Riverside Group is installing 1,500 Switchee smart thermostats in its tenants’ homes following a successful pilot of the IoT technology.
Data from the Switchee devices, sent via the mobile phone network to the cloud, enabled Riverside to remotely assess its properties’ performance and triage any problems.
By sending surveys to customers through Switchee’s built-in communications screen to assess the urgency of any reported problems, Riverside could then prioritise which houses needed attention first. The reported engagement from tenants was high; almost 90 per cent responded via the Switchee devices, with 65 per cent doing so within 24 hours.
Appointment scheduling was also fulfilled through the Switchee devices; this resulted in an 86 per cent first-time access rate for the housing provider’s surveyors and engineers, compared with previous access rates of only 60 per cent before the pilot.
Ian Gregg, executive director for asset services, Riverside Group, said, “The data on property performance we received from the Switchee devices in the pilot meant we could identify houses and customers with problems quickly and easily and then prioritise their remediation.”
