The background
Festival Housing Group was established on 31st March 2002 following the merging of Partnership and Spa Housing in the West Midlands. The Group owns and manages 8,000 properties primarily in ruralWorcestershire and Herefordshire.
The challenge
The National Housing Federation (NHF) iN business for neighbourhoods initiative aims to change the poor image of housing associations and provide a better perception of those who live and work in the sector. It is driven by the fact that Housing Associations need to develop innovative ways of providing services
more effectively to customers, neighbourhoods and stakeholders.
The solution
Prior to the merger, Partnership and Spa Housing Group ran its core housing services on two separate IT systems. To meet their objectives as a new organisation, Festival had to select a single IT software partner.After consultation with the providers at the two sites, of which IBS OPENSystems was one, IBS was selected as the preferred supplier.
The benefits
The alliance to procure a single IT solution from IBS, has resulted in a number of benefits for the organisation. These include an improved IT infrastructure and greater efficiency of front and back office processes.
The next step - OPENContractor
Following the implementation of the financials and housing management solutions, Festival Housing Organisation has set about the roll out of OPENContractor, a works management solution. It will track the repairs and planning work of the merged housing stock more efficiently.
The future
Festival is currently providing its workforce with personal digital assistants (PDAs) to record activities in “real time” without replication of effort. It will provide more effective ways of delivering works management services remotely such as recording repairs by appointment, stock condition, and work allocation.
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