I Thank You

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/

This week I was reminded of the value of 'a thank you'.

Sometimes we get hung up on the value of money as a motivator, although in truth, it's a pretty short term measure.

Across the pond they have a bank holiday for it called 'Thanksgiving'. Here, I remember when I was MD at my old shop. I used to have a reminder every Tuesday, that just said "Who should be thanked for being a star last week?".

Sometimes it was a customer, for hosting a prospect visit. Maybe my colleague winning business. Occasionally someone staying a bit later to bottom out a helpdesk call to make someone happy, or agreeing to fly to the Shetland isles with me to stay in a Thai style B&B and demo to a council.

According to recent research by Forbes, 83% of the organisations they studied suffered from a deficit in recognition. Companies that scored in the top 20 percent for building a "recognition-rich culture" actually had 31 percent lower voluntary turnover. Creating a "culture of recognition" is one of the keys to success.

In my experience, this is not something you save for the annual PDR. Give recognition in the moment. Believe me, your colleagues or staff will want to replicate that moment and excel.

It's got to be personal. Once I said thank you with a tub of reduced fat humous, and they were impressed as I knew they were 1) On a diet and 2) Vegetarian brethren.

It's got to be specific. Generic comments, like "Thanks, great job!", have little impact. Articulate what the individual did and why it was important. Share how their efforts helped you, the team, the customer, or the company. Relate how it was tied into the company's values or goals.

Make it frequent and don't skimp on the pizza. Maybe because I always have my 12" buffet plate in the boot of my car, this was never a problem for me. If you got folks working late, at the weekend or on bank holidays on something special, order that Dominos online. Believe me. they will remember you as a caring hero and they will do that again for you.

Oh and yes, as a last thing it works on me too. I enjoy being thanked and getting recognition too. Well, just like you, I am only mortal you know....

Read on to: Testing. Do you really need to waste lots of time on it

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 !

ZZ Top - I Thank You.


(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, please get in touch and let me know!

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Learn To Fly

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/

It didn't have a runway, but the Belfry hotel just outside Oxford, was the ideal place to learn to fly. If you are involved with social housing that is. I was pleased to get down to the fifth Housing Technology Conference last week, put together by George Grant and the Intelligent Business Company. As usual, the venue was a great choice (if a little of a labyrinth). Even my housing friends and customers from the south east found getting there an easier job than getting into central London. Maybe the NHF should (at last) take note and consider locating out of the capital and Olympia, for coming November IT Manager events. All credit to George, keep up the good work! He even fed the suppliers, something that does not always happen for autumn in West London.

Many thanks too, everyone who stopped me for a chat, great to hear how projects are going and some of the frustrations out there. Integration (or lack of it), inflexibility of applications or suppliers, limitations of project teams/staff, procurement hassles and some shrinking IT budgets, were all the same current issues that housing ICT people chatted with me about.  As usual, feel free to contact me to bounce any details off me.

It was good to see such a variety of presentations, although welfare reform was a recurrent theme. Essential and at times very thought provoking. George Clarke, C4's 'Desperation' man was an inspired choice for opener. We certainly need more positive and refreshing voices like his. It also brought back some of my caravan nightmares from my youth. I still have not been back to Lowestoft to this day (honest!). So much to mention, I will try to focus on what I found interesting and innovative.

Richard Scholes of Hyde had some interesting points to make. One about the outcome of his competitive (comm's project) dialogue, struck a chord with me. Just getting down to a single supplier can have its benefits. Hyde managed to shave nearly a 1/3 from its previous costs. Maybe time spent on CD can always deliver some kind of payback. His internal staff assessment using a panel, was also a clear and fair way of improving the quality of his ICT team. I was nodding and smiling too with his approach of embedding his ICT staff with users and business teams. The perfect way for everyone to interact and understand everyone's pressures. 

Jonathan Creaser of RHP gave a great overview with Tracey Elliott of their progress in supporting multi-channel nudging. Everywhere I go to do consultancy these days, want to channel shift well. RHP seem to really be on top of the game here, even being brave enough to persuade the 'silver surfers' to get online. Full marks to Tracey for answering my questions regarding that truthfully. Not something to be glossed over, digital exclusion. Moreover, an area we need to help and nudge our communities.

