Data Matters 2025

Importance of process mapping in effective data management

Speaker:

Niall O’Driscoll (Customer Success Manager, Aico)

This presentation explores how process mapping supports effective data management in social housing, enabling a more proactive approach to maintenance. By visualising workflows and clarifying responsibilities, housing providers can triage problems earlier, streamline their responses and ensure vital data reaches the right people at the right time. Clear processes and smart notifications help teams act quickly and consistently, improving property conditions and ultimately enhancing the safety, comfort and experience for residents.

Data ‘swamps’ & achieving good data for AI & regulatory compliance

Speaker:

Adam Whittle (Senior Lead for IT Service Delivery & Data Security)

In today’s data-driven world, many organisations feel like they’re wading through data swamps – murky, tangled environments where information is hard to find, harder to trust and nearly impossible to use effectively. Sound familiar?
This session explores different ways to help transform these swamps into clean, governed and AI-ready ecosystems, honest and practical insights into: why data swamps form and how to escape them; understanding what ‘good data’ means for AI and compliance; and implementing strategies for data governance, quality and transformation.
Whether you're in IT, compliance or business strategy, this session will help you turn your data from a muddy mess into a strategic asset.

Why data standards matter - Unlocking scalable AI in UK housing

Speaker:

Guy Marshall (Director)

AI holds real promise for housing, from responsive repairs to predictive asset management. However, without consistent, interoperable data, the sector runs the risk of having isolated pilot projects with only a shallow impact. This talk will explore why UK Housing Data Standards are a critical enabler of scalable AI adoption, not just a technical detail.

Every day is better with cracking data

Speakers:

Frank Manoharan (Corporate Head of Data & Technology) & Pat Dawson (Data Manager)

LHP will demonstrate its first steps to put ‘data on the map’ and share some tips, including:

- The importance of good data for building trust with customers and colleagues;
- Practical tips for moving to a ‘data inquisitive’ culture, incl. how LHP responded to a recent Consumer Standard grading of C2;
- The importance of preparing for AI and how LHP is planning to be ‘AI data ready’ through data-quality standards.

Garbage in, garbage out - Advancing data governance maturity

Speaker:

Dr. Odayne Haughton (Data Governance Lead)

In a sector where data is foundational to delivering safe, equitable and efficient housing services, data governance often remains underdeveloped or siloed. This session explores how housing providers can evolve from reactive data management to strategic, mature governance frameworks that unlock operational efficiency, regulatory readiness and service improvement. The session will share practical steps for embedding governance into everyday processes, measuring maturity and aligning data responsibilities across business functions.

WHG & Mendix - Low-code & high impact: Driving smarter decisions with data

Speaker:

Celia Warrender (Head of Digital) & Ayomide Ogunbayo (User Experience Designer)

With the rate of technology change, it's increasingly difficult for housing providers to balance innovation with their appetite for risk. Hear how low-code development gives whg the ability to make data-driven decisions that enhance customers and colleagues' journeys while lowering risk.

Speaker:

Kishore Rajendran (Enterprise Account Director for Housing and Central Government, Microsoft)

How Microsoft is powering smarter, safer and connected resident and employee experiences.

AI to AI - From 'artificial intelligence' to 'appreciative inquiry'

Speaker:

Steve Dungworth (Chair, Open Data Exchange)

Words matter. Data and technical frameworks provide solid foundations to build on. The challenge is less about the detail and more about recognising what’s working well and extending it further. We hear a lot about AI, but there’s another AI that we often overlook: 'Appreciative Inquiry'. Instead of starting with what’s broken, Appreciative Inquiry asks what’s working well and how we can build on it. That’s the smarter starting point.

Beyond the dashboard - A ‘whole system’ approach to data governance & insight

Speaker:

Sean Beckles (Data Governance Manager)

This session shares how Red Kite Community Housing has reimagined our data landscape, from platform strategy to quality metrics, AI-assisted data dictionaries and KPI dashboards to build a sustainable platform for data insights and utilisation that embeds core governance principles.

Data standards, storage & analytics implementation - Mission impossible?

Speakers:

Mark Mayler (Chief Financial Officer), Sarah Bridges (Group Data Governance Manager), Annabel Hammond-Stevens (IT Solutions Development Manager)

Selwood Housing agreed its new data strategy in 2023 and since then we’ve embarked on numerous data-focused transformation projects. This discussion will focus on some of our key successes and the ongoing challenges we’re overcoming to implement data standards, introduce new storage capabilities through Microsoft Fabric and drive improved insight through enhanced analytics such as Power BI… All as jumping onto a moving train!

AI-powered customer engagement - Virtual assistant, human touch

Speaker:

John Clarke (Managing Director, Social Telecoms), Chris Bayliss (Account Executive, Zoom), Spencer Wood (CX Consulting Solutions Engineer, Zoom)

Social Telecoms will be joined by Zoom, showcasing the benefits of AI-augmented customer engagement, from empowering residents with intuitive self-service to supporting service agents in communication and collaboration.
Join us for a live demonstration of Zoom’s AI-driven customer-service capabilities, showcasing how housing providers can transform tenant satisfaction through intelligent automation and seamless escalation.