There is much talk about ‘green’ computing and the importance of recognising how housing associations’ technology infrastructures affect their energy consumption and carbon footprint, including two articles in this edition. That’s all very well, but local needs should come first. This means that green computing initiatives should only be implemented once tenants receive the services…
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Editor's Notes
Editor’s Notes: Who’s next?
Fresh from being acquired by a US private equity company, Northgate is itself aiming to buy Anite’s public sector business, while the recent Capita/IBS deal was covered in the last edition of Housing Technology. Consolidation among technology suppliers to the social housing sector is likely to continue, but who’s next? Our view is that the…
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Editor’s Notes: Software as a service
After we wrote about the idea of ‘HMS-lite’ in the last edition, we are pleased to have an interview with HousingIT* which has just launched a subscription-based housing management system. While larger housing associations will continue to demand the ‘bells and whistles’ functionality available on larger systems from the established vendors, HousingIT is focussing on…
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Editor’s Notes: Straight-through processing
No one can have missed the importance of the ubiquity of mobile services for front-line repairs and maintenance staff, and their integration with back-office systems. But as a spokesman for Xmbrace said in the previous edition of Housing Technology, “Over the past year, mobile working has become the norm.” So what’s next? For many mid-…
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Editor’s Notes: How to spend it
When making purchases for both technology- and business-change projects, it is worth considering the economist Milton Friedman’s statement on the different ways of spending money and their relative efficiencies. There are only four ways of spending money. The first and most efficient is to spend your own money on yourself – it’s your own money…
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Editor’s Notes: Technology for smaller organisations
Given the consolidation in the market, why are there not more ‘HMS-lite’ applications available? Based on stock under management, the pyramid shape of the market (with many small HAs and relatively few large ones) suggests that there is a market for reduced-functionality, remotely-hosted applications to cover housing management, mapping and GIS, mobility, job scheduling and…
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