One of the most interesting sessions came from Accent Group and The Housing Contact Company. How & why is customer satisfaction important in 2014. In this presentation John Doyle of Housing Contact drew on his experience of gathering customer feedback across a number of industries to question the relevance of speaking to your customers in 2014. Through his unlikely comparison of social housing and the UK automotive retail market he made the point that measuring customer satisfaction whatever your sector, has probably never been as important as a process for organisational improvement.

He noted that although most organisations understand how they go about measuring satisfaction, very few of them really understand why they do it. It had echoes of John Seddon and his Vanguard method. Understand how to measure the outcome, dont just blindly play to the KPIs in use.
John's whole philosophy is to try and speak to everyone to whom you have delivered a service as soon as possible after the event and then to use your dissatisfied customers to tell you what is wrong with your operation. This fairly radical approach was given weight by the testimonial provided by Andrew Kidds of the Accent Group, who has used the service for over 2 years and seen real satisfaction levels improve – ie based on around 33% customer responses taken on the same day or day after as opposed to less than 10% response rates taken weeks later.

At the same time the level of complaints have dropped significantly and last year alone Accent were able to identify and resolve dissatisfaction issues with over 1500 of their tenants. This all ploughs back into an improved customer journey and overall lower numbers of waste and avoidable calls, greater efficiencies.

The examples I have selected from just a few of the presentations, show the quality of what we had here. Take some of these lessons and stories, learn to make your organisation fly. Less suppliers banging on about how brilliant their solutions are and more practical experiences from RSLs. Let's have more of these George, keep them coming!

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: Autumn, the conference season. Great time to see what's out there and working.

Foo Fighters - Learn To Fly .


(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, please get in touch and let me know!

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Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL,Cx,Cascade,CSI,Civica Cx,Care and Support,Carenotes,CareSys,CDPSharp,Crosscare,Contract Management,Contact Management,Clinical,Conversions,COINS,Click,Clicksoftware Scheduling,Director,Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems ,Dinamiks,DRS,Drupal,ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e,Epicor,Exel,EOLC,escrow,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Fusion,Frontline,Getting best from,Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP,gotonysmith,Gentoo Streetwise,Guardian24,G-Cloud,Goldcrest,GeoSolveIT,HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,HAMMAR assets repairs forum,HomeHunt,Helpdesk software,HouseOnTheHill,Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation, Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Invu,Ireland,Irish,IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight,iCaseWork,iCareHealth,iConnect,iPad,iNurse,InterNETalia,InMotion,InPhase,Joomla,Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keyfax,Kofax,Kronos,Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice,Lakewood,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,Manual,MWL Mavis,Metastorm,Module,Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX , NINTEX workflow,Nintexworkflow,NHF,National Housing Federation,National Energy Services,NES,North West Online,NCC,Netcall,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,OpenFinancials,OpenTouch,OSKA,octavia,Odyssey,OpenText, PIMMS Data Systems, Paloma,performance management systems,PfH,Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities,Planned maintenance,Plus,PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid,PRINCE2,prince,Pamwin,People Value,Peoplevalue,PocketSurvey,Pocket Survey,Pathfinder,Pathfinder RF,Project Management,QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview,Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC , Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865,RAM,Real Asset Management,Residata,Rostering,Rootmetrics,Rocket CorVu,Real estate management,Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scotland,SDM,sector,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, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,south view,Sunguard,Service Charges,Streetwise,Scout Solutions,Strategic Asset Management, Social Housing software & IT-based housing management solutions for social housing providers social housing,management services,software,solutions,social, housing,managed services,managed,business,housing management,solutions , SPOCC,Sprint,Staffplan Roster,Sovereign,SDS,Solarwinds Web Helpdesk,Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, 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,TM,TotalMobile,Total Mobile,TPTracker,TapForms,TagTronics,TagtronicsCare,TMWK,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universalcredit, universal credit, universal credits,UC,Universe,Unrest, UK, United Kingdom ,Ukhousing,UK Housing,U.K. ,Van Stock,Voice and data,Vantage Sentinel,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas,Vanguard John Seddon,Volunteer Module,Volunteers,Vebra,Vixen,VerseOne,Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley,Web,housing management solution, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App,Zendesk ,.

