easily denied instead. Some historic examples, such as the NotPetra Malware Attacks accidently spilled over into other countries and hacks affected commercial companies to the tune of $10b, including Cadbury, Maersk shipping and Merck pharma. 

Add to that the LBH - London Borough of Hackney in autumn 2020, who lost all key systems, including their Socialhousing HMS forever. Behind many of those spill overs, appeared to be buggy code and light cybersecurity. We can only wish that UAT drastically improves for future ransomware. Commercial organisations, housing providers, councils & UK / Irish public bodies need to plan for “when”, rather than “if” cyberattacks will be coming for them. There is absolutely no room for complacency.

Its likely more intense Russian cyber aggression can be expected, so all business in The West, should move to a policy of heightened alert and as the US Cyber & Infrastructure Security Agency might term it, “Shields Up”. Our organisations specifically may not be the target, but we may easily become collateral damage.

So, I would say its time to take particular stock of your security and cyber awareness, including interconnectivity, infrastructure and your human staff firewall. Is your penetration testing and that of your Cloud based applications, up to date and are recommendations being followed up to eliminate/drastically reduce risks?

Many actions are very easy to carry out with some loose security, unnecessarily spare open server ports etc. Bringing a website down, supporting a DOS (denial of service) attack, stealing customer or other personal details. IE everything from low level harassment to serious disruption.

This should be a time for all organisations to take stock of their cybersecurity as we are in heightened times. Keep on top of the main touchpoint areas in the office or when staff are working from home :-

1. Have regular backups of all your key systems and data. Keep copies securely in the Cloud/off-site and check periodically that they can be recovered.
2. Apply any new security patches for your operating system, web browser and all other software on your devices to keep them secure.
3. Install and regularly update anti-virus and anti-malware software across all your devices. regularly test they are operating as expected
4. Use strong complex passwords and change them regularly. Also, where possible use two-factor authentication for added security.
5. Promote use of different passwords for different websites/services or consider using a reputable password management tool.
6. Encrypt any sensitive data and do not send passwords or other sensitive data via email unencrypted.
7. To protect against phishing or ransomware be cautious of clicking on links sent to you/staff within emails, social media websites/apps or unfamiliar websites.
8. Use a firewall and check that your internet router/firewall has the latest firmware installed.
9. If you operate Wi-Fi networks, make sure it has encryption (eg WPA2) and regularly change the Wi-Fi password.
10. Use a VPN (a virtual private network) if you are accessing your systems over public Wi-Fi or an insecure network.
11. For remote meetings using Teams, Zoom, Google Meet etc, make it mandatory to have participant cameras on, so any strange bots or unknown attendees do not use more ‘manual methods’ to compromise systems in the future.

Be aware and staff safe, in what is becoming an ever more dangerous world, in Ukraine and also potentially in a digital way, much closer to home.

Related Post: Keep a close eye on your human as well as ICT firewall?

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.

The Fall – Cyber Insekt.
(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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. . . . . . . . . . . .

Adopt OR Adapt

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

A common discussion that has cropped up in my recent projects has been that old chestnut, ‘should organisations look to adopt COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) solutions or look to adapt them to existing processes’ ?

Its certainly an interesting question to ask.

Some things to consider include working out ‘how unique are we around here’ and how close a COTS solution may even fit our situation. In my experience for core socialhousing solutions, uniqueness is relatively rare, with probably 85-90% of what we all do being pretty similar, not withstanding devolved country differences. The special-ness might be the types of residents we have, build types or geography (IE Radon emitting rocks, floodplains or lots of listed buildings in our stock to manage).

Also, confirm if the selected COTS solution is mature and capable of being adopted. If its still being written, not many current customers can be seen as already having successfully implemented it, then maybe its not suitable to adopt. That’s where many organisations have failed. Ask the right questions and assess the risks sufficiently. Maybe find the right COTS solution, or engage help from someone who can assist you there.

Recognise that a packaged solution is generally that, with its own APIs, import routines, UI IP that contractually you will be expected to use and will be supported by your supplier. While different suppliers may have user groups and forums for submitting suggestions and future functionality, unless this benefits multiple users of the product, its unlikely that they will be added. While this might sound somewhat punitive, it’s for everyone’s good. I have more than a handful of experiences where suppliers have allowed customisation, which before long results in an un-upgradeable product. So, don’t complain, it’s saving you from your self chum.

