COVID-19 has underlined how endemic the ‘data challenge’ is

When the pandemic first began, boards, the regulator, funders and leadership teams all wanted information presented in new ways. Customer operations directors and asset management managers wanted to understand more about tenant profiles and vulnerability, and combine this with property compliance requirements. Finance directors wanted to complete up-to-date customer analytics so they could predict rent challenges and arrears due to changing circumstances such as unemployment.                           

Some great work has been achieved, but the pandemic has brought the sector’s challenge around managing data back into the spotlight.

If we want to increase confidence in our information, improve decision-making and drive organisational performance, then now is the time for social landlords to rectify these problems once and for all, resetting how they use data. Here are some practical ideas.

Make data a board item

Boards must set a data strategy and discuss, challenge and report on it in the same way they look at financial performance, health and safety, workforce or customer service. Business leaders often struggle to understand technology and technologists don’t always get clarity around business goals. This results in systems and solutions being developed that don’t always deliver on strategic intent. To overcome this, housing leaders need to develop their knowledge and skills around data and drive it forward as a board item.  

Understand your data

Not all information is equal and this needs to be recognised. Housing organisations must understand who ‘owns’ specific information, how important that data is, where and how it is used, the current quality of this information, how it is currently classified, what standards are used and the risks associated. This becomes increasingly important the more information your organisation holds.

Standardise your processes

Over the years, different departments have developed their own systems for processing data. These are often built from scratch, at different times, by separate internal teams, using a range of technology. However, this creates problems when data needs to be joined up or shared. One way to tackle this is by creating a set of data standards and guidelines across your organisation that all teams adopt. Common standards for the design, coding and naming of data sets and systems will help you take that first step towards a data-driven business culture.

Invest in training 

When people began working from home during the pandemic, housing providers found it harder to manage data. Many landlords still rely on staff to manually update and share Excel spreadsheets. With lots of human hands on data, whether to input information or pass it back and forth, this interaction inevitably leads to errors and inaccuracies. Training again is crucial. Some employees have better data management ‘hygiene’ than others, so what happens when they are off sick or leave the business? Recruiting and developing staff with core data competencies must become a priority. 

Look to automate

Alongside skills development, social landlords must address the widespread and highly inefficient practice of manually processing data. Manual intervention usually arises when systems are inadequately designed and built or inappropriate for the task at hand. Using technology where possible will automate the flow of information across housing organisations, identify data quality issues, maintain standards and provide consistent, auditable data in a unified manner.

Above all, the sector needs to recognise that this is a common problem that can’t be solved individually and needs to be shared. Having a single, golden thread of accurate data will help social landlords to improve the safety and financial performance of their organisations and the lives of their tenants. They must join forces to crack the data nut once and for all.

Steve Malone, managing director, Inprova and Procurement for Housing