We Are The Super Cool

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/

Last week I completed an IT strategy for a housing association and as you do, updated my section on PESTLE factors. Key in these over the last few years have been UC - Universal Credit and UK Benefit Reform.

On updating my information I was struck how the recent storms and weather related news had managed to further keep the heat off how this big wayward project is going. The last set of updates of any substance (if you could call it that), was delivered at the NHF Welfare Reform – Keeping on Track Conference, back in October.

If you attended that one in London, you would have heard the aptly named Jean Cooling, doing her best to be upbeat, while not actually able to provide solid facts to the assembled housing folk and system suppliers in attendance. In fact you got the distinct feeling that even though delegates were asking point blank, "When is this all coming", Ms Cooling was doing her best to answer different questions entirely.

We all know what a money pit this project is. The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has talked about write offs anywhere between £140m and £425m of wasted IT work, although that old cove IDS is always quick to tell us that "He believes it's all on track now, with all those fears and allegations must be based on 'old news', before its been recently sorted".

While housing staff and systems providers are justly appalled by the rampant waste of our own taxpayers money, their primary interest is planning strategies and systems to support it if/when it comes. No doubt, there is a lot to do in the sector. The only good thing about this, is that it gives us more time to help residents access simple bank accounts, move to payment cards or Direct Debit and stabilise arrears, in order to be 'ahead' or at the very least, always clearing their balance totally, at each debit period.

In the meantime, stay cool(ing), people!

Related Post :

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2012/12/last-christmas-before-universal-credit.html

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 !

Space Monkeys - We Are The Super Cool .

(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, please get in touch and let me know!

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. 07854-655009 ,7854655009, 07854 655009 ," ""07854 655009"" ",07854-655009,#UKHousing,1st Touch,3squared,24Dash,Access Financials,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,ACS,Advanced,Agresso,Allpay,Auto assessor,Ablyss CMS,Adastra,Advanced Community,Accuserve,Adobe Echosign,Actionfile,BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking, Blockwise, Block wise,BI,BancTec,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,BPM, Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,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,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL,Cx,Cascade,CSI,Civica Cx,Care and Support,Carenotes,CareSys,CDPSharp,Crosscare,Contract Management,Contact Management,Clinical,Conversions,COINS,Click,Clicksoftware Scheduling,Director,Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems ,Dinamiks,DRS,Drupal,ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e,Epicor,Exel,EOLC,escrow,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Fusion,Frontline,Getting best from,Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP,gotonysmith,Gentoo Streetwise,Guardian24,G-Cloud,Goldcrest,GeoSolveIT,HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,HAMMAR assets repairs forum,HomeHunt,Helpdesk software,HouseOnTheHill,Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation, Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Invu,Ireland,Irish,IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight,iCaseWork,iCareHealth,iConnect,iPad,iNurse,InterNETalia,InMotion,InPhase,Joomla,Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keyfax,Kofax,Kronos,Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice,Lakewood,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,Manual,MWL Mavis,Metastorm,Module,Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX , NINTEX workflow,Nintexworkflow,NHF,National Housing Federation,National Energy Services,NES,North West Online,NCC,Netcall,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,OpenFinancials,OpenTouch,OSKA,octavia,Odyssey,OpenText, PIMMS Data Systems, Paloma,performance management systems,PfH,Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities,Planned maintenance,Plus,PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid,PRINCE2,prince,Pamwin,People Value,Peoplevalue,PocketSurvey,Pocket Survey,Pathfinder,Pathfinder RF,Project Management,QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview,Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC , Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865,RAM,Real Asset Management,Residata,Rostering,Rootmetrics,Rocket CorVu,Real estate management,Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scotland,SDM,sector,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, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,south view,Sunguard,Service Charges,Streetwise,Scout Solutions,Strategic Asset Management, Social Housing software & IT-based housing management solutions for social housing providers social housing,management services,software,solutions,social, housing,managed services,managed,business,housing management,solutions , SPOCC,Sprint,Staffplan Roster,Sovereign,SDS,Solarwinds Web Helpdesk,Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, 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,TM,TotalMobile,Total Mobile,TPTracker,TapForms,TagTronics,TagtronicsCare,TMWK,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universalcredit, universal credit, universal credits,UC,Universe,Unrest, UK, United Kingdom ,Ukhousing,UK Housing,U.K. ,Van Stock,Voice and data,Vantage Sentinel,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas,Vanguard John Seddon,Volunteer Module,Volunteers,Vebra,Vixen,VerseOne,Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley,Web,housing management solution, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App,Zendesk ,.

