Infinity Group, one of 10 Microsoft’s ‘inner circle’ partners in the UK, has developed its BRIKHousing system to work seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics, replacing legacy systems brick-by-brick, one module at a time. Sarah McRow from Infinity Group explains how housing providers can free themselves from their legacy systems.
Remember how you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The same applies to legacy system replacement, by taking a modular approach.
Start with a single module; in our experience, complaints or asset management are both strong starting points. From there, quick wins will build momentum and confidence, as well as reducing risk by containing any problems in one area. You can then take the lessons learned and apply them to your next module.
Analysis paralysis
UK housing providers all operate in a more similar fashion than they’d like to admit, so best practices can be leveraged that have already been refined by other housing providers across the sector. As a corollary, pristine flowcharts of future processes may be holding you back, and ‘analysis paralysis’ can be the result of over-engineered processes before implementation.
Above all, remain flexible to adapt when you discover better ways of working. We recommend starting with templates of processes and configurations which can be adjusted based on actual usage, rather than theoretical, idealised workflows.
Data first
Begin your data migration early, using your most critical information. Take a proactive approach to data management by cleaning and validating as you go with products such as Microsoft’s Dataverse, and establish strong governance standards from the start. From our experience, 40 per cent of housing system projects are derailed by data problems discovered too late.
Manage expectations (incl. your own)
Embrace the minimum viable product (MVP) mindset, with enough features to ensure early adopters’ feedback to improve solutions, and focus on solving the core problems first, then refine. You should avoid over-engineered processes because they will change anyway; plan for evolution, not perfection. Also bear in mind that every additional ‘must have’ requirement adds complexity, time and risk, so pick wisely.
Bring your people on the journey
Involve your end-users early and often, and create ‘system champions’ who are available to support their colleagues. To that end, build a sandbox environment where end-users can practice without fear. Remember that technology adoption is primarily about human psychology, not technical features.
Embrace the 80 per cent rule
Perfection is the enemy of progress (c.f. analysis paralysis above). Out-of-the-box solutions deliver 80 per cent of what you need; the last 20 per cent often consumes 80 per cent of your budget and timeline. Launch with what works, then refine based on usage, while prioritising business value over completeness of features.
As an example, North Star Housing implemented and transformed its compliance model in weeks rather than months by following this principle. Microsoft’s Azure AI now handles certificate scanning, data extraction and verification, massively reducing the housing provider’s processing time from days to hours.
Partner, don’t just buy
To deliver best value, build genuine relationships with your technology providers (that includes giving and receiving honest feedback!). Choose partners who understand social housing, not just technology. Like any relationship, the best partnerships thrive by embracing challenges to achieve the best results.
Sarah McRow is head of housing sales at Infinity Group.
