The Challenges Faced by Housing Association in 2023
Housing associations face mounting pressures: meeting Tenant Satisfaction Measures whilst managing spiralling costs and negative publicity. Implementing effective customer engagement technology can help organisations exceed targets whilst modernising operations and improving efficiency.
UK Housing Associations recognise that Technology can help
26% of interviewed Housing Associations attending the May 2023 Social Housing Strategic Networking Event viewed modernising service delivery models as their top strategic priority.
27% stated that an omnichannel engagement model was their top technology priority.
With over half making a concerted effort to effect digital change and 48% identifying the Contact Centre being the highest priority.
Four Highlighted Challenges
Let’s consider these challenges in delivering excellent customer service:
1. Communication Barriers: Housing organisations serve tenants from diverse backgrounds with varying communication preferences - from digital channels to telephone and face-to-face contact. Success requires accommodating all these needs.
2. Resource Constraints: Housing organisations face mounting pressure from budget limitations and high call volumes. Poor communication leads to wasted maintenance visits, frustrated tenants, and inefficient repairs due to incorrect information or inadequate preparation.
3. Complex Regulations: Meeting regulatory requirements across customer experience, data security, and tenancy laws directly affects funding. Consistent compliance is particularly challenging when serving diverse tenants, especially vulnerable groups.
4. Managing Expectations: Tenant service expectations often exceed housing association's delivery capabilities, despite the organisation's best efforts.
Innovative housing associations must embrace technology to meet modern tenant's communication and engagement needs.
Ciptex have the Technology experts to help face the challenges
While technology can help improve customer engagement, it needs to be integrated with existing systems, and necessary skills will need to be trained among agents and supervisors for solutions to be successful.
At Ciptex, we have world-class experts able to implement the Twilio Flex Customer Engagement platform. We have a pedigree of integrating to multiple Housing Systems and CRM platforms.
The Benefits of a Tenant-Centric Multichannel Call Centre
Cloud-based, multichannel contact centres help housing organisations meet government compliance whilst enhancing tenant communication. The solution consolidates repair details, media evidence, conversation histories, and tenant information through telephone, email, web chat and social media channels.
This comprehensive approach ensures secure data handling, improves accessibility, and streamlines operations whilst protecting vulnerable tenants.
Top five benefits of a Tenant Centric Customer Communication Platform
Improved Customer Service: Choice of communication channels enhances accessibility and satisfaction. Digital solutions expedite resolutions and reduce follow-ups, freeing staff for essential tasks.
One-Time-Visit: Ensuring maintenance engineers arrive fully equipped with correct tools and information improves efficiency and tenant satisfaction.
Reduced Costs: Digital solutions minimise staffing, office space and storage expenses.
Better Insights: Digital interaction data enables supervisors to analyse and understand tenant preferences.
Enhanced Collaboration: Digital channels streamline communication between maintenance staff, tenants and colleagues, boosting productivity.
How Vulnerable Customers can be helped with an Omnichannel Solution
Digital-first, multichannel contact centres particularly benefit vulnerable tenants through:
Increased Accessibility: Web chat, messaging and email provide flexible communication options beyond traditional telephone services.
Personalised Support: Stored customer data enables agents to deliver informed, tailored assistance across all interactions.
Improved Privacy: Digital channels offer discreet options for sharing sensitive information.
Greater Flexibility: Multiple communication channels reduce wait times and allow tenants to engage on their terms.
Better Follow-up: Automated messaging and scheduling simplify appointment management and enquiry tracking.
How Technology can help with Tenant Satisfaction Measures
Cloud-based, omnichannel contact centres help housing associations meet tenant satisfaction measures through:
Improved Communication: Multiple channels (telephone, email, messaging, web chat) accommodate diverse tenant preferences and feedback methods.
Real-time Monitoring: Continuous interaction analysis enables swift identification of improvement areas.
Personalisation: CRM integration allows staff to access tenant histories and property data, enabling tailored solutions.
Faster Resolution: Multiple reporting channels expedite maintenance responses and issue resolution.
Greater Transparency: Complete communication trails enhance accountability and service tracking.
Contact Centre Agent Job Satisfaction
Cloud-based contact centres enhance agent efficiency and satisfaction through:
1. Easy Access: Immediate availability of customer data enables contextual insight and quicker resolutions.
2. More Flexibility: Remote working capabilities with full system access promotes work-life balance.
3. Streamlined Processes: Automation of routine tasks allows agents to focus on complex problem-solving and exceptional service.
4. Better Collaboration: Enhanced colleague interaction reduces silos and builds community, increasing engagement.
5. Advanced Analytics: Performance tracking tools provide meaningful feedback, helping agents improve and achieve goals whilst building job satisfaction.
In Summary
Ciptex understands housing associations' dual challenge: meeting compliance whilst modernising operations. Our cloud-based, multichannel contact centre solution enables organisations to enhance tenant engagement through accessible, personalised support - particularly benefiting vulnerable residents.
The technology improves both tenant satisfaction and staff efficiency by streamlining processes, enabling remote working, and providing data-driven insights.
