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TOP 30 DIGITAL HOUSING PROVIDERS - THE RESULTS
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It’s been nearly a year since COVID-19 forced us all to shut up shop and lock ourselves indoors, paving the way for a profound period of technological change the likes of which we could have never anticipated.
The housing sector, like every other sector, found itself blindsided by the breakneck pace at which the change occurred. Overnight, the office was replaced by the home, and the need for good digital capabilities and reliable technological infrastructure became paramount.
Through sheer luck or shrewd foresight, some providers made the shift with ease; others had to work day and night to get their operations back up to speed. But this list isn’t a celebration of who was best prepared or who has struggled most. This is a list celebrating those providers who, through thoughtful engagement with technology, reacted and responded to the challenges of the pandemic so they could continue to meet the needs of their tenants.
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Everything Housing Solutions does is designed to benefit its customers – and improving its digital offer is no exception. Since April the south-east-based provider has collected £1.3m from tenants through online channels (nearly double the previous year) and seen a 150% rise in engagement with its tenant portal, which now provides 24/7, 365-day access. As for the future, Housing Solutions is currently working on a customer-facing mobile app with AI diagnostic tools built in, including a visual repair diagnostic tool, which it hopes will better serve the 65%+ of customers who access its digital platforms via a tablet or phone.
What the Judges had to say
“Housing Solutions is working well with a number of partners to adopt best practice and meet changes in customer expectations.”
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For ateb, which means ‘answer’ or ‘solution’ in Welsh, every step of its digital journey was made with tenants in mind. It has simplified many of its processes, such as rents and arrears management, and started the process of moving its legacy HMS to a cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics solution, all with the aim of improving the quality of service it provides. By keeping the tenant at the forefront of its plans, ateb has ensured that its systems are flexible enough to accommodate every tenant circumstance, while being structured enough to ensure data can be used to drive future decisions on how best to continue serving its tenancy base.
What the Judges had to say
“Really great progress for a small HA. Automation progress is very impressive.”
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Rural Housing Association quickly recognised the role technology would play in maintaining some semblance of continuity during the pandemic. The Northern-Ireland-based provider wasted no time in ensuring staff had the tools and equipment needed to work remotely and rolled out “specially designed” phone apps to ensure communication between both staff and tenants was not disrupted. Rural then set to work improving other aspects of its digital offer, launching a new website replete with both a tenant and staff portal, for example. Future initiatives include expanding the Tenant Panel Digital Connections scheme and increasing the implementation of smart technology in new-build homes.
What the Judges had to say
“Not only did Rural Housing Association make a seamless transition for staff through the COVID-19 pandemic, they managed to launch a new website and customer portal, which shows great achievement and has clearly had a very positive impact on tenants and customers.”
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Johnnie Johnson Housing says the biggest change in past 12 months has been the realisation that it needed to accelerate and focus on the needs of both colleagues and customers. To act on that realisation the provider, based in the north of England, turned to technology. Just a few examples include the rollout of new IT tools to enable colleagues to effectively work from home and improving its digital infrastructure to support a 24/7 service to customers. Johnnie Johnson has got a lot planned for the future, too, such a shift to the cloud and increasing the amount of self-service options available to customers.
What the Judges had to say
“Great to see the customer embedded into the process and some really strong technical foundations.”
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COVID may have dominated the past 12 months, but that hasn’t stopped Progress Housing Group from advancing with its digital transformation. The north-west-based provider has, among other things, continued to grow its customer portal, achieved integration with its payment provider, minimised disruption to its commitment to engaging with customers through video conferencing, and ensured all staff are able to work remotely. The coming months will see Progress embark on a journey of further digital change, such as the enhancement of its customer portal, a revamp of its website, and the continued rollout of digital tenancy agreements.
What the Judges had to say
“A really good foundation and activities in place to embed digital thinking.”
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Over the past 12 months, Manningham Housing Association has implemented a number of solutions to transform how it functions digitally. Business email, for example, was moved from on-premises to Microsoft 365 in February, a fortuitous shift that enabled the north-east-based provider to quickly ensure all staff could work from home when lockdown kicked in the following month. By 2022, Manningham hopes to have completed a redesign of its website and its new customer-login facility up and running – both of which will nicely coincide with the rollout of laptops and tablets to tenants who currently lack access to such devices.