Of course, cases can be made for more homegrown and DIY solutions. Reasons for this can be many fold. Maybe organisations have deep pockets, have had bad experiences already with suppliers and pledge to never do COTS ever again (step forward L&Q), or have a large spare ICT resource. In the case of the latter, some organisations can get mixed up if they are a social housing provider, or a software house themselves. If you have this phenomena in your organisation, I suggest you look into this, also its governance. I have helped quite a number of organisations with some of these challenges recently. Often an external Critical Friend is a solid way to understand options forward.

Choosing to adopt with the right product, means less of reinventing the wheel every time.IE security, GDPR, integrations, a single source of the truth generally comes as standard. While we might have 1,000+ detail requirements, the core bread and butter best practices are sure to be well supported already, so we don’t need to sweat those. So we can quickly adopt those, while checking how other established organisations function with it. Concentrate on outputs, not the baggage of how we used to arrive at them!

Excessive adaption can dilute effectiveness and reinforce that old adage, “Well we have always done it this way”, so we need to twist the new solution to working like that. By avoiding often unnecessary customisations, organisations can reduce risk, save budget, speed up & make implementations more reliable and reduce coming years of expensive maintenance (a hit to the organisation by the way, not the supplier).

So what could some of the cons be here?

Well, pre-built solutions might not perfectly align with all organisational needs. Work to identify these early on in the procurement in order to spot future compromises and workarounds required. Possibly specialist solutions can be tightly integrated using modern API’s, or supported by minimal bespoke development internally. Choosing the wrong COTS solution might well also result in failure. I have been called on to look into projects scheduled for 18-21month implementation, already in year 4,5 or longer. These are rectifiable, yet often need bold actions if 'Stockholm Syndrome' has maybe crept in.

There is also plenty of scope for staff resistance to change. New processes or workflows might be difficult to embed, even if actual package or sector best practice is what’s being proposed. Good comms can be really useful here, as can networking openly with peers who are also using the COTS solutions successfully.

While the current traditional packaged solutions marketplace appears to be more controlled (& shrunk) by VC, ever shrinking, even more so this Spring 2025 with just less than a handful of large suppliers buying everything up, there are still independents (such as Omniledger and Rubixx), plus a range of Microsoft D365 Dynamics solutions, Salesforce and other solutions. Many of the latter can supply various degrees of productised and supported IP, which provides a hybrid COTS option. For these the buyer needs to understand what will be productised, how far that will take us and what the gap will cost, plus who will develop it. One for a whole blog post on its own I think that one.

In any case as the Romans used to say “caveat emptor”, perhaps get advice if you need it before purchasing, to ensure you are “Buyer beware”.     

Any comments, observations or queries, please share.  

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

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

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

       Related Post: How best to understand the products you know & the vast options you maybe don't know about?

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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.

Wire – Adapt.
(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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Last week I had an enjoyable day at one of the business suites at Old Trafford, with a view of the half ryegrass & half artificial pitch, getting a healthy suntan. It was the inaugural meeting of the Tenant Management Forum, organised by that good egg John Doyle, of the Housing Contact Company.


I am a massive fan of events like this, that bring together a number of organisations to share what they are doing, and how they tackle common problems in different ways. This is the second of these types of events, where I have participated on a panel. This one was great and I think I have met some new friends, who are attacking areas like arrears and satisfaction in some new ways.

A theme of the whole event was 'contact'. the solution that was being used by many is an automated contact platform. Platforms that help you dial a number, have been about since the 1990's, this goes one step further by automatically engaging and creating the incoming call. Bad numbers are also returned to users, so data can be easily updated (or chased) from the customer service centre. Sometimes more easily said than done that one, you might say. Much of our efficiency does turn on accurate contact details though.

A number of areas were discussed, including if in social housing we are commercial enough. Barry Marlow was on hand to agree that we were not quite hitting the spot with that and mixing it with a social heart. Often our board members and chief execs are the barriers to acting more commercial it seems. Some users of Call2collect are managing to attach Former Tenant Arrears in a very commercial manner, with the example of over 35% increase in collection at Riverside.

I have found that staff are often reluctant to pursue arrears, against official policy and often to the consternation of managers. Rachael Watson from Riverside was an extremely interesting speaker and it was clear, the extra challenges a large organisation like that, have to manage. Something like Call2collect or any new application can make that job easier, as staff have a new reason to adapt if its newly being introduced. Managers who use this argument fast, make quicker inroads in my experience.

