• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Housing Technology logo

Housing Technology

Housing | IT | Telecoms | Business | Ecology

  • Free Subscription
  • Search Archive
  • Home
  • Research
  • Magazine
  • Events
  • Recruitment
  • Blog
  • On Demand
  • Contact
Home / Free Subscriber Access / Bringing complaints into the 21st century

Bringing complaints into the 21st century

“We heard from some residents that making a complaint can be difficult and take too long, and that it can sometimes take months for the complaint to be resolved or for the resident to be able to access the Housing Ombudsman.”

The charter for social housing residents’ whitepaper, released in 2020, highlighted the need to provide tenants with effective methods of raising their concerns. Housing providers must ensure that all residents can make complaints and can do so confidently. It’s also important that tenants understand the procedures and how their complaints will progress over time. Housing providers face time constraints to handle complaints before the Housing Ombudsman or their local MP gets involved and a formal investigation is launched.

Antisocial behaviour & other complaints

Social housing tenants have an above-average chance of being victims of antisocial behaviour, and they have the right to feel safe, secure and stable in their homes without fear of antisocial behaviour. While local authorities and the police play a role in tackling antisocial behaviour, housing providers must also take responsibility for providing support and assistance.

The key to providing all tenants with the ability to confidently raise complaints is omni-channel engagement. As mentioned in my previous Housing Technology article (July 2021), omni-channel engagement is vital for great customer satisfaction and provides a rounded view of tenants. Therefore, tenants should be able to log complaints via several channels in order to cater to a variety of demographics, IT abilities and circumstances.

Using the Microsoft Stack

Tenant portals act as a central hub for queries, resources and complaints. Tenants can get in touch with contact centre staff, where complaints can be logged, amended and tracked, giving tenants clarity on their progress.

Some tenants may prefer to log their complaints via email or phone. Microsoft Power Platform’s AI Builder can perform ‘sentiment analysis’ across emails and calls using AI to improve the speed and effectiveness of complaints handling. The AI builder can monitor and analyse whether emails or phone calls are positive, negative or neutral, thereby providing insights into tenants’ views.

Virtual agents

Another method of logging complaints is via a virtual agent. Tenants can chat live with contact centre agents to ask questions, discuss complaints or be directed to the portal. Not only is this a faster response than the portal, but it’s also more personal and builds greater rapport with tenants.

Throughout complaint processes, tenants will often need to upload photos to support their complaints. Microsoft Azure’s Computer Vision can automate the photo reviewing process by recognising both faces and objects. This standardises complaints by objectively reviewing the complaints, which can then be passed onto the repairs team or other relevant department. Once again, this speeds up the complaints process and ensures fairness across all claims.

Following a complaint, housing providers need feedback from the complainants to learn from any mistakes and share successes in the form of testimonials. Customer Voice automates the feedback process and can automatically direct tenants to place a review on Google.

Robotic process automation (RPA) can manage the back-office side of the complaint-handling process by automatically bringing tenant data together from legacy systems by using low-code automation. RPA can also be used for automating manual processes relating to external applications, such as complaints received via the Housing Ombudsman or a local MP.

Choice of channel

By using a range of Microsoft solutions to deal with customer complaints, housing providers can build trust with tenants, all thanks to having a choice of channel. As previously mentioned, it is still important to manage omni-channel engagement effectively, to ensure all complaints are dealt with in a timely manner.

If you’re interested in finding out more about using Microsoft products to handle complaints efficiently, come along to our next ‘housing breakfast’ webinar for in-depth demos of our Microsoft solutions.

Jordan Wheat is a new business consultant at Crimson.

See More On:

  • Vendor: Crimson
  • Topic: Customer Management
  • Publication Date: 083 - September 2021
  • Type: Contributed Articles

Primary Sidebar

Most Recent Articles

  • Free cyber-defence tools from NCSC
  • Learning from history
  • Grand Union Housing gets connected with Aico HomeLink
  • The silences in the system: Predicting and preventing damp and mould
  • Looking back and to the future: Cyberthreats in social housing
  • Hyde signs repairs contract with Totalmobile
  • Fuelling high performance automation
  • Morgan Sindall’s Carbon Zero decarbonisation tool
  • An ethical approach to arrears
  • Housing and the ever-evolving workplace
  • Supporting residents with home safety risks
  • Less innovation & more service design at RHP
  • Ateb Group outsources IT help desks to Central Networks
  • Capital Letters partners with Evo Digital to tackle homelessness
  • Calico appoints M247 for digital transformation
  • 24/7 care requires 24/7 technology
  • Govtech trends for 2023
  • Are you ready for business process automation?
  • Lincoln council moves to the cloud with Civica
  • Why do IT business improvement projects fail?
  • Flagship and Ebrik launch augmented reality app
  • Following the golden thread
  • Setting the standard for carbon-monoxide protection
  • The business case for data
  • Digital twins – When, not if…
  • Using data to build communities
  • The cyber-security jigsaw’s missing piece – Managed detection & response
  • Cyber-security challenges in housing
  • Digitalising retrofits with SHDF & HomeLink
  • Tips for improving care and support

Footer

Housing Technology
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Contact
  • Free Subscription
  • Book an event
  • Blog
  • Search All Articles
  • Research
  • Update Your Subscription
  • Privacy Policy

Welcome to the housing Technology – Trusted Information For Business Professionals in HOusing

Housing Technology is the leading technology information service for the UK housing sector and local governments. We have always believed in the fundamental importance of how the UK’s social housing providers use technology to improve their tenants’ lives.

Subscribe to Housing Technology to gain market-leading research, unsurpassed peer networking opportunities and a greater understanding of your role to transform your business.

Copyright © The Intelligent Business Company 2022 | Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy
Housing Technology is published by the The Intelligent Business Company. A company with limited liability. Registered in England No. 4958057 | Vat Registion No. 833 0069 55.

Registered Business Address: Hoppingwood Farm, Robin Hood Way, London, SW20 0AB | Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8336 2293

htc23 pop banner