As One

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

Few things stand still and its not unusual for councils and housing organisations to merge together ‘as one’ for so many reasons. Efficiency, savings, looking to deliver services in a shared way with higher levels of satisfaction, or better self-service.

Recently, I have been involved in Asset/housing system solutions including where two councils merged in the West Country, a couple of RSL’s in North East Scotland and Torus Housing Group, on my doorstep when GGHT and Helena came together. As can be expected, this is a crucial time to review existing system solutions in both organisations coming together and also have a weather eye on future fit for purpose.   

I am occasionally asked, “Is there a template for doing this, we can use”?

The honest answer to that is ‘No’, every case needs to be taken on its merits, particularly in the light of how we aim to work flexibly these days, post-Covid19. Existing housing or other systems that rely on olde-world Client-Server, clunky Citrix or Terminal Services, will be possibly top of the list for replacement. These may indeed be solutions that have been in use for many years and be on a rolling annual contract by now. Consider any contract penalties, that might mean the remaining contract costs may be payable if either organisation terminate.

In one recent project I was involved in up in Scotland, both organisations were on the same solution. There it was a no-brainer to merge into a third instance with the current HMS, which was relatively low cost. That enables the merged organisation to continue on that platform or review future possibilities, with only one system to work with. Beware changing your name or location however. Some existing contracts could trigger hefty novation fees, for suppliers effectively doing nothing at all. Keep an eye on these types of clauses, in new and existing supplier contract T's & C's.

In another project, during a long project at Torus Housing Group, which involved a deep dive into all existing applications in use and drawing up a detailed specification of the future functional requirements, 27 applications were originally in use. A rapid pre-market analysis determined the art of the possible, including future budget costs indicating combined savings of at least over £1.5m over five years. I was involved in a successful HMS/Finance procurement and implementation, slimming down to just seven applications. In that procurement, only one of the current HMS providers engaged in the procurement and the preferred option was a third supplier. I was involved as a Critical Friend throughout.

Its fair to say that sometimes I have seen two councils or RSLs merge and choose a new third solution when procuring  to merge into, as that is a clean slate for both. I have never seen a merger deliberately go out to do this, but it can happen a lot. This approach does enable a new start as regards transformation and also a chance to move to a new SaaS/browser delivered basis for the future. Be aware that a few housing system suppliers now have SaaS/browser options, that can be migrated to.

There are also some hybrid paths to consider too. For councils this might logically utilising a Digital Platform to provide an integrated and unified view on existing systems, effectively hiding them. This year I was involved in procuring a Digital platform for a couple of councils, with at least one most likely accessing their HMS for retained housing stock in this way.

So, I hope if you are part of an organisation looking to merge, there has been some food for thought here. Feel free to get in contact if you are starting out on this journey, pre-scoping whats available, ready to procure, or may need just a little help in managing your supplier to get your new solution happily live.

Don’t forget if you are going in the other direction de-merging, rather than merging, we can help with that too!

Related Post: 'How to ask the best questions to extract the truth in our procurements?'

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.

Merge Of Equals – As One.
(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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. . . . . . . . . . . .

When Jokers Attack

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

As I have written about before in this blog, taking robust precautions to safeguard our systems and data is more essential than ever. That might be down to keeping staff clued up on their password hygiene, not giving user details away for the price of a Mars bar, or having robust penetration testing regimes and cybersecurity in place.

As an ICT director responsible for more than one local council, said to me before Christmas, its not about IF you will suffer a cyber attack, its really about WHEN that you need to reconcile yourself to. The extent of preparations prior, will determine how fast you will get back on your feet and how much it will all cost. A number of councils, the NHS and the UKs largest housing group have all fallen victim to attackers.

The latest victim last month was Capita.