Superfly Guy

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/

Like you I was sceptical when BBC's Tomorrows World promised us jet packs back in the 1970's. In December however, we heard about the plans for Amazon to deliver parcels by unmanned drones. Would you believe it,  just this week I saw a Midlands based housing group testing an octocopter, for possible surveillance & surveying around its estates. This one was a four propeller version fitted with HD camera, able to scale a 13 storied tower block and fly for nearly half an hour.  All for just over a £grand plus local permissions to fly.

UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), Long seen as the province of the armed forces, in far off lands surgically taking out insurgents or mistakenly the lives of innocents, these are now becoming a tool to be used by UK RSLs. Fitted with an infrared detector, they can locate cannabis farms in the lofts on your estates, track ASB silently or complete an estate fly-about, faster than your neighbourhood officers on foot.

These small vehicles (under 20Kg), can be programmed to GPS coordinates to fly remotely, without direct human control, collecting images or HD video footage. Buildings, power lines and other obstacles can be avoided. Of course, someone will have to box of who would be liable if an accident occurred etc. Before you can fly a UAV in the UK, a Remote Pilot Qualification (RPQ) is required. Once this is achieved, a remote pilot’s application for a “Permissions for Aerial Work” can be pursued. For the former, budget about £1,500 and the latter about £350.

So for around just under £3K you have a robust tool for asset condition survey, estate management that can  improve service and management of your stock. (More details at http://www.resource-uas.co.uk/RPASTraining/Bookingacourse/Pricelist.aspx ).

In the current wave of strange stormy winter weather coming east from the Atlantic, how much easier and cheaper would it be to survey flooded schemes at 30 metres up, to identify residents in danger or in need of assistance? These UAV's perform very well in weather too. Set a course and they have technology to follow it, taking into account gusts and prevailing winds. In many areas where helicopters have been the usual choice, or where helicopters cannot, developments in technology now make Unmanned Air Systems a viable alternative.

I am sure too that the naysayers will instantly poo-poo Drones as being bad for, and will be instantly rejected by tenants. I think not. If it was a choice between having scaffolding erected to inspect something or 40 mins with a surveyor with a drone, I think I know what I would choose.

Tenants will definitely have to be informed & informed in advance, like any other inspection visit. I wager they will be generally interested and will be keen to see what its all about. They obviously need their privacy respected.

This is an expanding area and one I am sure we will see more of in the near future in social housing and within many RSLs and groups. Drones will become a means of doing som ethings quicker and improving the whole customer experience.

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 !

S-express - Superfly Guy .



PS- A big thank you to the lovely Jayne Elliot of Capita, who guessed I would be using this Terrorvision track, from Keighleys best. A top track and I have been playing the album all morning now as a result. Brilliant musical taste I thought! - Check it out yourself here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxQ11q07lnw  

(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, please get in touch and let me know!

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I Want To Take You Higher

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/

Over the last couple of weeks I have been doing some work on the full 'customer repairs journey'. You know the stuff. Right from customer service team CRM call, to logged request, Opti-Time appointment, dispatch to operative and completion patched back. Anyone who has tried it will know that often CSC staff, repairs and trade operatives are hard to get together in a single room. Oil and water comes to mind, although over the last few months, with the folks I have been working with, there have been a lot of light-bulb moments. When people stop being defensive and work together, it's surprising what can be achieved.

This would not be possible without all managers controlling all parts of the journey, being present. If it's your mission statement, to take customer service higher, then its not good enough just to paint the slogan on your office walls and the back of toilet doors. It does need to be communicated and a part of every member of staffs mindset. Now that is a difficult job.

Many organisations fetishise John Lewis. We have all probably bought stuff at the JL partnership, or at least two of the eight types of banana they stock in Waitrose. What we actually get in John Lewis is consistency of customer service, that's why we like it and keep going back although that place is certainly not the cheapest. That consistency, trained knowledge from the JL employee is what is the real trick. Even students doing 3 months in Waitrose part time undertake 3 weeks of training, to recognise those eight types of banana. That's what shopping in Asda a transaction and in John Lewis an experience.