Call2survey allows satisfaction to be zoomed in on too. Clearly ramping up response rates from 5-7% up to 32% and above, provides a number of opportunities to capture problems. This can increase the number of complaints logged, which sounds counter-intuitive.  This just reflects that many complaints and issues with repairs and customer service, were not originally being logged. It was clear that organisations, such as Accent and Adactus were using the exercise to nail problems and improve service. Better service equals lower costs, better to get things right first time, with maximum efficiency.

I seriously hope this is one of many Tenant Management Forum events going forward. With a great group of people in the sector exchanging ideas and best practice, these will be of great value for the future. See you next time! 

Find out more about the Housing Contact Company here - http://www.housingcontact.co.uk/

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

Related Post: Has your organisation discovered Yammer yet? 

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


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Get The Message ...

"I always thought of you as my brick wall, built like an angel, six feet tall..."

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/

I read with interest this week a couple of blogposts about social housing and where it sits within the public conscientiousness: http://jamesatbromford.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/keith-lemon-on-social-housing-whats-the-message/ and http://paulbromford.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/does-social-housing-need-to-find-a-richard-branson/

There are some great points made in both of those and no surprise they both originate from one of the UK’s most progressive landlords. Bromford in the English Midlands try hard to persuade staff to think outside the box to create great housing for their residents and spread the gospel of creating better customer service around the sector at large.

I am a great fan of BHG and have seen how they work first hand. However, they are just one housing group in a sector that does not appear to get its act totally together, in respect of explaining to the wider public ‘What we do” and “What we are for”. Most of the public have not been updated in what’s changed in the sector over the last 15 years.

There is still much ignorance for the wider public in terms of what the difference is between ‘Social Housing’, Private landlords and that old phrase “Council Housing”, which these days is pretty meaningless, as most housing actually left LA control decades ago. Try asking your non-housing mates when you are out socially and the general ignorance is clear. Most would be well into minus figures on Qi wouldn’t they!

In the current climate Jobs, Health and Housing should be the three main themes that affect the general public we see on the news and in general media. In the housing area we hear more of house prices and mortgage availability than the direct issues that affect social housing. That includes the success stories as well as the more obvious challenges like the bedroom tax and Universal Credit changes. Not enough success stories get out there on the mainstream news, Twitter and elsewhere.

The truth is that the responsibility lies with every RSL out there to always be finding opportunities to bang the drum for social housing and particularly where it is joined up with a number of peripheral charities and commercial organisations. Housing needs to be intrinsically plumbed in with health and jobs and the organisations involved with delivering those aims. The CIH should be more prominent in this area, consistently banging the drum even more intently for the sector. I would like to hear Grainia Long on the R4 Today program every single week and her face as familiar as Mark Prisk (who again is not that prominent either).   Grainia would be one of my nominations for our (non-bearded) Richard Branson plus a cabal of other housing heavyweights.

Cuddling up to government is no bad thing if there is the opportunity for policy to be given a reality check before it is released. We need a few more Paul Tennant’s with vision to promote social housing in parliamentary circles and have it considered as part of wider social policies to help job seekers, improve health and our neighbourhoods over all. This job won’t do itself, come on housing brothers and sisters lefts take the message to the people and our leaders, whatever leaning they may be. If we don’t, social housing probably deserves to be regarded as an afterthought.

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 greening our housing

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2013/12/jack-in-green.html

Electronic - Get The Message.


(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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Sweetheart Contract

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

This week I added a comment on a forum discussion, over on LinkedIn. The thread was essentially about how social housing organisations might compare IT suppliers. IE good, average or bad. It was very interesting and points revolved around the following familiar themes:

• Software suppliers are perceived as greedy and charge too much (some taking a view they will charge what things are worth to you, rather than cost to develop)
• Suppliers in the (social housing) sector lag behind ones outside in the 'real world'
• Lack of standards might be a problem, maybe someone should suggest/commission some (e.g. CORA, HACT - that's two standards )
• Package vs Bespoke, Package vs big ERP
• Observation that organisations often leave their supplier, not their solution, (rather than the other way around).
• Speculation on a mass rebellion by customers (try getting odds on that at Ladbrokes...)
• Variability of suppliers on taking user groups, help desks and taking real growth & development of solutions seriously

Do any of these sound familiar to you, if you are a supplier OR an end customer of these systems? They are to me, also more stunningly stark when I work with two or more suppliers delivering in a partnership. You know, a lead supplier, who is contracted to be the lead for a mixed delivery of solutions. This can be a popular option, to try to obtain the best mix of integrated solutions, without the traditional ping-pong across help-desks as the contract says everyone is working together.

