keeping up with - castletonmaintenance solution, you can manage this process effectively, allowing...

Including Technical Audit Services from Castleton and the latest HousingBrixx updates Our busiest quarter for events

– catch our panel session at theHousing Technology conferencein March and we will also berunning our own NHF partner-exclusive and Scotland events

Creating instant payment collection opportunities with every resident interaction

Exploring CRM as the core system for social housing. We look at sector specific vs off the shelf CRM’s and where data fits in

Interview with Castleton’s CTO, who shares our plans for Castleton Managed Services and Software Support

Commitment-free trial from Castleton, enabling cost-effective, digital engagement with tenants

Castleton’s NEW single-view Project Management tool

Click on the tabs for the full story

January 2020

[email protected] www.castletonplc.com

Keeping up with

Unmissable hardware promotions including huge savings on Microsoft Surface and Dell products

January Sales!

In conversation with Ben Cullen

Trial our SMS solution for 6 months

Planned Maintenance

News Dates for your Diary

New Castleton Collect

Future-proof CRM

https://www.castletonplc.com

mailto:info@castletonplc,ocm



Gearing up for Planned Maintenance contracts can be challenging and time-consuming – especially if you are handling large scale projects within the limitations of an Excel spreadsheet. Familiar issues may be jumping from one system to another – as your data is not synchronised.

With Castleton’s Planned Maintenance solution, you can manage this process effectively, allowing you to plan, organise and visualise the resources required for large-scale maintenance projects. Project examples include kitchen, bathroom, boiler or window replacements, roofing maintenance and property insulation.

What does it include? • Gannt-style project visualisation

with custom workflows, plannedand cyclical templates

• Asset management• Cost analysis• Billing models• Budget management• Project planning & scheduling• Works order• Sub-contractor allocations• Resource, property and tenant

management• Inventory reporting

We are currently demoing the solution to interested customers, so contact us now to register your interest. Meet us at the NHMF Conference when we officially launch Planned Maintenance to delegates.


Planned Maintenance Your business essential for single-view project management

January Sales!



Planned Maintenance



Future-proof CRM

Benefits• Fully integrated to your existing

systems• Flexible – no fixed process so it can

adapt to any project• Single source data visualisation – and

view of your costs for years to come• Real-time / automated status

updates• Better collaboration with

subcontractors and tenants



https://www.castletonplc.com/events/repairs-maintenance-webinar/

https://www.castletonplc.com/events/nhmf-maintenance-conference-2020/



January Sales! Desktop refresh? There are huge savings on Microsoft Surfaces & DELL*…everything from monitors and laptops to servers, switches & storage – available until 31.01.2020

NEW Surface Laptop 3Slim and stylish, 13.5” or new 15” touchscreen

Surface Pro 6Ultra-light 2-in-1 laptop with 12.3” touchscreen

NEW Surface Pro XEdge to edge 2-in-1 laptop with LTE and 13” touchscreen

Dell Monitors & Laptops

Surface GoSlim and stylish, 13.5” or new 15” touchscreen

As Microsoft and Dell Gold Partners, we guarantee the best price across all your hardware requirements. Contact us for pricing

Dell Servers

Surface Pro 712.3” touchscreen with tablet-to-laptop versatility

Dell Storage

January Sales!



Planned Maintenance



Future-proof CRM



mailto:[email protected]



Contact us

Future-proof CRMHistorically, CRM is viewed simply as a ‘records management tool’ for recording telephone calls and customer interactions. However, as the sector moves away from traditional call handling, paper processes, letters, paper forms, and onsite visits; towards online chat, Unified communications interactions such as WhatsApp for business, Facebook Messaging other digital media channels, CRM will come into its own; with far less paper and much more digital recording.

This evolution is giving CRM a new lease of life, and with all the additional information gathering, HA’s will have the opportunity to build true relationship management with their residents; CRM will provide a 360-degree view of each one, enabling quicker call handling, first time resolution of issues, on-time payments, and mobile working.

