There are new imperatives for the Housing Sector to change the way it communicates with customers – a move away from telephone and face to face, to web and smart mobile apps.
The majority of customer contact continues to come via telephone. Channel shift is the single biggest issue for participating landlords over the next two years.*
The biggest drivers for satisfaction with contact centres based on the available data are call wait times and the proportion of avoidable contact. Reducing wait times and avoidable contact should in theory improve satisfaction*
More and more customers want to manage their own transactions online. They also want to find out how much rent they owe, and this currently takes up a lot of customer service time. By providing an instant way for customers to check their balance, you can reduce the volume of calls to your customer hub and free up your operatives to spend time on more complex issues.
The type of functionality available includes managing end-to-end lettings, and replacing outdated housing portals. Enable your customers to search for available homes in a system similar to the leading property-finder apps, and they will also be able to book a viewing and apply for a tenancy online.
Financial BenefitsThe business benefits of switching to self-service are potentially huge. For example, a face to face transaction can have a cost of £8.00 per citizen transaction - but this can be reduced to just £0.09 pence for an on-line self-service app (Source: Socitm 2013).
* Source: HouseMark 2016
As the bar chart above illustrates, both multi-functional and customer service call centres receive the highest call volumes regarding Housing Management and Property Services issues.
ISB-Smart Solutions have built on the success of their widely adopted Field Services App to deliver a customisable Field Housing App which is a single solution that gives them a simple and easy to use experience but that can also allow your crew to accomplish a successful first time visit.