I have experienced this when I was the other side of the fence 4 years ago as a supplier. I will be honest with you, some partners I worked with were pretty bad. Others I recognised as doing & managing things better than we did, and as in my nature, I was always keen to learn what made them tick, so I could reach the same heights. I never enjoyed being regarded as anything less than supplying a solution that was flexible, nor being thought of as inflexible.

Out there, its perfectly possible to get excellent suppliers for your project and not get the best from them. Great functional requirements are the cornerstone of a good project. Without those, a supplier cannot confirm what could be delivered. Since your contract is based then on those responses, they are the where the buck stops for delivery.

Always have your functional requirements tight before going to tender. I experienced one customer who went to tender way too soon and as a supplier I won the deal. During early implementation the customer wanted to totally change the requirements, adding new ones and substantially changing others. As a responsible supplier, I flagged up that we were delivering on the days and price tendered to the legal contract agreed. It didn't go down well, but quite clearly the contract was there to protect both parties.

IMHO, where many organisations go wrong is that they don't do detailed functional's, then don't include them in the contract, then don't refer and measure delivery against them. Don't get me wrong, but it's like a GRN (Goods received Note). Check your items delivered against the contract functional's and you have a means of confirming you have everything you thought you bought originally. While at it too, make sure your users understand what's to be delivered, as that will set their expectations too.

Systems are complex animals however and decisions made along the way, will expose you to risk, taking ownership or closing doors on some of that specified functionality, during the project. I have known of books / courses to obstruct buyers, customers implementing etc, particularly being used in local government software supply, going back to the 1980's.

Social housing sector IT on the whole, finds it hard to think in a commercial way and act socially. To get the systems everyone thought we bought, we need to be firm and fair, like a commercial organisation would. Being accepting and flexible, is unfortunately seen as a weakness by some suppliers. That is behaviour that comes with our sector.

Rather than checking out the grass over there, what are we doing to get ours like prime Wembley turf? It's your job to keep your suppliers in check, bring them to account at user groups while bringing your peers to support you. Recognise when your supplier is not giving you love like your sweetheart and put your foot down.

Please don't kid yourself that someone putting some standards together will change this landscape, because it clearly isn't. Nor will big ERP or anything sold as off the shelf Microsoft Dynamics CRM be the silver bullet that a groundswell of RSL's should, can, will, move to. Believe me I have looked at them, often with suppliers pitching them into our sector.

 A lot of the areas highlighted on that original forum, bullet pointed above, are in YOUR gift to manage, control and influence. As I have said before, your functional's and contract are your greatest friend. Do your bit, read it, understand it and bring your supplier and users nearer to it.

Related Post: Do you realise, when you choose the right solution, KPIs come right too

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You can link with me on LinkedIn here - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy It would be great to connect !

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

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, or you could benefit from any of our services please get in touch and let me know!

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Jump Start

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or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

From a housing systems viewpoint, I think its fair to say we are in very interesting times.

We have some existing suppliers already capable of providing SaaS & browser delivered systems, Also there are quite a few in transition to that state, and MRI, a new supplier group, recently assembled by its US owners. With that current mix, it’s no surprise that many social housing providers are looking at MS Dynamics 365 (D365) and Salesforce too, as alternative pathways to support future innovation, efficiencies and improved service delivery to residents.

D365 has been increasing in popularity recently, with landlords using Microsoft Resellers and/or internal ICT resources, to get the most from the platform. It can be expensive to rely purely on reseller resource and sometimes smaller ICT teams, certainly in my experience, always can benefit from ‘being shown the way’ or having a collaborative jump start, in order to get the most from D365.

We are a sector I have always found to be very generous with sharing skills, expertise, good ideas with other organisations, as this all assists with the central social purpose, of why we are here and improves lives of our residents

In this vein, I was quietly surprised to discover a new initiative to share a number of functional blocks for social housing organisations, using or looking to get a jump start into D365. The aim of Chris Roberts, who has worked in the sector twenty years, and ten with Dynamics CRM, is to provide useful templates to support Person, Property, ASB, complaints etc, absolutely free, via a brand-new forum and I would hope with Chris, a future community D365ForHousing. 