Invest in training and achieving consistency across the whole customer journey and you turn your transaction (renting from the 'council', as many of your residents will incorrectly still think of you as), into an experience. For my money, 25% of that is technology, intelligent scripting in CRM, dynamic appointments, good mobile systems to get the right trade person to the job on time, and capture right first visit satisfaction. The remaining 75% is people, process and management. Supporting, training and empowering staff to achieve those lofty aims on the back of your toilet door.

Have you invested the full quota in IT/Systems and your people to take your customer service higher? Which one will you need to improve to reduce your complaints and follow-on jobs? If you do that, we use our budgets better and create better neighbourhoods for us all.

Join 8,000 readers & catch the blog monthly archive at https://archive.org/details/@housingitguy

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 !

Sly & Family Stone - I Want To Take You Higher .


(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, please get in touch and let me know!

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. 07854-655009 ,7854655009, 07854 655009 ," ""07854 655009"" ",07854-655009,#UKHousing,1st Touch,3squared,24Dash,Access Financials,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,ACS,Advanced,Agresso,Allpay,Auto assessor,Ablyss CMS,Adastra,Advanced Community,Accuserve,Adobe Echosign,Actionfile,BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking, Blockwise, Block wise,BI,BancTec,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,BPM, Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,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,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL,Cx,Cascade,CSI,Civica Cx,Care and Support,Carenotes,CareSys,CDPSharp,Crosscare,Contract Management,Contact Management,Clinical,Conversions,COINS,Click,Clicksoftware Scheduling,Director,Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems ,Dinamiks,DRS,Drupal,ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e,Epicor,Exel,EOLC,escrow,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Fusion,Frontline,Getting best from,Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP,gotonysmith,Gentoo Streetwise,Guardian24,G-Cloud,Goldcrest,GeoSolveIT,HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,HAMMAR assets repairs forum,HomeHunt,Helpdesk software,HouseOnTheHill,Impact 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You Got The Vlookup

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/

Wow, I have often joked that if I had charged everyone over the past 20 years £50 for every VLOOKUP problem in Excel I have ever solved, I would have my pension, right there. It would be a vast sum. However the easy going nature I have does not permit me to be anything else than helpful and sympathetic, whenever anyone asks me to solve one.

For a customer I have been doing lots of Excel manipulations lately and from the mark its left on me here is my contribution to VLOOKUP peace in the world.

Excel is great and VLOOKUP / HLOOKUP are in the premier league of functions to be mastered. Also probably the cause of many people giving up functions forever. Well, that's sad and if that's you, please I implore you, read on....

In this article I use both VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP interchangeably.

It seems simple, here's one I wrestled with earlier:
       =VLOOKUP(A2,Sheet2!C1:F10,22, TRUE)

So, the first hurdle is not going with the default, 'TRUE'. Spandau Barry tried to persuade us things could be 'True', but here it means 'find the best match you can'. OK if that's what you want, but on the whole it wont be. False, means do a direct match. Swap it now.

Check your values (either the one you are trying to match OR the area you are trying to find it) dont suffer from trailing spaces. You wont see them in the spreadsheet, only when you edit a cell and notice the cursor is not exactly at the end of your value to search. Use Trim() to remove any excess space characters.

Leading zeros in text formatted cells may also cause you problems. IE '009089' will not match as '9089'. This can happen a lot where data such as rent account IDs are infact textual, but look like numbers (ie having leading zeroes). Try multiplying by 1 or adding 0 to these values before searching OR within the first parameter of the VLOOKUP function. EG 'VLOOKUP( C2 + 0, ' or 'VLOOKUP( C2 * 1 , ' etc.  This will turn '009089' into '9089'.

Often people get one VLOOKUP working in a single cell, only to copy and find it only works some of the time. Well, fix your columns or ranges, using $. E.G. 
       =VLOOKUP(A2,Sheet2!$C$1:$F$10,22, TRUE)
So that when copied, the whole matrix searched is unchanged, when copied. This is sometimes called 'Reference Locking'.

The other 'Gotcha' is to define a range and then try to return a column to the left of the defined Table Array range. In this example, a range takes in columns C to F. Column 22 as a return value will never work. Extend the range to the right (ie C to X), in order to pick up the correct values.