The Guardian reported, “Capita admits customer data may have been breached during cyber-attack”, “Hack caused major outages for some clients including local councils and ‘potentially accessed public sector data ‘”. Full article here 

Capita runs a lot of outsourcing across the UK and public services, particularly local councils. There is no suggestion in the article, that hosted databases specifically for social housing customers were specifically part of the breach. However it illustrates the importance of where our data is stored and how secure it is. From the Guardian article, you can get the feeling that any ‘data in transit’ might have been more at risk than hosted solutions.

Putting it in perspective, the article states while only 4% of its IT systems were affected, Capita admitted that data was breached during the incident.

When procuring Cloud hosting, most contracts these days stipulate compliance to organisation and local authority guidelines. Commonly these include segregation of Cloud data and sometimes enhanced storage/access to blue-light service standards.

While I say ‘most’, I mean all of mine! In reality, I have come across quite a few hapless councils (& others) who have acquired Cloud solutions with the security profile of a big mature Swiss cheese. Some of these can be way worse in a security sense than traditional on-premise solutions, accessed behind relative safety of a Citrix farm.

Nobody can be complacent and if anything, Cloud hosting needs ever more imagination than ever to keep data safe. Good initial contract conditions are essential, regular checks (such as robust penetration testing, sample restores/extracts etc) and continued vigilance the way to go.

As Sergeant Phil Esterhaus's (Michael Conrad) morning roll call catchphrase in 'Hill Street Blues' used to go, “Let's be careful out there”.

Subscribe to our blog here on this link, to always catch the latest news on whats happening in the sector.

Acutance Consulting would be happy to help you review systems options, 

please just get in touch, for a friendly chat over your favourite biscuits ☕😋.

       Related Post: Don't be fooled in your procurements by smoke and mirrors or prototypes 

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 Brian Jonestown Massacre – When Jokers Attack.
(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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pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid,MoreIQ NDL,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,NPS,NPS ASSIST,NPS Housing,NPS Job Manager Mobile,NROSH,Natural,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Nintexworkflow,Northgate,Northgate Codeman,Northgate Public Services,Notice, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,OJEU Limits,ORS,Ohms,OmFax,Omniledger,One,OneAdvanced,OneServe,Open source,OpenContractor,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Options,Optitime,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OutSystems, PIMMS,PIMSS Data,PM,PRINCE2,Paloma,Pamwin,PanConnect,People Value,Peoplevalue,PfH,Pick,PlanForm,Planned maintenance,Plenfific,Plus,Portfolio Management System,PowerObjects,Pro,Pro-Points,Prodo,Progress,Promaster,Propoints,Proval,Providers,Pyramid, QL,QLX, QLF, QL Yuneo,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,Red Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent Increase,RentSense,RentSenseLite,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,RobotAutomation,Rocket, 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Fuel My Account

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @HousingITguy
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

I hear a lot of 'Digital First' these days, it's the wayward half-brother of 'Channel Shift'. Now I am an enthusiastic channel shifter myself, but do believe it's actually 'Omni-Channel', we need to provide. Transaction and interaction costs will reduce, and as a by-product we will push up customer service and satisfaction levels too. Less folks are actually resisting 'Digital First' and it's not just because the 'older' customers are dying off, which was explained to me once by some housing director one afternoon, how we will solve that problem. I am glad to say she was way wrong on that one.  Universal Credit pushes us to 'Digital First' as does renewing car tax, so even if you are 70+ years old, you are being pushed in to engaging with the internet.

It's very interesting how the digital MyAccount culture is being rolled out in Scotland, under the unified banner of 'MyGovScot' and how this is supporting service delivery from public bodies. IE local councils to citizens, such as you and I. Perhaps I am actually a customer, rather than a citizen, I mean you get the drift I am sure.

I was accused last week by a good Scottish friend of being a 'Scotophile' and after I had considered it, I kind of embraced it. I often work there probably 6 days or more each month and I really enjoy working with everyone up there. I feel no detachment in any way, often my Mancunian accent is the biggest barrier with communication, it's certainly not in food or drink, as anyone who knows me even on a superficial level, that's a great leveller. I digress, but the point I would make is that there are some great ideas happening north of Hadrians Wall, that the rest of the UK can be exploiting.

