As we grow increasingly dependent on the digital world, so too does the need for functional and reliable IT infrastructure. We caught up with John Blackburn, director of Operations at Central Networks, to gain insight into how the firm works with housing associations across the UK to keep online threats at bay, costs under control, and IT systems running smoothly
Who is Central Networks?
Established in 1991, Central Networks (Central) has been operating as a managed IT service provider for over 32 years. We spent our first 10-12 years in the industry running around one third of the Magistrates court systems, before establishing a presence within the charity, not-for-profit, and social housing sectors from the noughties onwards.
Today, 65-70% of our client base remains within these vertical markets, with the remainder comprising organisations in manufacturing and education.
Typically serving companies from SMEs to enterprise organisations, we have the resources to support companies who either don’t have their own dedicated IT function, or need to free their internal resources for more revenue-generating tasks — rather than getting wrapped up in the day-to-day gubbins and being the default respondents for technical matters.
On average, Central deals with around 70-80% of incidents that occur, from password resets and anti-virus software renewals, to suspected malware attacks, printer configuration issues, and more.
We offer a far greater portfolio of services too, delving deeper than the IT service desk — including cloud migration, overhauling SD-WAN infrastructure, auditing technology estates, and replacing legacy PSTN phone lines, amongst many other services.
Can you explain a bit about the help desk service you provide?
We tend to call it a service desk rather than a help desk, these days. And while it’s certainly not a new concept, it’s one that continues to be majorly overlooked by organisations in the social housing sector, who could reap significant financial, operational, social, and environmental benefits from tapping into our expertise.
With support ranging from first line to third line — representing the more general IT queries to more complex technical challenges — our 25-strong team comprises engineers, sales advisors, and senior specialists. Our proud roots as a family-owned business mean our customers will never feel like ‘just another ticket’ to us. Anyone who gets in touch will be directed to a real person, with genuine experience in the field, rather than a soulless IVRS (interactive voice response system).
It’s a tool many firms, such as banks and finance professionals, adopt to help handle the volume of enquiries being thrust through. But we just don’t believe in it here at Central. While it certainly has its place, we’ll never hide behind automation from a customer service perspective. People want to talk to people!
How many housing associations do you work with?
The figure is nearing 100. But of that total, the scope of support required varies drastically, and there’s a small subset of people who have very strong contracts with us.
For some firms, we’re their entire IT department; they don’t have anybody. For others, they have a quite large technical division and we just cover some specific things — operating as a true extension of their in-house teams. Our service is truly bespoke, and is tailored to suit the evolving needs of our customers.
What problems do housing associations typically come to you with?
In the last couple of years, there’s been a major issue with recruitment. With economic downturn impacting already-stretched IT budgets, housing associations are lacking the resources required to bring senior talent on board and support ambitious government targets in the sector.
Being a private organisation, which isn’t necessarily governed in the same way, we’re able to deploy experienced professionals to help meet the needs of our customer base, and use economies of scale to share them around the housing associations we serve. Entering SLAs (service level agreements) means the firm can guarantee a certain quality of service, with the ability to turn the dials as and when required — whether that’s scaling up or pulling the reins.
By handling all aspects of a project – from technology integration and transition to long-term end-user support – or heading up a specific service, such as the service desk, outsourced partners like Central can remove a whole host of IT headaches from internal teams, and help them focus on other internal tasks.
Do you also share knowledge on the latest developments within the IT space, which housing associations might not have the time or resources to stay on top of?
Yes, we provide strategic and tactical advice within the IT infrastructure area on an ongoing basis. We regularly share knowledge through newsletters, blogs, social media channels, and proactive communications, to empower firms with the necessary insight to make informed decisions and optimise their IT infrastructure, while focusing on their core responsibilities.
Security, of course, is a big one. There’s no point reading an article from six months ago and taking that as the ‘latest news’, because there’s no doubt the landscape will have evolved already from this point. That’s why it’s important we keep our customers informed about the latest developments in this space — not least because we understand this may feel incredibly time-intensive for housing associations, who are already navigating a variety of challenges on a daily basis.
Do we have any zero-day attacks on the go at the moment? What’s the profile for the software I’m running on my machine? Am I up to date? Is the version of VMware we are using fully patched up? Are there any issues? There’s so many constant issues, and it is day-by-day. But we’re always here to extend our support and offer professional guidance.
Are cyber security threats getting worse in your view?
They call them ‘attack vectors’, different methods of infiltrating organisations, and we’re all too familiar with the daft emails that fill up our inboxes on a daily basis. But they’re getting more and more sophisticated by the minute. Holding large data sets with residents’ information, social housing organisations are becoming bigger targets too — with perpetrators pretending to be finance directors, for example, to try and tap into internal files.