Sector-specific CRM systems vs Off-the-shelf, what’s best?A good CRM system should bring together all the disconnected solutions and communication methods that a HA uses into a single pane of glass, it’s the glue that holds them all together and is the key enabler to quick entry of contacts, tenant records, export of records and notices for any legal matters such as eviction notices.Generic CRM platforms such as Dynamics 365 provide a blank canvas from which organisations can build a bespoke CRM platform. Sector-specific solutions should be developed specifically for HA’s in conjunction with the sector. Key considerations for a new CRM:• Will it bring together historically

disconnected solutions and put them into a single clean and clear user interface (UI)? You’ll need this to simplify and update information that’s relevant to the user, quickly and efficiently.

• Ability to orient specific data quickly to relevant job roles within the HA? This allows instant access to everything

for a successful and efficient customer interaction

• Will your new CRM have integrated sector-specific features? Such as campaign management for targeted customer interaction and validation checks to ensure the security of sensitive data.

• Is it personalised to each user? Showing only relevant information, pulling data from disconnected systems onto a single screen.

• Is your CRM an enabler for self-service resident interactions and updates in real-time, and CRM when combined with our Castleton .DIGITAL solution and Alexa platform, allows them to perform a whole host of ‘self-service’ tasks, including; accessing and updating their details online, viewing rent statements, making payments, reporting a repair and checking on its progress. The latest version of CRM also allows users to build their custom digital dashboards from any of the information that is available whether that is resident engagement channel uptake, resident details or account information.

What about the data?The bigger question can then become, “how and where do you store all that data to remain GDPR compliant?”, “How can you ensure that information held in the system is up to date?”, and that the data you have gathered in your CRM system feeds and integrates into other systems, and ultimately “what are you going to use that data for?”.It’s not just about information gathering, simply to put a tick in the box, but to apply Business Intelligence to the data to help HA’s landlords become more efficient and more closely relate to their customers by enhancing their service offering; which could include improving their customers’ life experiences, health, and wellbeing.

Castleton can help with your CRM evaluation process – contact us today

Read the full article written by James Massey, COO here.

January Sales!



Planned Maintenance



Future-proof CRM




https://www.castletonplc.com/news/how-crm-is-the-new-core-system-for-social-housing/



Continued...

In Conversation with Castleton’s CTO, Ben Cullen Ben shares his future for Managed Services and Software Support, plus a

technology outlook on the year ahead.

How long have you been in IT and what have you been doing?

I’ve been in IT for over 20 years and have

worked for some pretty large companies; such as Computacenter, Clinical Solutions and Advanced Computer Software; and some very small ones; Babylon Health and Cloudhouse. I’ve mainly been running large scale infrastructures and the associated support services. Such variety of employers has given me a grounding in the different IT requirements of various organisation sizes and the differing styles of delivery dependent on need. It’s also enabled me to work on lots of key new technologies such as Azure/AWS Cloud(s), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), plus various elements of Cybersecurity.

What are your initial plans for Castleton Managed Services and Software Support?

I’m keen to bring together the various support desks within Castleton onto a single

system which is aligned with a single set of standard ITIL processes and procedures. This will give our customers a common interface into the Castleton support services and enable seamless transfer of issues and requests between the different teams be they in Software Support, Professional Services or Managed Services. The new system has been selected and we are looking to install and deploy in the next 2-3 months, so customers should start to see the new interface and improvements later in the Spring.

And what else do you want to do this year at Castleton?

A lot of my past experience has been involved with providing systems and support into Healthcare and Community services including NHS111. I believe there are a lot of quality and service improvements that can be ported from the methods used in delivering high availability, critical Healthcare systems and services into Castleton and our services to Housing Associations. The two major items being more ITIL processes and increased Service Delivery.

Castleton already has ITIL processes in place, as well as Service Delivery

Managers, however we will be making further investment increasing the number of people involved in delivery and adding more processes over the course of the year encapsulating all aspects of the business not just the Managed Service. Expanding Service Delivery will be critical in tracking the success of the changes we will be implementing as well as giving our customers a route to discuss regular operational changes, issues and upgrades in a quick, direct and effective manner.

The IT industry is talking a lot about various Cloud offerings and Cyber Security, what are your plans around these technologies and Castleton Managed Services?