You may have already caught some of my take on Scottish Housing Options, which I have seen firsthand, being involved with the Housing options Hubs, through the great folks at Arneil Johnston. Read more here at http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/welcome-to-north.html . The point is that there is some good practice, lessons to be learnt here.

MyAccount is an initiative which seeks to authenticate the citizen and then allow easy hook up to local (council, NHS, report a pothole online and other) services. So for example, the aim is for maybe a signed up and authenticated user to be linked quickly (& seamlessly) into local services delivered digitally, for planning, libraries, leisure, housing, easy payment for services and rates etc.

In any digital strategy worth its NaCl, low hanging fruit gets tackled first. In many of the councils I work with, those are generally access to Council Tax balances and housing balance information. For both of those, the ability to make a payment quickly and easily, is crucial. That must be facilitated by options to process a debit/credit card, Paypal or ability to sign up to an AUDDIS paperless DD etc. The reduction of this to 4 or less clicks is the holy grail. Make it easy and its less painless for that poor citizen. Who likes paying bills, I certainly don't!

With the Scottish MyAccount model, authentication is facilitated centrally, to reduce fraud. The Scottish National Entitlement Card (NEC) is one road into proving who you are. This layer is provided via http://www.improvementservice.co.uk/ . This puts all the authentication eggs in one basket. However, for me I would feel better if there were other options, to authenticate via Facebook or other social media, for people who maybe would trust to these platforms in preference to a 'Government' one. The outcome of identity checking will then determine a security level, (a degree of trust too effectively), from zero upwards, which will allow access to different services.

One of the challenges of this new digital strategy, is how system providers can support access through self service portals, to support this requirement. In contract terms, this might be judged a regional UK requirement. In whatever judgement, for successful portal access, a single signup access is essential. Then our digital users are in once and for good.  

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

Related Post: When it comes to workflow, are your users more used to their tea-tray than their HMS Task-Tray?

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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.


L7 - Fuel My Fire.
(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 , ," """" ",,#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, 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,HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housemark, HRA,housingtITguy,Housing Support Pro,HousingSupportPro,Housing Options, Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company, Impact Response,iPayPro,implementations,iRobot,In House,InHouse,In4,InMotion, InMotion2014, InMotion2015, InMotion2016 , Exhibition, conference, Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Internetalia, Invu,Ireland,Irish,Inphase , IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, iSupport,iSupportPro, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keyfax, Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice, MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS, mobile functionality,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,MDM,Management Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,Natural Forms,Nintexworkflow, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing,Opti-Time,Oracle,Orchard,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, Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC,RobotAutomation, 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, 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 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,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley,Works Connect,worksConnect, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App .

Fight For Your Right to affordable housing

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

I read an article recently in the FT (not my usual rag I need to say), summing up the new RTB changes perfectly. It described it like playing musical chairs and being lucky enough, for the music to stop and you cop for a big discount, to buy your social housing property. You have won the lottery!

As if anyone who understands it, needs it explaining, the reason we have social housing is to provide an affordable roof over the heads of poor and low paid people, who otherwise would not be able to afford to rent, at market rates in the PRS (Private Rented Sector), or take on a mortgage.

We are told that councils will fund this sale and a new property will be built.
This all sounds magical until you realise that historically, less than 10% of property sold under right to buy, ever got replaced. This means that a low rent property is lost, creating a shrinking pool of affordable places to live. Most councils except in central London, don't have larger properties that could be sold in this way. So funding is less than guaranteed.

If you doubt this record of replacement, look what happens in my locality. Only 2 homes built to replace the 863 sold off under Right To Buy in Greater Manchester . Pretty pitiful eh?

While Benefit Street makes good telly, it really doesn't reflect reality in social housing. I grew up a council house. My own parents and probably over 9 out of 10 others, paid rent each fortnight and had pride in their home. Today's social housing tenants are mostly working, but many low paid, doing low skilled work, many more than one job and often with little job security.