Still getting #N/A, but quite obviously you can see a match?  I bet you are trying to locate a number. Have you considered utilising TRUNC( ?? , 0). Excel often will try to be clever and compare 6.7 with 6.700 and decide the values are not the same. Having numbers, that are actually just textual IDs, formatted as Text makes sense.

Excel macro's can also be problematic when adding VLOOKUPs to child links, having child links open first, makes a macro work better.

I hope this helps, you have cost my pension £50 chum, but I don't mind, I am doing my bit for world peace....

Related Post: Are your staff on top of Asset Sustainability & Living Wills? How do you start?

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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 !

Prince - You Got The (v)Look(up) .


(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, please get in touch and let me know!

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js. 07854-655009 ,7854655009, 07854 655009 ," ""07854 655009"" ",07854-655009,#UKHousing,1st Touch,3squared,24Dash,Access Financials,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,ACS,Advanced,Agresso,Allpay,Auto assessor,Ablyss CMS,Adastra,Advanced Community,Accuserve,Adobe Echosign,Actionfile,BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking, Blockwise, Block wise,BI,BancTec,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,BPM, Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,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,Consilium,Consolidation,Consultancy,Consultant,Contact Manager,Context,CIH,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cadcorp,Cerrus Saturn,convergeOne,CACI,CPL,Cx,Cascade,CSI,Civica Cx,Care and Support,Carenotes,CareSys,CDPSharp,Crosscare,Contract Management,Contact Management,Clinical,Conversions,COINS,Click,Clicksoftware Scheduling,Director,Deeplake,Development Systems,Document Management,Documotive,datasystems ,Dinamiks,DRS,Drupal,ECMK,EDRMS,England, English,EnterpriseBI,ERP Systems,ERP,Elmhurst,Estatecraft,EDM,ESRI,Exponential-e,Epicor,Exel,EOLC,escrow,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials, Factorwise,Facebook ,Fusion,Frontline,Getting best from,Grasp,Grip,GeoSolveIT,GIS,GGP,gotonysmith,Gentoo Streetwise,Guardian24,G-Cloud,Goldcrest,GeoSolveIT,HouSys,Housing software,HG,Housemark survey,Housing Blueprint,Housing Group,hotpixuk, HousingIT,hotpix,Hardware,Hitex,Housing Contact Company,HAMMAR assets repairs forum,HomeHunt,Helpdesk software,HouseOnTheHill,Impact Response,implementations,In House,In4,Infoflow,Information Technology,Informix,inHouse,in-house workforce, Innovation, Inside Housing,Internet Portal,Invu,Ireland,Irish,IT Budget,IT Training,iWorld, Innovation Group Apex,ITIL, In4Systems Promaster,IT,Insight,iCaseWork,iCareHealth,iConnect,iPad,iNurse,InterNETalia,InMotion,InPhase,Joomla,Keylogic,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera,Keyfax,Kofax,Kronos,Ledgers,Linkedin,Locality,Liquid Voice,Lakewood,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,Manual,MWL Mavis,Metastorm,Module,Northgate Codeman,Neighbourhoods and Communities, Northgate,Notice,NROSH,NINTEX , NINTEX workflow,Nintexworkflow,NHF,National Housing Federation,National Energy Services,NES,North West Online,NCC,Netcall,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,OpenFinancials,OpenTouch,OSKA,octavia,Odyssey,OpenText, PIMMS Data Systems, Paloma,performance management systems,PfH,Pick,PIMMS,pimms4communities,Planned maintenance,Plus,PM,Progress,Promaster,Proval,Pyramid,PRINCE2,prince,Pamwin,People Value,Peoplevalue,PocketSurvey,Pocket Survey,Pathfinder,Pathfinder RF,Project Management,QL,QLX,Quiss,Qlikview,Registered Providers,Registered Social Landlord,Rent Increase Freezes,Repairfinder,Reporting,Reports,ROCC , Rocket,RPs,RSL,Reality,ReAct,reidmark,RM865,RAM,Real Asset Management,Residata,Rostering,Rootmetrics,Rocket CorVu,Real estate management,Saffron,SAP,Scots, Scottish,Scotland,SDM,sector,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, Systemwise,SM,Sequoa,Serros,SP,Scout,score,Swordfish,Serengeti,SOTI,south view,Sunguard,Service Charges,Streetwise,Scout Solutions,Strategic Asset Management, Social Housing software & IT-based housing management solutions for social housing providers social housing,management services,software,solutions,social, housing,managed services,managed,business,housing management,solutions , SPOCC,Sprint,Staffplan Roster,Sovereign,SDS,Solarwinds Web Helpdesk,Template,Task,Terminal Services, tonys , tonysm , tonysmi , tonysmith, 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,TM,TotalMobile,Total Mobile,TPTracker,TapForms,TagTronics,TagtronicsCare,TMWK,UniClass Enterprise,Unidata,Universal Housing,Universalcredit, universal credit, universal credits,UC,Universe,Unrest, UK, United Kingdom ,Ukhousing,UK Housing,U.K. ,Van Stock,Voice and data,Vantage Sentinel,Version One,Visualmetrics,Voluntas,Vanguard John Seddon,Volunteer Module,Volunteers,Vebra,Vixen,VerseOne,Wales,Welsh,Windows Server,Workflow and tasking,Wheatley,Web,housing management solution, Xmbrace,XML ,XenApp,Xen App,Zendesk ,.