What the Judges had to say
“Really excellent to see creative solutions to enable those with limited access to technology to access digital services.”
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For resident-led Phoenix Community Housing, the core focus of its digital strategy has been to reduce and integrate its systems to better purvey a “single source of truth”. At the heart of the strategy is the Digital Together programme, whose goal is to provide value for money; 24/7, year-round online customer self-service; as well as robust reporting tools. While the programme isn’t yet fully rolled out Phoenix is making progress, and in March plans to launch a customer self-service portal as part of the second phase. The London-based provider plans to launch a further nine projects by mid-2022.
What the Judges had to say
“Really positive intent and plans.”
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At the time pandemic took hold at the start of 2020, Broadacres Housing Association was already well on the way to becoming an agile, digitally focused business. All COVID did, according to the north-west-based landlord, was accelerate the change. Two-thirds of the workforce were already mobile workers, possessing the equipment needed to enable them to work from anywhere with ease; and during the first week of lockdown, usage of Microsoft Teams shot up by 9,000%. Such an unfettered and rapid embrace of technological change means that, for Broadacres, “digital is now in our DNA.”
What the Judges had to say
“Good, solid foundations have been laid, which are proving to be essential in how Broadacres progresses their digital transformation journey. Really impressive that they were able to test remote working prior to the pandemic – good foresight and planning.”
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Raven Housing Trust is well on the way to completing its digital transformation programme, Better Connected, which aims to get both customers and staff online so they can self-serve from any location. Through Better Connected, the south-east-based provider also aims to reduce manual operations and become more familiar with its customers, which it says is an “integral” part of the programme. Raven’s digital strategy is already allowing for more agile ways of working and better preparedness; and with further innovation in the pipeline, the business should be more than ready to deal with whatever challenges lie ahead.
What the Judges had to say
“Staff Digital Champions are a good idea to gain staff ownership of digital.”
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One could spend hours reading through all the technological innovations and digital initiatives that south-west-based Curo has embarked on over the last 12 months. Highlights include an enhancement of its self-service platform, My Curo; adding WhatsApp to its existing social media and live-chat customer-contact channels; scaling up its SightCall video technology for better remote working; and even using programming platform Python to draw key insights from data. The list of initiatives the association is looking to launch over the coming years is just as long, if not longer, showing Curo isn’t looking to take its foot off the gas any time soon.
What the Judges had to say
“Really liked the way Curo have used the pandemic and their digital transformation to embed and support employee wellbeing and support. This will hold them in good stead for the future.”
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Standardisation, progression, and innovation are core to LiveWest’s digital strategy. And the advent of COVID-19 has only served to accelerate each of these tenets. Since March 2020, the south-west-based provider has seen a 50% rise in social media sessions, 280% in job applications, 121% in call-to-actions for new homes, and 144% in digital reporting. The most important figure, however, is arguably the 89% of customers who are now satisfied with the service they receive. LiveWest plans to use technology to improve customer interaction and customer service even more, so don’t be surprised to see customer satisfaction rise higher still.
What the Judges had to say
“Really good to see a clear strategy and approach being implemented. Offsite manufacturing is demonstrating the impact that technology can have on how we build homes and make them more energy efficient that has direct benefit on the environment and the resident.”
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What was a challenging year for even the most established organisation was arguably a whole lot harder Eastlight Community Homes, which went live last July in the middle of the pandemic. But by beginning its digital transformation journey earlier than planned, Eastlight was able to deliver on its ambitious and them some, launching a series of programmes and initiatives that ensured the needs of both staff and tenants were met. 2021 looks to be just as fruitful, with a tech-heavy New Homes Strategy due to be finalised in the spring. Looking ahead further, Eastlight wants 100% of its services to be digitally accessible by 2027.
What the Judges had to say
“Virtual AGM and other virtual events are welcome. Piloting of access to FRAs is very innovative!”