If a tenant qualifies for full housing benefit for a social rent, then you and I, the taxpayer stumps up about £85 a week. This new proposed policy reduces the pool of affordable low rent properties, so if someone then becomes statutory homeless, the local authority can only push them to the PRS or hotel B&B accommodation, at possibly three or more times that value. So this costs the taxpayer more, not less. Then if the buyer cannot fund the mortgage, that's one less property in the affordable housing pool.

While we are at it too, let's tackle that word 'Affordable'. You often see it banded about and the coalition invented it as double-speak, to mean 80% of a 'Market Rent. Actually, that means someone on low pay could not actually 'afford' that could they?
Social Housing providers in the 1990's used to obtain grant to build new properties, they now can access, about just a fraction of that, under the condition they build (un)Affordable rent properties.

It has been said by some that this is a policy for social cleansing. In London, for one place it is feeling like that. There, even two well paid people cannot even consider doing anything but rent at high rates in the PRS for the rest of their lives. This policy will further ramp up house price inflation, taking a mortgage ever more out of reach.

Supply of more property of different types and tenures is what would actually ease the housing crisis.

Turning to practicalities, this policy is estimated to cost in the region of £12b and A bill will be required to 'sequest' the assets of Housing Associations, to allow these new RTB sales. In the common UK conscienceness, social housing is synonymous with 'Council Housing'. This is wrong as most HA's have not been linked with LA's for a decade or more.

HA's have had to find funding outside of Westminster, as mentioned, that stopped some time ago. A policy like RTB is already spooking investors & bond providers. This means funding to build will inevitably reduce for HA's and the costs increase. That's if loans are available at all.

Using the logic that rental providers should be offering tenants the aspiration to own their own properties, why are not Private Landlords included in the bill? Somehow, I cannot see the 1/4 of MPs in parliament who have rental property portfolios voting for that one, can you?

This policy is being branded 'aspirational', which is a very Tory value. I agree with aspiration. Providing aspiration is welcome, but handing over windfalls on a plate, to exacerbate an existing dire housing crisis, push up house prices / rental costs and the HB ever higher, at a cost of £12b is lunacy.
For goodness sake, make sure social housing staff understand these facts, their friends, family, MP's, local house of lords members, anyone who listens, needs to know what is happening.

It will be too late when your kids in their 30's & 40's, are still living with you as they cannot afford a place of their own to rent or buy. Then the general public might be asking "Where's my right to decent affordable housing"? By then the fight will be over, our time in #UKhousing will have passed.


Related Post: Another hour of your life you wont ever get back. Are you spending too long in meetings chum?

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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.


Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right...
(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 , ," """" ",,#UKHousing,#HousingDAY, #HomesForBritain, #Shout,1st Touch,3squared,Accuserv,Acutence,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,App,Associates,ACL,Abritas,AMS,AX,aspireview, 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, 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 ,Fusion, Getting best from,gotonysmith, Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP, HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housemark, HRA, Housing Options, Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company, Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,InMotion, InMotion2014, InMotion2015, InMotion2016 , Exhibition, conference, Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation,Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Internetalia, Invu,Ireland,Irish,Inphase , IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight, Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keyfax, Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice, MD ,Mr Void , MrVoid, Measuring Change,Mebus,Miracle,MISCS, mobile functionality,Monopoly board images and pictures, Montal,MS Dynamics,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Miracle Software,Management Reporting,MI,M3,MIS,MIS-AMS,Mobysoft, Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX , NINTEX workflow,Nintexworkflow, OA,OGC Buying Solutions,Ohms,OJEU Limits,OmFax,Omniledger,Open source software,open tender,OpenHousing,Opti-Time,Oracle,Orchard,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, Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC , Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865, Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scenario, Scotland,SDM,sector,TonySmithHou,Server Virtualisation,servicing, Servitor,Sharepoint,Simdel,Simdell,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, 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, tonysmiththathousingg, tonysmiththathousinguy, sharepoint, share point 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,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas, Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App .

