A short conversation with Cairn’s Director of Customer Services, John Davidson, Head of Customer Services, Paul Robertson and Senior Housing Officer, Jacquie Gardner about why they invested in RentSense the benefits it has helped deliver.
Mobysoft:
Why did you invest in RentSense originally?
John Davidson:
The decision was made to invest in RentSense, to give the officers more time to work with tenants and help us mitigate Universal Credit.
Mobysoft:
You have recently developed three corporate objectives, which are: invest in stock, protect revenues and focus on development and growth. How does that influence income collection?
John Davidson:
Everyone within in the organisation should be focused on these three objectives and you should be able to see a direct link between what you’re doing and one of the objectives.
Income is our lifeblood, and in an organisation of 120 people 6 people are directly responsible for collecting the revenues. RentSense has created capacity and helped us work efficiently and target those tenants that need support.”
John Davidson, Cairn Housing
Mobysoft:
How will Universal Credit impact Cairn and the income team?
John Davidson:
Arguably we would need to double the size of the team to cope, but within current budgets it is just not possible. That is why RentSense is key in freeing up officers’ time and presenting just the cases we need to action. We will look to reallocate resource through creating other efficiencies within the organisation,
Jacquie Gardener:
With RentSense you feel more organised and we focus our attention where it needs to be, and we get through our caseload now, which before was unheard of.
Mobysoft:
How have you found the service from Mobysoft?
Paul Robertson:
The relationship is really good with Mobysoft, When there has been any issues Mobysoft has worked with us to resolve them and we enjoy a really good working relationship.
Jacquie Gardener:
Mobysoft has worked with us to improve the system and refine the rules. We have introduced new rules to the system, such as the new tenancy rule, this has really helped, and with RentSense we are now able to target former tenants.
Mobysoft:
How does early intervention impact yourselves and your tenants?
Jacquie Gardener:
With RentSense we pick up cases at their earliest stage now and it helps us help tenants out of debt. This is a big plus for and our customers.
Mobysoft:
Does it help the team throughout the year?
Jacquie Gardener:
The rent increase at the beginning of the financial year always used to be fraught, but RentSense picks up the rent increase and flags if Housing Benefit has not increased by enough straight away. This helps us and our tenants. If we do not identify this and tenants fall into arrears they get annoyed with us for not notifying them, so it gives them more faith in us when collecting the rent.
Mobysoft:
Would you recommend RentSense to other landlords?
Paul Robertson:
We have and do. Other landlords come and visit us to look at RentSense. It gives us time and makes us more efficient, so the team are more effective. We are working smarter and have more time to support customers. The reporting from a management perspective is really useful, such as highlighting the demographics of those in arrears. It is this type of insight that enables us to respond.