Becoming Cx

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 must have written in these posts the phrase sometimes good things go bad and occasionally bad things come good somewhere along the line. It is a truism and I saw one positive one being played out at this last week’s Civica Conference held at Manchester Central. It was great to meet some old pals and some recent good eggs! If you are reading this, you will know who you are.

The conference does cover the vast range of Civica’s portfolio, but clearly the housing related features were of most interest to me. There were some inspirational speakers too. Andrew McMillan, Consultant and Former Head of Customer Service at John Lewis, was particularly good. He highlighted how consistency can create an exemplary customer care culture. Something that many RSL’s and housing organisations are struggling to achieve across all their channels, telephone into the customer service centre, interactions on the web and with repair operatives, (who because they wear a florescent jacket or fleece with your organisations name on it, should be able to deal with any request....).

The new Cx housing system was getting a good airing and quite rightly so I think. If I had £50 from all my more clued up housing system contacts who have asked me about it, I would have about £450 by now. Everyone switched on is curious. It’s the first new designed from the ground up housing system in 10 years and some features like the Contact Management truly are designed with future needs in mind, rather than ‘preferences for email etc bolted on later’.  Very brave in MHO and just one of the clever aspects that will make this a true player in a marketplace, against some aging solutions. If too many of your housing systems still look like DOS or Windows95, don’t bank on keeping it if you get involved in a merger. Civica are potentially on to a winner here if handled well.

On securing a drink at the Hilton bar on Deansgate, from Martyn Rees he was typically conservative about the significance of Cx, which was understandable. I would expect him to under-promise and do his best to over deliver. That's how you surprise.

I am sure he knows how good this all should be and Michael O'Reilly gave it a great overview at the Civica Housing User Group session on Thursday afternoon. I was pleased to see some of the sexier features shown, such as the forms & questionnaire designer and the Lettings application progression widget looked so good. Also proud to say to Mark Holdsworth, “that was my idea buddy”.

If handled well, implemented quickly, stops pulled out at some significant sites that are already signed up to upgrade, when its available for them, Civica have a real chance with a game changer on their hands. As any procurement person knows, for five years plus, tenders have been asking for pure browser delivery plus SQL Server.

Citrix, Terminal Services or Oracle in a browser etc, are the standard responses. With Windows8, touch screens and gestures will soon reach the office after mobile workers start to have them. If your device has a browser, your staff can join the Cx party.

Civica are tooling up too for the implementation phase of Cx. A tricky act to get that right that one, as I know myself, I have implemented enough tricky projects. Hopefully Jeff has got the A-Team signed up for that delivery outfit, hope he has got some black transit vans with red stripes on order...

If you are a UH, 4Js, CTX, Saffron or Genero user, do contact me and let me know what you think about Cx, is it something you are considering or are you squeezing more value out of what you have? Find me using the links on the right or via Linkedin.

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 !

The Sneaker pimps - Becoming X .


(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, please get in touch and let me know!

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