Paul Harrison, Director of Energy, Integrator Housing Solutions, explains what to look for from asset management software, and why it’s a critical backbone for housing providers.
- Meeting the new government requirements on energy efficient homes is hugely challenging for housing providers.
The NHF estimates that the costs of decarbonising its existing housing stock will cost at least £36bn, research by Savills shows - The £36bn would cover the costs of uplifting the 39% of housing association homes which need to be brought up to EPC C, as well as installing heat pumps and other clean heat technologies in all 2.7 million homes in the NHF membership.
Asset management planning to meet government Net Zero emissions is key for housing providers, but this is not an easy task when coupled with the complexities of planning those upgrades across multiple houses and locations, and a challenging economic market.
Making sure you have the right organisational system in place to capture existing data, look at the gaps, and plan and cost the works is part of the challenge. There’s no question that having efficient asset management software and energy efficiency capture helps to ensure works are carried out on time and to budget.
Getting to grips with your data
Whether you use your own internal surveyors or are contracting with an external surveying company, getting data on your properties and ensuring the data is accurate is an essential first step. Some properties may not have been surveyed recently, and some not at all. These are therefore ‘unknowns’ in terms of energy data and appliances for heating, energy use and production.
- A recent survey shows that only 48% of housing provider respondents consider themselves totally confident in their asset data, with particular concerns raised over quality of data on management and maintenance
We’ve created cloud-based asset management software called Integrator Plus, specifically for the needs of housing providers, which can be used in conjunction with our mobile app ‘Notus Pocket Surveyor’ to collect your data – including photographs and notes.
To ensure the high quality of data collected, the housing provider can go through a validation process before it’s uploaded into the main Integrator Plus asset management system. For example, if a surveyor has accidently clicked on ‘solid wall’ instead of ‘cavity wall’… or ‘single glazed’ when you know the property has double glazing, this can be amended before accepting the data.
For housing providers, it’s a significant challenge to update their systems to meet what is perhaps the biggest shift of the last 50 years: tackling the new decarbonisation requirements in a relatively short time period.
Some housing providers are currently using spreadsheets or outdated software. Having the right software in place will create considerable time efficiencies, and allow them to accurately carry out all important planning, work scheduling and costing required to meet the Net Zero challenge.
What to look for when choosing asset management software:
The software
• Can you see a demo?
• Can you access the software for a trial period?
• Does the software accommodate your size of Housing Provider?
• Can you get ballpark costs up front?
The company’s credentials
• How long has the company been in operation?
• Can you see client case studies or testimonials?
• How long do clients typically stay with the company?
• Does the company have industry affiliations (e.g., with the National Housing Federation or Scottish Federation of Housing Authorities)?
Moving to the new platform
• How long will it take your staff to get up to speed on the new software?
• How intuitive is the new software?
• Does the company allow for any tailoring of its software?
• Will the company help you move from your existing processes and system to the new one?
• What’s the minimum contract period?
Find out more about our software and see how we fare against these questions!