(I Won’t) Pay Your Price

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

The cost of living is high enough without Christmas coming along and running a steamroller across our current accounts and maxing out our credit cards. 

Things these days are not cheap and in some ways while some things have got cheaper (such as disk space while we consume more and more data) and some much more expensive (like software we now often license at full price rent monthly or annually).

I come across lots of missing functionality that is quite often an obstacle to really good self-service, making integrated solutions work seamlessly or eliminating those spreadsheet archipelagos. On the latter, now at the end of 2023 I see more places like the Malay Archipelago than the Falkland Islands. As anyone who has worked with me or knows me, I work with a vast variety of socialhousing landlords and councils of all sizes and types. My smallest client was a charity that managed only 34 homes, largest over 150k properties. So we may be generally solving the same challenges, but we also have our unique features.

My professional reaction is to question those gaps, as there are usually easy solutions in an infrastructure, software or application sense. When you breakdown the reasons, for me it generally falls into the following reasons:

1 – My clients are not aware of some of the suitable solutions available

2 – Some of that functionality was de-scoped during implementation

3 – Some of that functionality was meant to follow in a future phase, that never happened

4 – There is not currently a productised solution to plug that gap

5 – There is one or more solutions, but they all sounded too expensive

While I see a lot of 1-3, not many of 4, however I see way too much of 5 (which is very interesting).

Are software providers or HMS makers too greedy? If I had £50 over the last decade, for every time I heard that, I would easily have over a grand by now. Is that a reasonable accusation ? It can feel from certain suppliers naming no names, the minimum you will be quoted can expected to be £10k. That’s whether you are asking for something blue sky or maybe really should be working properly already!

Having been on ‘the dark side’ myself many years ago, its got to be said suppliers do need to turn a dollar, although there is perhaps reasonable and unreasonable profit being made, considering a lot of work takes place much cheaply offshore these days. However, most of the time its less of the suppliers profiteering and more perception of clients. Often exclaiming like those folk in Yorkshire do on their counties celebratory day, ‘Ow Much?’.

“Well it was expensive”, how expensive, “well £30k”

Those conversations remind me of that saying, “They know the price of everything and the value of nothing”. The point of spending any money or making an investment in business, is to realise greater value or efficiency. When I work with commercial organisations, such as external contractors, that calculation is often done at the speed of light in someone’s head. In social housing or councils, often a calculation is never done at all. A business case can just be an obstacle to be maneuvered, rather than a tool to help make a decision to see if a £30k investment is worthwhile.

Sometimes it truly is a no-brainer.

£30k not spent on a finance interface to link repair invoices with a purchase ledger for example, might mean we have to employ a full time equivalent person to double enter them. With pension, salary, employers NI, holidays and sickness payments etc, that might be more than a £30k cost annually. In addition, risks of mis-keying, mistakes, risk of susceptibility to fraud, auditor concerns also point to this being a more than sensible investment.

We are now close to a new year coming and the opportunity of renewal and turning over a new leaf. Maybe dust off your rejected historic aborted improvements and try to see them through the prism of some hindsight and the un-totalled costs of not following through. You never know, even your supplier might just have a short January Sale on soon. Here’s hoping!

Acutance Consulting would be happy to help you turbo-charge current solutions, 

please just get in touch, for a chat over a few gingers & a brew ☕😋

       Related Post: Consultants - Can they save you more than they cost you?

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.

Motörhead – (I Won’t) Pay Your Price.
(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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Sooner Than You Think

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

I have been a developer in my time, managed some, worked with many and been seriously disappointed with a few over the years. They are notoriously bad at estimating most things, particularly when they are asked for a timescale. It’s rare to hear the answer ‘Sooner Than You Think’.

A couple of years back when doing some work on local authority Digital Customer Access Platforms (CRM by any other name I guess), when first introduced to the concept of ‘Low-code’, that phrase was an answer I got back when asking how quickly anything productive can be created. Some CRM platforms are often notorious for the MVP school of development and it’s something that often has irritated me and clients alike. Complexity of development environments mean that hard core ICT skills are needed, or lots of potentially expensive reseller days. Councils I saw who had really exploited innovative low-code, had achieved a lot in weeks, rather than months or years.

