1

Welcome to

Aligning your Systems to your Business ObjectivesJeff Hewitt, Managing Director

Civica

2

3

Housing - Boom

The Social Housing Sector in the UK owns assets worth £118b

The Sector made surpluses of £1.8b in 2012

There are 221,000 households forming each year

There were only 107,000 new homes built in 2013

House prices are running 7-10 times average earnings

House rental is in huge demand

The sector should be booming

BUT……

4

Housing – Impending Crisis?

Commentators are talking of an impending crisis in the Sector.

A ‘perfect storm’ of factors may be coming together, which could:

• Make borrowing riskier• Risk existing business plans• Increase the cost of rental collections• Increase arrears• Erode operating margins

Could this present the greatest threat to the sector in a generation?

5

Financial factors

• Continuing shift from grant subsidy to debt funding

• Property valuation – OMV vs Social Housing valuation

• Summer Rent settlement at CPI + 1% is lower than many wanted

• Concerns over legislative changes to income payment

6

Welfare Reform

Statistics from a recent survey of tenants indicate that:

• 50% surveyed are confused by the switch to UC

• 21% completely unaware of impending changes

• Only 10% know what it means for them

• 28% would prefer benefit to be paid directly

The message is not getting through

7

Welfare Reform

• Only 2,960 current claims for UC – 0.04% of total Benefit h/holds

• Claims are ‘simple’ single, working age, no disability, or dependents

• With Pathfinders, 25% have requested Switchback

• Pathfinder payment collection rates varied from 88-97%

• Average arrears increasing 1%, but cost of collection up by 3.5%

8

Customer Expectations

• Changing expectations

• 9.00am – 5.00pm no longer works for people

• Expectation that services will be available anywhere, anytime

• More people connected with smartphones

• Increased demand for services tailored to the individual

• Increased expectation of self-service, portals, digital access

9

The Efficiency Agenda

Efficiency - has the low-hanging fruit has been picked?

Perhaps, but we see:-• Plethora of back-office systems, many not integrated• Little focus on the resident – still on the property• Occasional use of CRM technology• Patchy take-up of mobile working• Limited interest in Cloud deployment• Limited partnership working

So, what can organisations do in the face of these challenges?

10

Keep to current agenda, or diversify?

If staying with current agenda, you will need to change some operational matters

• Changes to arrears processing• Monitoring payments rather than balances (expected dates)• More doorstep collections?• More doorstep debt-counselling?• Risk assessment?• More difficult liaison arrangements for Switchback?• Closer monitoring of household circumstances

11

Systems in Diversification

12

Digital engagement

• 56% of the population own a smart phone (35% in 2011)

• 50% of smart phone users use their phone as the primary source for internet access

• 56% of people use Facebook

• 98% of 18 – 24 year olds use Facebook

• 190 million tweets are sent each day

13

Do you have the flexibility?Is your system mobile and functionally rich? Is integration easy?

Can you communicate with your customers how they want to be communicated with?

Do you offer a self-service portal? Is it mobile friendly?

Can you deploy your system over the Cloud to enable remote and doorstep working?

Cash is king: can you take card payments in the field?

Can you process Card Mandates as well as D/Ds?

14

Systems should enable feedback

Can you segment your resident audience?

Can you identify different needs groups based on age, disability, family circumstances? Can you identify keyworkers, for example, or young professionals?

Can you invite their participation in resident involvement exercises?

Can you undertake direct marketing or disseminate vital information quickly (such as UC changes)?

15

We are living through times of significant change

Broad, all-party support for benefit reforms – unlikely to be rolled back

Systems can help but cannot be the sole answer; culture change must happen

Understanding your audience is vitally important

Risk management, both in new ventures and with your customers, is key

Data is key: bad data produces bad decisions

16

Welfare Reform Implementation – Final thought

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change”.

Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species