Grŵp Gwalia benefits from new central system
Grŵp Gwalia, a leading provider of social housing and care services in Wales, has signed a five year contract with Capita Software Services to move its housing operations onto one central system. This will help Gwalia meet its operational needs and deliver a more efficient service to its customers.
In addition to social housing and care, Gwalia provides accommodation services for universities and colleges throughout Wales including Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea. The new system will provide Gwalia’s customers with personalised, instant access to housing and support services. It will also benefit its employees, as it can warn officers of special circumstances when undertaking home visits and provides an alert system ensuring their personal safety.
Gwalia will use an integrated solution incorporating Capita’s OPENHousing and OPENMobile platforms. This will enable staff with front and back office functions to access information relating to their day-to-day roles more quickly and efficiently and ensure customers receive the most relevant services possible. OPENHousing will support Gwalia’s housing strategy and management, property development including maintenance and asset management and OPENMobile will ensure information held centrally can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
Lesley Penn, executive director of housing and community welfare at Grŵp Gwalia, said: “Our housing, care and support services have a huge impact on peoples’ lives, so it’s imperative we offer the highest level of service possible”.
Executive director of property development and management at Grŵp Gwalia, Stuart Davies, added: “This is a very exciting project for us as it will simplify our internal processes and allow us to provide more cohesive and responsive services. Having detailed information on our stock available to staff and external contractors on site will create a better experience for customers and allow us to work more effectively. The wide range of modules and integration offered by OPENHousing along with the ability to deliver it on the Microsoft SQL Server platform fulfils our IT and service strategies.”
Roger Birkinshaw, director at Capita Housing, said: “We understand the changing nature of the social housing market and the need to provide our customers with enough flexibility to serve their tenants. The key is to improve efficiency while saving money and it is important for authorities and housing associations to consider using commercial tools and techniques to deliver better value to their tenants. We look forward to working with Gwalia to achieve this goal.”