There are other attack vectors that are constantly coming to the fore too. A major concern I have is the reliance on the monopoly technology suites — Microsoft being the main one. I can envision some serious attacks hitting those organisations in the future.
But if Microsoft 365 properly went down in the UK, it would be catastrophic. We’d lose so much business during that period — I’m not talking about Central, but the UK as a collective. There’s no doubt that fuels the fire of cyber criminals who are keen to cause such a ripple.
You’ve directly dealt with cases like that before, then?
Similar events, absolutely. Thankfully, preventative measures have grown equally as sophisticated, and there are lots of procedures that can be implemented to maximise organisations’ security posture.
If you go back about 10 years, to when ransomware-type products started occurring, everyone was a little less prepared. Central definitely dealt with more incidents where perpetrators actually infiltrated a network then. Of course, this still happens, but proactive management means it’s more common to catch cyber threats before they unfold.
Commercial companies we don’t know so well will typically approach us later down the line, asking, “we’ve been targeted, what can we do to repair this?” when damage has already been done both financially and reputationally. Prevention is always better than the cure.
Could you give an example?
There have been a couple of losses within a specific education area. Threat actors are well aware that resources are sparse over the summer period, with teachers away from the classroom, and they’re known to take advantage of this. In one instance, a college was targeted very early on in July, and by the time they had noticed upon returning in September, significant damage was done. The backups that were in place had been repeating the same ransomware data for over a month, and they lost everything.
That’s why having an appropriate disaster recovery protocol in place is crucial, yet many organisations seem to overlook this until they’ve been burnt.
Housing providers are more aware of cyber threats than they were a few years ago, though, by the sounds of it.
Everybody is — housing associations particularly, because they have to get cyber insurance. They have to be compliant with certain regulations, ensure two-factor authentication is enabled on every piece of software and hardware, as well as that all devices and data in transit is encrypted, amongst other things. If a company isn’t sure how to navigate any of these procedures, Central can offer support to guarantee insurance at the right level.
What AI-related concerns or queries have housing providers been coming to you with?
There’s a growing interest in providing Chatbot365. The really big housing providers might have 24/7 operations, but most of the ones we deal with do an eight-til-six — that doesn’t mean customer enquiries are in keeping with those times, though. Organisations are keen to extend their services beyond these working hours, and AI-powered chatbots are gaining a lot of traction as a result.
“There’s a misconception that outsourced IT support means replacing housing associations’ internal IT departments, but that couldn’t be further from the truth”
Of course, this kind of innovation is really impressive in many applications, and can certainly help alleviate some of the struggles. However, if the technology needs to revert to a human with an inquiry at two in the morning when no one is available, what happens then? Collaboration between people and cobots needs to be more streamlined, before this becomes a worthwhile strategy, I think.
What are some of the bad habits housing associations need to break in order to deliver maximum efficiency and cost effectiveness?
They should stop trying to do the whole thing themselves, and lean on a third-party organisation like Central to help alleviate IT headaches. We understand that they want to be self-sufficient, but in doing so many are left by the wayside running on technology that’s either completely redundant or not fit for purpose, and causing costs to spiral as a result.
They should invest in a trusted IT partner that’s truly hands-on, and is intimately involved in technical operations as a true extension of their internal teams. With extensive experience using platforms like Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, and Amazon Web Services, as well as in the social housing sector, we understand the challenges organisations face, and are perfectly placed to help solve them.
Monthly account meetings and ongoing conversations mean we’re always aligned with what our customers are doing, and they know how projects are progressing on our side too. It’s truly reciprocal — they’re not on their own, and it is a partnership without a doubt. You hear these sorts of words all the time, but it’s what we’re known for at Central, and we’re fiercely proud of that.
So, the service you provide at Central is more of a complement to housing associations’ IT teams, rather than a replacement?
Exactly, we work to augment operations, not take over. There’s a common misconception that outsourced IT support means replacing housing associations’ internal IT departments, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
If somebody came to me and asked, “what’s the best way of collecting rent in this specific area?” I’m not going to know the answer. Not only do I not know the location or specific business applications, I also haven’t built a career in that realm.
I can, however, advise teams which sequel database to put information on, which VMware server they should use, and whether it will work well in Azure. If it does work well in Azure, I can also explain whether an ABC service should be used, or if Citrix or Horizon might be better suited. They’re both very distinct roles.
By doing so, we can provide access to a wider set of skills and expertise to free resources from these time-intensive technical tasks, so they can focus on other core business operations.
Central Networks and Technologies is a Housing Digital Stakeholder that offers a range of IT support to those in the social housing sector.
Main image: John Blackburn, Operations director, Central Networks
Read next: Peabody merger: Are supersized housing associations too big to fail?
Are you a social housing professional? Sign up for a FREE MEMBERSHIP to upload news stories, post job vacancies, and connect with colleagues on our secure social feed.