Castleton have already been utilising Microsoft Azure and Office365 Services on many of our contracts and offer Azure cloud hosting as an option where appropriate. As we already have an established Private ‘Castleton Cloud’ we are in the advantageous position of being able to offer several variants of Cloud to our Customer Base; Public Cloud – all in Microsoft Azure, Hybrid Cloud – carefully split between Microsoft Azure and Castleton Cloud, and Private Cloud – all in the Castleton Cloud. We can also still offer On-premise and Co-Location services if needed, as these

options are still the most cost-effective or appropriate for some customers.

I foresee our Azure offerings increasing in popularity over the coming year and we will continue to support growth in that area with additional staff training and new hires focused on cloud and other new cloud-based technologies that are becoming more available such as Citrix Cloud and Windows Virtual Desktop.

…and Cyber Security?

Cloud adoption, GDPR, Business Risk analysis…. Are all key drivers for organisations to review their IT security standards and requirements. At Castleton we will shortly be completing our own in-house Cyber Essentials Plus certification, and from April 2020 we will be commencing on expanding our ISO Certification work to include ISO27001 (Security standards) which will be independently verified by an approved body. This is in addition to the ISO standards and processes we already hold.

We are also able to offer new security systems and services from our industry partners, such as CISCO with their ‘Umbrella’ service that covers remote and

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Future-proof CRM



In Conversation with Ben Cullen, CTO Castleton Continued...



roaming users as well as office-based users with the latest levels of protection. We also offer Fortinet Firewalls which have just been acknowledged in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for the 10th time for the protection they afford to a modern network. We are bringing in extra expertise to advise and guide on a wide range of security issues and review options including assisting organisations getting their own Cyber Essentials certification.

Anything else in your crystal ball for 2020?

Yes, two things to watch for – Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the use of it to automate routine tasks, saving time, resources and improving experiences for the user. A lot has been spoken about AI in the IT press and it is a technology that needs careful consideration due to the current limitations of what is actually achievable, however those limitations are being reduced almost daily and I suspect 2020 will be the year where once again a major leap will be taken in its use, look at how Housing Solutions are using Alexa and Castleton Technology to reduce call centre phone calls already.

The second thing is 5G. The substantial increase in bandwidth will enable mobile and remote working to step up another level. I suspect that, as we saw with 4G, it will take a little time for the whole country to gain coverage from the likes of Vodafone, O2 and EE and specific phones and cards will be required from Apple, Samsung and others. But speeds equivalent to cabled connection available via wireless data networks will mean application functionality and speeds can be increased for mobile or home workers. New sites and houses can be connected to the internet and networks, far quicker than running new cable lines. Finally, interaction between tenants and associations can be further enhanced with video and streaming options.

BACK<<

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Planned Maintenance



Future-proof CRM





Full terms and conditions and how to get started

Calculator>>

Trial our SMS solution for 6 months and realise immediate cost-savings by switching to digital tenant engagement.

For a limited time period, Castleton’s Communication Manager solution is available to a select number of Housing Associations on a six-month commitment-free trial basis. Fully hosted and supplied with 10,000 text messages to get you started, Communications Manager will kick-start your digital engagement strategy with ease and without any risks.

What’s included in your trial:• Six months usage of SMS messages for bulk

messaging, marketing, surveys, feedback andappointments

• Introductory modules included in the trial:• Email to Text - send an email from an

approved email address or domain with amobile number in the subject line and it willconvert to text

• SMS Surveys• Automatic Repairs notifications• Automatic Arrears alert to tenants

• Fully hosted by Castleton• 10,000 text messages to get you started

Getting started - Simply pay for the implementation to access your trial• Solution implementation costs is £6,500 and

includes full set-up of introductory modules,1-day training, SMS number and 10,000 textmessage bundle.

• Any additional text message bundles can bepurchased as required.

• To qualify for the free trial, implementation mustbe paid for before 30.03.2020

• Six months trial is active from thego-live date.

Case study:Lewisham Homes now receive on average 3,000 balance enquiries per month from their residents – all via text message. Learn how this Association successfully deployed Communications Manager for a 2-way SMS engagement, improving customer service and reducing cost.

Discover how much you could save by switching to SMS, with our Cost Savings Calculator

January Sales!



