• 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 / Community + Collaboration > Crisis

Community + Collaboration > Crisis

Back in early March, it took a team of Microsoft developers just 48 hours to create the Microsoft Crisis Communications app. This was (and still is) a completely free app, bringing together elements of Power Apps, Power Automate, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint, to allow businesses and their employees to rapidly and effectively communicate as the emerging crisis developed. Their standard app allows employees to report whether they are working from home or having to attend the office to monitor staff safety, as well as using notifications and RSS feeds from the World Health Organisation or local government to stay up to date.

Together with one of our housing clients, we could see how this could be enhanced, so in similarly quick fashion, we worked together to add to the standard Microsoft app in a matter of days. The aim was simple – to protect employees from being furloughed or laid off due to the current crisis.

As a team, what we developed was the ability for both employees and the employer to capture availability as well as open opportunities or projects that staff could be matched to. Projects included data cleansing or document migration, but in future could be extended to include community projects or volunteering initiatives.

Each staff member can set their available hours per day, per week or for the foreseeable future in a few clicks. They can also indicate their skillsets and pick from up to three preferred projects that match their skills. Employer administrators can search for available resources to add to their projects based on their availability, their skills and/or their preferences.

Our client had a personal passion not to furlough staff or let anyone go if it could otherwise be avoided. Equally, we loved the community spirit shown by Microsoft to provide a free app during this crisis so it was a simple decision for us to do the same. As a result of this collaboration, not only will the organisation now be able to re-deploy its staff to relevant projects, but those existing projects that were moving slowly due to lack of resources can now progress much faster by embracing the skills already within the business.

Another example was a social housing provider in Buckinghamshire who wanted to build a new business process within their Dynamics solution, focused around ‘wellbeing’. This new process would require any member of their staff, on any device, to be able to quickly and easily capture the details of customers that were presenting signs of coronavirus, link to their core systems to show an alert icon and inform other processes where things might need to be done differently.

They also wanted staff to be taken through some questions to identify if the household had any new emerging needs such as loneliness, a death in the household or simply that they could no longer get to the chemist, buy food or pay their rent. From here, support staff would be able to define remedial tasks related to these issues, filtering them out to departments and staff with the right skills, to provide a proactive support package to each of those households.

The solution? Together we worked through a rapid one-week project, from initial idea through to testing, feedback and going live. Now that it’s in place, the business can better understand the needs of its community and meet those needs with its continued positivity and selfless efforts.

One other client decided that they wanted to open up a hardship fund for their customers, to allocate money to residents who might be struggling to pay late bills, buy food or had lost their job as a result of the crisis. Within 48 hours, we had worked together to get a Power App created, allowing them to allocate, approve, monitor and report on their fund and to get money into the hands of those most in need, in a controlled way.

People sometimes ask us why we work in the housing sector and not in a more profit-driven sector. Well, because it’s in times like these and having clients like these, that we take total inspiration – it’s one of our greatest motivators.

Whether any of that is innovation, ingenuity or something else, you can decide. But one thing is for sure – during these difficult times, our clients and the Microsoft community continue to inspire us and remind us that there is always a creative way to overcome even the most challenging situations.

Matthew Hedges is a senior business consultant at TechLabs London.

See More On:

  • Vendor: Techlabs London
  • Topic: Mobile Working
  • Publication Date: 075 - May 2020
  • 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 2023 | 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