by Kaiser Mace, Software Applications Team Leader at Teign Housing.

Teign Housing brought in Housing Insight because we had a requirement for better engagement with our tenants. Before we started using Housing Insight’s Self Service App, which sits within their PanConnect solution, tenants had to call the office every time they wanted to find out basic information – about their rent statement, for instance. Now, they can log into the app and see not only their current rent statement but also previous statements and any rent arrears information; this is valuable data. Digital delivery also means that tenants aren’t stuck in long telephone queues and our staff are freed up to manage their work time more efficiently.

Importantly for us, the Self Service App from Housing Insight is AI driven. It makes use of big data to be predictive about future behaviour – analysing a tenant’s previous behaviour, for example, to judge the likelihood of that tenant defaulting on a future rent payment. This approach not only helps us to minimise future arrears, but it also enables early-stage interventions that allow us to get timely support in place for our tenants – for instance, if it looks likely that a tenant will end up in arrears within six months should they continue their current behaviour.

Boosting functionality 

We appreciate the push notifications functionality within the App. We can send three types of push notification: the first is an individual message, such as to inform a tenant that they have gone into arrears or to let them know that they have set up an account but forgotten to add their mobile number; the second is a reminder seven days later, if they still haven’t logged into their account to address the issue; thirdly, we are also able to send a standard broadcast to all our tenants, if we have a message that everyone needs to hear.

We can see when tenants are most active within the App and use this to send communications at a time that will maximise engagement. Within the first six months, we received 237 updates from tenants, which has been invaluable in helping us to keep our database current.

Our tenants are also able to use various tools within the App, such as the debt repayment plan that enables people to set up their own repayments towards arrears. This has proved very popular, with 42 plans being set up within the first six months.

Processing repairs

We are currently working with Housing Insight to add a repairs scheduling function to the Self Service App. At the moment there is a two-day turnaround to raise a repair request manually at Teign Housing, and it takes a further 12-18 days to schedule a repair. This waiting time will virtually disappear because the App will allow our tenants to upload a photo of the fault and, for those basic faults that don’t require authorisation, they will immediately be invited to select an appointment date and time to suit them. In addition, they will receive push notifications to keep them up-to-date on the progress of their repair request.

Growing users

It’s no surprise that within a few months of launching the App, more than 20% of our 4,000 tenants had registered to become users. We are now running a mini project to raise that figure further, and we also want to develop a strategy to draw out the data that’s in the portal so that we can improve our business services still further. We know from Housing Insight that registration rates in excess of 60% are possible over time, for example, and we are keen to find out from other organisations what does and doesn’t work when it comes to growing users.

Working with Housing Insight

In my view, Housing Insight should be looking to build the entire platform! We’ve found systems from other providers to be very silo-based. There may be, say, four department heads who share topline information in a meeting once a month but the rest of the data remains compartmentalised. Working with Housing Insight has been refreshingly different.

I joined Teign Housing four to five months into their initial project with Housing Insight, and have been working with them since October 2023. It’s been a really positive experience. What particularly impresses me is how flexible Housing Insight are: they will listen to what we need and try to find an answer for us quickly. I can be on a call with Katrina or Coral and if I have a question they can’t immediately answer they will pause the conversation, grab a developer and bring him on to the call so that we can move forwards and get traction again.

In my experience, most other companies have their own agenda and much longer timescales for solving problems. Conversations tend to include a salesy component, with reps trying to book me in for a data consultation. And if I want to raise a specific question I have to go through the helpdesk, which can involve a five-to-six-day delay before I get connected to a developer. If it then takes a further week for the developer to respond, I can easily end up losing a month and a half just to get to the bottom of one question. I appreciate the fact that Housing Insight removes all of this red tape.

Finally, Housing Insight prospects are on the money: in my view, they are well-priced and offer great value.