In that sector, not all that was called ‘low-code’ seemed equal.

The difference I realised, once I had visited a few reference sites (in the corners of UK’s most unpopular business parks and industrial estates OBVs), was where there was ability to package up and spread the love with the low-code. The means of doing that was something we would refer to now as ‘The App Share’. The solution with the biggest App Share and community, was Netcall Liberty.

[The Netcall App-Share concept]

 
It was a constant source of excitement for my local authority customers. Sight of six alternative working council approaches, for ordering green gardening waste bins, that could be transplanted as 85% ready to go low-code, got solutions moving quickly. For me, the contrast with D365, Salesforce, SAP and other platforms was quite stark. Local Councils have a similar ethic of sharing best practice when they can, as in the Social Housing community. I wondered at the time how Netcall Liberty could work within housing system environments.

Readers of this blog will be aware that when I work in Scotland, most of my work is with the super team at Arneil Johnston. My super colleagues Donna and Gill (as well as yours truly when let out!), work out of office space in Motherwell at the offices of Clyde Valley HA. Spookily enough, I was surprised to hear that Clyde Valley, are one of the early adopters of Low-code with Netcall Liberty.

In a typically Social Housing type of way too, they are collaborating and sharing low code in the App Share already, with a provider of a few thousand homes in South Wales. Both are introducing Netcall’s omnichannel contact centre solution

Housing like local government, can be a fast-moving environment and this methodology, potentially puts the power and resources, closer to the hands of practitioners, rather than joining a large queue, or waiting list to access ICT boffins or your £1,100 a day suppliers.  

So, what do the guys at the sharp end at Clyde Valley, make of the experience?

Fin Smith, the Customer Services Director, Clyde Valley HA says, “We recognise that our customers’ expectations are growing all the time. Managing customer contact in a modern, agile and flexible way is foundational to this. We have partnered with Netcall for both contact centre and CXM solutions that will allow us to manage customer contact through all available channels, provide customers with true online self-service options, allow our colleagues to mobilise even more effectively and to manage all customer requests in an efficient and visible way.”

Clyde Valleys Business Improvement team, in collaboration with a South Wales housing provider, are also leaving their experiences in the form of low-code solving housing problems, in the App Share. These are all free to access by other organisation customers, opening up lots of the great collaboration for system solutions, that we do so well in the Social Housing sector.

What do those guys developing the processes in the solutions think? I had a very interesting chat with Sarah Parker, one of the team working at the coalface. She told me that "over just a few months, new processes are being completed quickly, to align systems to a new smart-think corporate strategy. Sarah was pleased that seamless CRM, mobile and self-serve, was giving Clyde Valley control and the ability to be agile, in the current fast moving environment". A refreshing collaborative approach is evident too between Clyde Valley and Netcall. This helps in finding the quickest and sustainable way to solve challenges. Certainly, this is something that we would all really see more of, with all of our suppliers.

[Low-Code Resources]

Read more on the Clyde Valley accelerated CRM and customer service project on this link
 
If you are considering tying together all your services within a new CRM platform, look a little beyond the usual suspects. The contrast might just surprise you, using resources closer to your service problems, rather than the complex code under the bonnet of some of the other platforms out there. I regard the App share concept as a real game changer. It’s a refreshing change from the often ‘closed systems’ mindset, or keep paying again & again, of many suppliers in the marketplace. The success of this within local government CRM solutions, is now available for social housing too. Let’s see if we can embrace it to jump-start our own tenant and staff process solutions.

Maybe consider getting your CRM platform up and live, ‘Sooner Than You Think’ too. Checkout the Netcall webinar coming up, May 26th book on at https://www.netcall.com/events/what-is-tenant-hub/

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Related Post: Why do so many implementations overrun, go wrong and break budgets?

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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.

New Order – Sooner Than You Think.
(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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