Speaking at the Housemark Data and Analytics Summit, Verity Richards, Head of Service at the Housing Ombudsman Service, said these are the highest rates it sees and highlighted the ways in which the housing sector can act to tackle this.
Ms Richards said key questions to ask include: “Do you have a knowledge and information management strategy? Who is overseeing it? Are your systems reliable and can they be accessed by housing officers on the beat?”. She directed housing providers to the Spotlight Report on Knowledge and Information Management published earlier this year for further guidance (see below for link).
In response to a delegate question on the regulatory approach that will be taken on knowledge and information management, Ms Richards said: “There will be a memorandum of understanding between the Housing Ombudsman Service and the Regulator of Social Housing so we can share information about organisations.
“The aim is to reduce the burden on organisations so they are not reporting twice. We will want to know whether and organisation has a KIM policy and how it is used. We will share a self-assessment against what good looks like.”
There were more than 250 delegates at the Silverstone Race Circuit venue, who also heard from high-profile speakers on the impact Artificial Intelligence will have on society and what that means for the service they offer to customers.
Jonathan Tanner, Founder and CEO of consultancy Rootcause, said we are living through a moment of major historical change and that “AI is going to rewire the world”. He said: “AI will make it impossible to know what to believe”, adding “Now is a good time to take stock of AI changes in the medium term”.
For Mr Tanner, this means “everyone will be a software engineer. We’ll be able to ask AI to write software for us. The next generation of kids will be using AI in ways we can’t even imagine…Those organisations not thinking about how to make themselves stand out to AI will lose out to AI.”
He added he was not “super optimistic” that AI will give a greater voice to marginalised communities. This is because “a lot of AI tools replicate the world as it is”.
Johan Hanekom, Principal for Sustainability and Innovation, Amazon Web Services, offered some advice on how housing providers can approach the challenges they face. Amazon’s approach is to be “customer-obsessed” and “think big, start small and scale fast”.
He said: “We are here because the customer pays the bill…90% of our innovations come from our customers. We have a fail fast culture. If you are not failing you are not thinking big enough or acting fast enough.”
Mr Hanekom added: “Human beings don’t like change, but change is inevitable…To be successful now you need to be open to feedback and challenge. Organisations need people who disagree – that is how you grow…You need to use data to support theories and debate – it can’t be on instinct and gut feeling. You need to have your ‘because of’ ready.”
The importance of using data well was a key message delegates heard from the world of Formula 1 motor racing. Bernie Collins, Former Head of Race Strategy at the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team, said it was important to always ask: “Why is this piece of data important? What is it telling me?”.
She said that to avoid “drowning in data”, delegates should: “Focus on what is going to give the best results. Answer the biggest question first. For us it is on which corner gives the driver the biggest problem and work on that.”
Further insights from the Housemark Data and Analytics Summit – supported by Prodo and Mobysoft – will be available at a webinar on 6 December. The event is free for Data Summit attendees (small fee for others) and includes a session with keynote speaker Peter Jackson, Chief Data and Technology Officer at Outra, as well as other experts discussing key themes from the day.
To register for the webinar on 6 December and continue the Data Summit conversations, please visit: https://lessons-from-the-data-summit-2023.eventbrite.co.uk