Planned Maintenance



Future-proof CRM



https://www.castletonplc.com/digital-engagement/sms-messaging-for-social-housing/

https://www.castletonplc.com/wp-content/uploads/Comms-Manager-Trial-handout-10.1.20.pdf



News

Find out more about our audit objectives

and deliverables.

Find out more information and get your 30-day

trial started. For more information

contact usContact Lesley for any

enquiries

Technical Audit Services from

CastletonCastleton’s in-house, experienced

consultancy team can offer in-depth infrastructure audits for

your organisation.

Working in partnership with your internal I.T. staff, your audit can be

used to help inform investment and technology path decisions. By basing recommendations firmly on tangible data, we can help mitigate the risks of wastage and solutions becoming unfit-for-purpose in the

longer term.

HousingBrixx Dashboards –

free trial for a limited period only

View meaningful outputs graphically from your HousingBrixx solution – for the first time! You can trial HousingBrixx Dashboards for

free until 31 January

HousingBrixx Partner-Plus license

Now available for accredited HousingBrixx Partner organisations.

This is an uplift to the standard Partner licence and provides the user with a

commercial licence to design, build and implement HousingBrixx dashboards for

any registered HousingBrixx-licensed organisation. Holders of this licence

are given access to Castleton’s online dashboard building tool where they can build and deploy bespoke dashboards

under a separate commercial agreement with the end user.

Additionally, HousingBrixx user organisations can also purchase a

dashboard builder licence that allows you to build and deploy an unlimited number of bespoke dashboards for your organisation. These dashboards can be visualised inside

or outside of the HousingBrixx system giving you the ideal opportunity to develop

bespoke data analyses for your treasury function, SMT or even board members.

We welcome Lesley Erskine – Castleton’s

Scotland territory account manager

Lesley has joined Castleton from a leading Healthcare provider where

she has been working with customers in Scotland and Northern Ireland for the past 5½ years in both an Account

Management role and latterly in a more Senior Management role. Lesley lives in Central Scotland so is ideally located to look after all our Scottish Customers.

Lesley will be making contact in the coming weeks so please join us in

welcoming her.

January Sales!



Planned Maintenance



Future-proof CRM



https://www.castletonplc.com/news/technical-audit-services-from-castleton/

http://createsend.com/t/i-6A90BE65E3B773042540EF23F30FEDED





Dates for your diary NHMF Maintenance Conference 21-22 Jan, Hilton Birmingham

We are talking all things Repairs, Scheduling, Engineer Tracking and Tenant Digital Engagement tools. Plus, we proudly launch our Planned Maintenance solution – our visual, single-view project management solution.

NHF Customer Experience in Housing 28 Jan, City Road London

We will be presenting alongside Richard Harvey, Head of Digital and Information Services from Housing Solutions. We will discuss digital customer experience strategies and outcomes, exploring how data can be used to create the customer intelligence required to better understand your customers’ requirements.

Future of Housing 11 Feb, QE2 Centre London

Last year, our customer Housing Solutions inspired with their Digital Transformation vision to deliver tenant services through an AI platform. This year, our COO James Massey will continue the Digital Transformation conversation, focusing on better tenant engagement to recover rent arrears.

Housing Technology Conference 4-5 March, Doubletree by Hilton,Oxford Belfry

We are hosting a panel discussion on accelerated business transformation using customer-centric, data-driven solutions. We hope to inspire and involve you all in the discussion.Confirmed speakers: Jimmy Rogers (new business sales & marketing director, Castleton Technology), Darren Penny (ICT service delivery manager, Honeycomb Group) & Simon Penaluna (director of IT, Grand Union Housing).

More details here More details here More details here More details here

Castleton Events this quarter >>

January Sales!