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Midlands-based Aspire Housing has undergone such a rapid technological change over the last 12 months that it now says it is ahead of the curve when it comes to digital development. From migrating all services to the cloud to enabling all call-centre staff to work effectively from home, there isn’t a single area of the provider’s operation that hasn’t undergone at least some kind of technological transformation. And with the expansion of its use of robotic process automation and new digital customer platform set to launch in March, the future for Aspire is looking more promising still.
What the Judges had to say
“Impressive progress in embracing cloud services in a short space of time. Great use of data to support wellbeing and safeguarding of tenants, demonstrating how digital solutions can support the wider social mission. Remarkable achievement in rolling out cloud telephony in just three weeks!”
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For Stonewater, which operates all over England, the road to technological change began in 2017 when it decided it was time for an innovative, digital, data-based service offer that both delivered benefits to customers and supported its ambitious plans. The changes made early on, such as the implementation of Microsoft’s SharePoint and Technology Stack, proved key in delivering a swift and effective response to the pandemic. Thanks to its proactive approach, Stonewater is now well-placed to deliver on its ambitions going into the future, with plans to integrate information and systems using cloud technology and further invest in AI, smart homes, and the internet of things.
What the Judges had to say
“Good evidence that there is an overall plan to maximise digital rollout, and good to see that there are a number of initiatives planned for the future.”
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The past year has seen massive technological change for North Star Housing, which has created both a new role as head of ICT and Digital and a digital strategy, moved its IT infrastructure from a physical server-based platform to a cloud-based platform, and launched the My North Star tenant portal. The north-east-based business has also initiated a new uniformed equipment offering, allowing staff to work flexibly and remotely during the pandemic. Going forward, North Star says its focus must be to ensure the continued development of its digital offer and on making improvements based on engagement with customers.
What the Judges had to say
“Some exciting, notable activity to streamline existing processes using digital technology.”
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Digital transformation for mhs homes has meant focusing on four key areas within the business: workplace, processes, data, and customers. By concentrating its efforts on each of these, the south-east-based provider says all aspects of its operation stand to benefit. As mhs continues with its roadmap, which it says has been accelerated by the pandemic, it intends to streamline all systems and applications to ensure the services it provides to customers are as efficient as possible. Ultimately, mhs aims to increase responsiveness so that it can spend more time and resources on value-added activity.
What the Judges had to say
“Really good to see a fcous on how they making data available to all staff and encouraging the use of their Business Intelligence tool, InPhase. Enabling all staff to access BI will help build a data-driven culture.”
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By placing the customer at the heart of its digital strategy, whg says it can better deliver customer service whenever it is needed. The Midlands-based landlord has been making rapid progress, too, clocking up huge achievements such as the creation of in-house IT systems, rolling out an automated dial-out and SMS digital solution, and launching Project Wizard, an automated income collection service. Even COVID-19 couldn’t hold it down, with the organisation able to get all 400-odd employees working remotely within 48 hours when the first lockdown was announced. By 2024, whg aims to conduct 70% of customer communication via digital channels.
What the Judges had to say
“Really good to see customers at the centre of new initiatives. This was mentioned and evidenced on a number of occasions in application.”
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For Greatwell Homes, the digital transformation journey started back in 2018, with a complete infrastructure review followed by a move to the Azure Cloud platform in 2019. By the time the pandemic hit, the Midlands-based provider already had most of what it needed to work remotely and ensure business continuity, with the likes of Office 365, Microsoft Teams, and VPNs already rolled out. As we head deeper into 2021, Greatwell plans to bolster its technical repertoire even further by introducing, among other things, a ‘repairs wizard’ on its customer portal and bringing app development in house to enable staff to more efficiently deliver services.
What the Judges had to say
“Great progress on automation. Closing the head office is a bold move, enabled by a great employee digital experience – well done. Really strong ambition for the future!”
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Stockport Homes Group has made large strides in achieving its digital transformation ambitions over the past 12 months. Its Caretaking team, for example, has introduced a ‘sweep-up’ app that has improved efficiencies internally, which has in turn improved the service provided to customers. Perhaps most impressive, though, is what the north-west-based provider has lined up next: the construction of a data warehouse that provides business intelligence capabilities, alongside improved customer engagement tools and a new customer relationship management function, which it says will provide an enhanced view of the customer, their needs, and their preferences.
