Housing Associations: Is Your Data Putting Your Tenants at Risk?
Housing associations must prioritise data management and create a data-centric environment if they are to keep tenants safe and serve them better. Creating seamless, end-to-end tenant experiences relies on building agile environments with modern, cloud-based technologies. However, the success of these implementations is often compromised due to the limitations of the organisation's data.
The Housing Ombudsman’s Report (May 2023) highlighted the need for change, reporting that housing associations have been struggling with poor data management, leading to poor outcomes, for too long. Poor information and missing and incomplete logs were cited by 88% of landlord complaints handlers as undermining their responses. Often, what can seem like a minor administrative error can have a profound human and organisational impact, including financial detriment, loss of essential services, and utilities or residents being exposed to fire and other safety risks.
The report found that two in every three maladministration findings were due to information failings, with 57% citing databases not syncing preventing access to the data they required.
Centralising knowledge management and creating accessible data repositories has never been more important, as the adoption of AI and automation becomes an essential ingredient in creating business efficiencies and delivering tenant services.
Building sustainable operational efficiency
Housing associations need to adopt a holistic approach that places people, processes, and strategy at the forefront to achieve sustainable operational efficiency. Only by creating a data-centric culture can internal teams deliver the very best tenant experiences.
Legacy systems, unable to synchronise or share information with other systems, have no place in the technology stack of the future. Duplication of entry and siloed data sources lead to errors, add workloads to overly stretched human resources and leave housing associations open to data breaches.
Effective data management improves processes and can provide valuable information and insights into key performance metrics. Effective data management allows for continuous improvement and cross-platform analytics for better reporting and trend analysis.
In one incident, the Housing Ombudsman reported a resident experiencing leaking water for eight years and having to repeat the entire situation each of the 15 times he contacted his landlord because there was no effective system to report customers' communications to enable continuity of complaint handling.
No system will ever be good enough to compensate for inaccurate data entry or user error; however, creating an environment where everyone understands the value of the data and the data is turned into valuable performance metrics will contribute significantly.
Protecting data against cyberattack
For any organisation, and Housing Associations are no exception, one of the largest threats to maintaining compliance is data leakage. This leakage is often caused by human error, a lack of employee training, outdated systems or general poor security, and can lead to identity theft and big fines.
One of the simplest ways to reduce data breaches is to limit the data sources available and ensure those sources adhere to security protocols and governance. The challenge to achieving this is often the vast number of services housing associations operate and the sheer number of people that need access to relevant information across the organisation.
According to gov.uk, 32% of UK businesses recalled cyber security breaches in the 12 months running up to April 2023 and around a third ended up being victims of cybercrime. A cyberattack in 2022 at a 46,500-home registered provider led arrears to peak at 5% as customers cancelled their direct debits in response to the incident,
The need for landlords to take data seriously, streamline data sources and have contingency plans in place in the event of unforeseen critical data incidents has never been stronger to protect from cyberattacks.
Creating a data-centric organisation
Every service and every interaction should be fuelled by data, from maintenance requests to rent collection and achieving regulatory compliance. Creating a data-centric organisation requires the right technology, skills, and knowledge, plus a cultural shift to change the perception and value of the data across the organisation. Housing associations must treat data like any other key asset and adopt a data-centric culture to benefit from the true power behind the data.
7 steps to unlocking the full potential of your data
- Have a data management policy that covers the entire lifecycle of the data.
- Assess your data for strengths and weaknesses and create a data strategy to fill the gaps.
- Use tools and analytics to transform data into information with context to identify key insights for continuous improvement.
- Adhere to strict protocols to ensure the accuracy, timeliness and completeness of data.
- Invest in data literacy training for staff to equip your teams with the skills to understand and use data effectively.
- Establish data governance and clarity of roles, responsibilitie, and accountability around data management.
- Review data performance regularly against objectives and best practices.
Next steps
Successful knowledge and information management starts with an appreciation of the value of data to both the landlord and its tenants. Senior leaders need to be clear about the importance of data management, standards and expectations and create a working environment where staff have the direction, structure and guidance they need.
Good data allows for good information, without which a landlord cannot adequately:
- Identify risks
- Contingency plan
- Comply fully with legal and regulatory requirements
- Provide a high-quality service to tenants
8x8 Contact Center uses APIs to connect communications with CRM and business systems allowing for better data management, cross-patform reporting and valuable insights for improved performance. Agents are better prepared with access to historic interactions and the information they need to deliver exceptional, personalised tenant experiences, every time, without the risks associated with data duplication, leakage and cyber threats.
Discover how 8x8 solutions for housing associations help safeguard data, improve tenant satisfaction and increase operational efficiency.
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