Planned Maintenance



Future-proof CRM



https://www.castletonplc.com/events/nhmf-maintenance-conference-2020/

https://www.castletonplc.com/events/nhf-customer-experience-in-housing-2020/

https://www.castletonplc.com/events/future-of-housing/

https://www.castletonplc.com/events/housing-technology-2020-conference/



Castleton Events this quarter 30min Solution Webinars January - March topics include: • Instant payment collection with Castleton

Collect• Better finance management with a fully

automated Purchase to Pay system• Rent Arrears Forecasting• Interactive SMS solutions demonstration - how

Communications Manager can dramaticallyreduce your spend on tenant engagement

• Scheduling & Route Optimisation softwareimproving your workforce productivity andreducing costs

NHF member exclusive Digital Transformation Seminar, 12 February – Wesley Hotel, Euston

Exclusive to NHF members, this interactive technology seminar allows you to discuss your digital projects with peers, see Castleton’s digital solutions first hand and how it’s been making a real difference to our customers. To find out more about our work in as a preferred housing management solutions supplier for the National Housing Federation, read our partnership story here.

Scottish Customer Exclusive12 March, Glasgow - venue TBC

Off the back of some great conversations at the SFHA Finance Conference, we are planning a more bespoke session for all our Scottish customers. It’s an opportunity to meet your new account manager, members from our Senior Management team and solutions specialists.

Key themes on the day:• Digital solutions to support self-service• Rent Arrears Forecasting & Collection

made easy• Going paperless with EDRM

BACK<<

Register today Partnership Story Register today

January Sales!



Planned Maintenance



Future-proof CRM



https://www.castletonplc.com/events/castleton-webinars/

https://www.castletonplc.com/events/nhf-digital-discovery-day/



Castleton Technology has partnered with payment solution specialists Splink - to deliver an instant payment platform for residents to pay their rent, chargeable repairs and even set-up payment plans. ‘Castleton Collect’ offers a simple, frictionless and instant payment management solution, that removes the barriers and burden typically associated with making once off and recurring payments. It can be fully integrated into Housing Association’s omni-channel strategies. The payment links can be embedded into various resident ‘touch-points’ – be that though traditional back-office systems, Mobile solutions used by field-operatives as well as digital self-service solutions used by the tenants themselves.

Ian Niblock, Director of Development and Product Strategy at Castleton commented “Whether you are engaging with your residents directly in their homes, receiving or making telephone calls or encouraging your residents down a digital self-service option, this payment platform can be used by both the HA or the resident to make payments quickly and easily. Our partnership with Splink is based on the ability of the payment platform to integrate with so many of our existing solutions. At every single resident interaction, be that by phone, face-to-face, text message or portal, you can now encourage positive payment behaviours by not just simply reminding a payment is due – but providing a secure link to make payment instantly possible.”

Splink’s Chairman John Quinn commented.

“There is no denying that Universal Credit is creating a major revenue deficit in this sector, and we are certain that this solution will support Housing Associations in lifting the burden associated with rent arrears. Splink’s platform is already used widely across different sectors where 92% of our customers get paid on the same day, they send a payment request. We are now looking forward to supporting Castleton and helping tenants to manage their income responsibly and encourage positive payment behaviour.”

Castleton Collect looks set to integrate with Castleton’s CRM, Housing, Mobile workforce (Agile) and Digital Engagement solutions.

Introducing Castleton Collect


Creating payment collection opportunities with every resident interaction

Take a first look via our forthcoming webinars

How it works

January Sales!



Planned Maintenance



Future-proof CRM



https://www.castletonplc.com/events/castleton-collect/


How Castleton Collect Works


BACK<<

01 Simple Payment Methods

A simple payment link issued to all tenants to automate and facilitate rent payments.(Issue via SMS / Email or Tenant portal)

03 Dashboard & Analytics

Capture key data from multiple sources to deliver performance indicators and trends on progress of payments.

05 Payment Notifications & Automatic Reminders

Send tenants automatic gentle reminders to help them complete the payment.

02 Simple Payment Methods SMS & Email

Once created, each tenant can safely pay via card through the payment link sent via SMS & Email.

04 Recurring or Payment Plans

Offer early intervention to maintain payment cycles and install a positive payment culture by removing barriers, making it simple and straightforward for tenants to make payment.

06 Payment App

Provide Housing Authority Reps with a payment solution to educate tenants, where they can set up directdebits instantly or collect payment for maintenance.

January Sales!



Planned Maintenance



Future-proof CRM



keeping up with - castletonmaintenance solution, you can manage this process effectively, allowing...

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