What the Judges had to say
“Obviously doing some great stuff in relation to this agenda. Great to see that the pandemic hasn’t stopped them from embracing their values.”
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Ongo’s biggest digital aspiration is for 75% of customer interactions to be made online by 2023, which it says will effect a cost saving of £247,000. If the past 12 months are anything to go by, there’s no reason why the Midlands-based landlord shouldn’t be able to do it, having signed up 40% of tenants to its My Home app, set up a new Digital Tenant Testers group, and saving around 245 hours of customer adviser time through its IVR automated telephone payments system. The savings in resources and costs mean Ongo can spend more time on delivering its strategy: being a great landlord.
What the Judges had to say
“The pandemic has obviously accelerated their approach to digital transformation, with some positive outcomes that will benefit their customers.”
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While recent years have seen Prima Group make steady progress with its digital transformation journey, 2020 saw the speed of change accelerate enormously. A new cloud-based phone system and finance system, a shift to conducting nearly all transactions virtually, video viewings, drone property inspections, and a new intranet are just a few of the innovations the north-west-based landlord has made over the past 12 months. The pace of progress doesn’t look as though it will slow, either, with the likes of an AI chatbot and digital enhancement solution set to launch in the near future.
What the Judges had to say
“Really exciting to see the step change as a result of embedding digital technology, the cultural impact, and the focus on how can we do things better.”
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Housing21’s digital journey started five years ago when it installed the UK’s first digital technology-enabled-care system within its Walton Court property in Durham. Since then, it has gradually instilled a more digital way of thinking throughout its operations. Perhaps better prepared than most for the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation-wide provider ensured it took seriously the threat posed. Thanks to the widespread rollout of digital equipment and systems within the organisation during the advent of the crisis, Housing21 says it has continued to deliver the standard of customer service and care that its tenants expect.
What the Judges had to say
“It is a really good idea to have tenants connected, and at the same time put the technology to a practical use for the benefit of both tenants and staff.”
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At the start of 2020, just before the virus really started to make its presence known in the UK, Irwell Valley Homes had just moved office, introduced an agile working culture, moved a large portion of its services to the cloud, and rolled out a suite of new software such as Microsoft 365. The timing couldn’t be better. 12 months on, the north-west-based provider’s prudent approach to planning and an openness to change is paying dividends, and Orwell Valley has never been in a better position to achieve its vision of using technology to provide customers with a tailored and consistent experience.
What the Judges had to say
“An impressive integrated approach to strategy and transformation, embedding an experimentation and innovation culture into the organisation as a foundation of transformation. Also a really strong emphasis on user-experience – brilliant!”
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COVID-19 has accelerated South Tyneside Homes’ already significant digital transformation journey, serving as a catalyst to further improve the way it works with all stakeholders. Highlights of the past year for the north-east-based provider include the launch of an automated phone service to check the wellbeing of vulnerable and isolated residents, the implementation of virtual property viewings, and the internal rollout of IT tools to enhance services and ensure staff have the capacity to work in a flexible and agile way. As it continues with its digital transformation into 2021 and beyond, the future for South Tyneside is looking very bright indeed.
What the Judges had to say
“South Tyneside Homes have clearly made a brilliant step forward with the use of automated calling, as well as the impact it’s had on tenant/customer engagement.”
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Despite COVID-19 disruption, over the past 12 months south-west-based Sovereign Housing Association been hard at work putting its digital plan into action. For Sovereign, the focus has been on using digital technology to enable business transformation and end-to-end process change, which it has been able to do through the rollout of systems such as Dynamics 365, headless CMS architecture, and a suite of cloud services via Office 365. Other highlights, of which there are many, include fitting air source heat pumps into 150 homes and rolling out the DocuSign electronic signature service throughout the organisation.
What the Judges had to say
“Sovereign’s digital strategy clearly demonstrates a customer-centric approach and has adapted well to the change COVID-19 has brought.”
