In a recent housing article by Silva it discussed how the pandemic taught housing associations to take a more empathetic approach to rent arrears. Also, part of Silva’s new business strategy is about putting customers and communities first. Has RentSense played a role in helping the rent team deliver on these?

RentSense allows us to identify customers having problems paying their rent much earlier than we could in the past. So for example, when a regular payer deviates from paying, RentSense flags them immediately, and we are able to have conversations earlier and support them. So it really helps drive that empathetic approach.

Another tenet of Silva’s new strategy is embracing technology and new ways of working, has RentSense been part of that plan?

RentSense is very much part of that. As technology should, it makes our jobs easier, by freeing up time and identifying who we need to speak to.

Why did Silva choose to invest in RentSense? Did you speak to other users?

We wanted to make our good performance better. It made sense to adopt system like RentSense that gives our skilled workforce more time. And when we spoke to other users we only ever had positive feedback.

Prior to RentSense how did the team derive their caseload and were there any issues with it?

Essentially the team had a list from our housing management system. It flagged everyone in arrears on each officer’s patch, it did not differentiate about who needed contact. A good percentage of work was checking cases and wasting time doing this, this was the driver for us as we wanted to increase efficiency and from that better performance flows.

What were the team’s expectations of RentSense?

They hoped it would free up time, which it has, so they can work with customers that needed help. It was also about job satisfaction, as the previous way of working was frustrating and now with RentSense the interface is user friendly and much clearer. This has made a big difference to their everyday work experience.

How has RentSense helped officers and performance since deployment?

I can see in real time when the team are completing cases and how long they are spending on cases. Managers can also see who is struggling to complete their caseload so we can direct resource when and where we need it.

Has visibility of one another’s patches and workload helped the team?

We have always had a culture of helping one another and trying to do that. RentSense just makes it that much easier, from the easy to use interface to the accessibility. Because of this the team complete their workload every week.

From a management perspective how beneficial are the reports?

We always had good reports, but we were reliant on other teams to pull and create that data for us. With RentSense and its reports we are in control of our own data, so we can generate what we need. This helps us with campaigns such as switching tenants across to direct debits, analysing arrears bandings. It removes the reliance on other teams for this data.

What has happened to performance since go live?

How has the service been from Mobysoft since go live?

The service from Mobysoft has been great from every level, from the Customer Success Manager to the Account Director, they are great to work with and they help us get the most from the system.

Would you recommend RentSense to other users?

Yes, I would it, it is the standard product in the sector for arrears management, and it helps us support tenants and intervene earlier, making our work so much easier.