I’m liking what’s available (and planned to be coming) will need configuring, but reasonably will take organisations 60%+ towards where they need to be, to get working practically. This could clearly suit organisations looking to dip a toe in, without committing maybe £30k+ with a reseller, plus the obligatory Microsoft user licences (don’t get me quite on that one just yet!). The whole concept is a forum for sharing experiences, finding and exchanging advice. Without monetarisation, RSL’s and maybe resellers prepared to share for free, I think this is great for the sector.

I had a great chat with Chris last week and his experiences with AmicusHorizon, then Optivo and others have all gone into the openly available building blocks, which are all independent of those organisations. #D365ForHousing . I think its great that Chris wants to give back to the sector, after enjoying working in it and like me willing to step out and strive to make a difference.

Chris is well connected to contacts at Microsoft and clearly has received support for the project, as this is sure to bring more in the sector to D365. I think its something the SocialHousing sector would benefit from getting behind, as the whole thing can be set up in a trial within a few of hours for FREE, then used to kick start the project, support a business case or help bring people up to speed with the functionality available.

In the last 7 months, around 25 RSL’s have expressed an interest and two have spun up a trial, remarking how easy it was. I am very interested who this might be a good fit for. With my clients, maybe D365 is not a good fit, based on appetite for risk (particularly in Local Authorities).

Chris remarked, “If you're a decent sized RSL and up and running with D365 then this probably isn’t something for you (although you'd still be welcome to download the modules). Its aimed towards those starting the journey or are still trying to decide if Dynamics is for them, these solutions will help get you up and running and will significantly reduce implementation costs”. So for RSLs, that can only be a move in the right direction. If you are a Microsoft reseller reading this, possibly availability of this, will be a nudge in the direction of upping your game on productised solutions. If you are a traditional HMS provider, I guess it should really focus your thinking. Feel free you commercial guys, to comment.

I have seen a few D365 projects go well, crash/burn, seriously over-run etc, for all sorts of reasons. I was interested on Chris Roberts take on that. Are landlords tackling D365 properly?

He said, “I think they are now. A number of us have implemented Dynamics and are happy to share the good, bad and ugly, that's one of the great things about our sector. I think my advice would be make sure you take colleagues with you, spend time understanding them and their needs (while managing expectations). The technology is an enabler but its useless without user adoption. From a development point of view I'd suggest, where possible, to stay as close to out of the box functionality as possible. This wasn't always possible in earlier versions but D365 is a different beast altogether and should be considered with the rest of PowerApp and Microsoft 365 functionality. Finally, avoid a 'big bang' go live, its very difficult to manage and can have a serious impact on user adoption.”

Spookily enough, going for a MVP style of implementation is often how resellers frame D365 implementations. Where many of these go wrong is that the simpler aspects that D365 does well, form the early focus. Dealing with the Rent Accounting and in-depth Repairs, if they are going to be part of your project, need planning early, even if they are only expected to be delivered in 12 or more months time. These as experienced people know, are the really tricky nuts to crack. Perhaps if via #D365ForHousing, all the early simple aspects can be implemented, in a very quick similar way to what works for others, the real value-add that resellers can bring to the table, is the integration and difficult displacement of those two key housing modules. They are still the two main sides of the coin to most Social Housing landlords. IE how we collect and spend money.

On the spending of money, here I come back to those costs of D365 licences.

Both Chris and I agreed that Microsoft licencing could be fairer for Social Landlords. Maybe a multi-tiered license taking in concurrent or reporting users, only accessing data, could be considered. Contrasted to SalesForce for example, I have heard some of my clients, describe the comparison as ‘obscene’. For sure, fairer licencing may attract many smaller organisations to D365, the so called ‘NHF smalls’. A missed Microsoft opportunity, IMHO.

One last thought, on the subject of ‘opportunity’. Both Chris and I talked about the opportunity to combine the jump start building blocks with possible social purposes. We had both heard of similar ‘incubator’ type projects, where high school students, maybe even gifted residents from your own community, could gain valuable experience with D365. Now wouldn’t that be a wonderful potential win-win?

Go visit, check out #D365ForHousing at deliveringcrm.net

Related Post: Few projects are a 200metre sprint, strap in for the more likely marathon 

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.

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


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