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With 22 projects identified in its digital strategy, and a further 40-or-so in its ICT strategy, Regenda Homes says it is now in a better position to support both staff and customers – and it’s got the stats to back it up. 41% of households now have a portal account, an average of £272,000 in online payments are being made each month, and there has been a 30% reduction in telephone calls. The north-west-based provider now plans to launch three new strands of its digital strategy, the first of which includes a digital sign-up process and a self-service arrears arrangement module for customers.
What the Judges had to say
“Regenda Homes made excellent use of statistics and figures to back up their entry and have clearly shown how their digital journey increased customer engagement, resulting in higher tenant/customer satisfaction but a massive increase in online payments.”
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Salix Homes’ digital transformation journey began back in 2018 when it launched a rallying cry to the sector to ‘Rethink Housing’. It led by example, launching a new digital repairs service and online customer portal, implementing chatbot technology, and becoming the first housing provider in the UK to fully embrace the public cloud. Salix’s boldness paid off when the pandemic hit at the start of 2020, finding itself able to adapt quickly to an increasingly digitised landscape. Going forward, the north-west-based business says it has a solid platform onto which it can further develop service it provides to its customers.
What the Judges had to say
“Both the GSHP and responsive repairs systems are good for the business and also the tenants.”
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Despite a challenging year, Optivo has remained resolute thanks to fast-paced and dynamic working. With the advent of COVID-19, the nationwide provider was keen to turn a negative into a positive, taking advantage of the disruption to advance its digital agenda. It has since brought forward the rollout of collaboration systems such as Microsoft Teams and distributed digital equipment and tools to all staff to enable them to work remotely with minimal disruption to services. Through ensuring its internal operation remained functional and effective, Optivo says it has been able to maintain an excellent service for residents.
What the Judges had to say
“Demonstrated lots of initiatives across wide areas of the business. Clear that didgital development is a high priority for everything Optivo does.”
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Believe Housing was already on a “digital push” prior to 2020. The pandemic, it says, merely accelerated the transformation. For Believe, based in the north-east, the switch to remote working was “seamless”, and it wasn’t long before it had replaced its paper-based processes with digital sign-ups and remote-letter production. Believe says its enhanced focus on digital operations proved “essential” in ensuring it could continue providing services to its tenants over the course of the pandemic. And with new services such as viewing properties via video and providing electronic tenancy documentation, Believe’s tenancy satisfaction has gone through the roof.
What the Judges had to say
“It is clear from this submission that their digital aspirations are embedded across the business and have the customer at the forefront. In addition, the extent to which they have engaged staff throughout is excellent.”
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Halton Housing’s ambition is to become more pre-emptive and less reactive through delivering services based on insight and driven by data, while never compromising the service delivered to the end-user. The north-west-based provider says the past 12 months have been “pivotal” in realising this ambition. Since the advent of COVID-19, Halton has recreated its website and customer portal and updated its app to provide a “seamless, easy-to-use omni-channel experience”. It has also sought to boost its repairs service by using data to optimise the performance of its maintenance technicians and, ultimately, improve customer satisfaction.
Halton has even made sure to involve customers in the creation of the digital products they themselves would like to see – supplemented with the findings from its extensive customer insight project, Customeyes. Before launching the new customer portal, Halton asked customers to vote on the name: MyHaltonHome. Further, for both the portal and website, Halton actively conducted focus groups and moderated testing to ensure platforms were appealing, easy to navigate, and met customers’ needs. It says it was able to incorporate almost all the feedback gained through the focus groups into its offering.
Halton’s ambitions for the future are just as bold, with plans to better utilise the Internet of Things, data lakes, machine learning, as well as event-driven automation to drive a proactive delivery service that keeps the customer informed at all stages.
What the Judges had to say
“Love the user-centred approach to the transfromation programme ‘Customeyes’. Very strong on carbon reduction with a partnership approach with industry and universities. Impressive! Strong ambition.”
“Halton Housing have always been ahead of the game when it comes to their approach to this agenda. It is great to see that this has continued and they are still leading the way.”
