Creating insight from data requires integration, automation and a strategic focus

While running a housing association comes with its complexities, each challenge presents a chance to innovate and create positive change. Data that delivers insight to housing association business leaders has never been more important to enable the navigation of challenges like property regulation and meeting environmental sustainability targets.

The data that can benefit housing associations is readily available and by roadmapping an effective data strategy organisations can collect this data, gain valuable insight and use it to shape a thriving community for their tenants.

The housing association sector is typically data rich, but insight poor. This is due to the variety of homes and tenant expectations a housing association manages. Consistent data is the key to unlocking valuable insight and something all housing associations can aspire to.

Integrate and collect correctly

In a data-rich association the full potential of insight can be achieved by breaking down barriers between unique data stores and connecting unlinked systems and data silos. Fostering these connections is central to developing an effective analytics roadmap.

Data that is connected with integrated systems allows an organisation to function as one unit, working together towards an agreed outcome and empowers the organisation to harness insight for informed decision making. A truly effective data roadmap should be a reflection of the association and its strategy.

Those reflections will be identical to the tasks of running an association, providing good quality housing, a cost-effective organisation, a sense of place and meeting regulatory requirements.

Data integration requires a review of systems to ensure that these are correctly integrated and match the way the association operates. Sometimes, that analysis is across the entire association or an analysis of a department, such as finance, to ensure the vital data it collects is accessible across the business.

The UK’s leading associations use their data to tackle matters like damp or social issues, some have implemented Internet of Things (IoT) technology to collect information from sensors in the home, but this kind of data collection only provides part of the picture. Housing associations can harvest important data from engaging with their tenants and stakeholders. Using tools like Microsoft's Power Apps, housing associations are able to ensure that engagement data quickly leads to insight for decision making.

Power Apps like Microsoft PowerBI can instantly analyse data and provide crucial insight to the housing association. Integration and modern data collection methods increase the accuracy, efficiency, and speed of the association in meeting the needs of its customers.

Automatic for the people

Becoming a data-led housing association doesn’t necessarily mean investing in hard-to-find data skills, especially at a time when housing associations have so many other competing interests. Once data is integrated effectively across the association, automation technology can lower the burden on organisations and keep the organisation on the data roadmap that was set out to meet the business strategy.

Once the association knows the reports and the necessary KPIs it needs, automating the generation of these reports reduces effort and the possibility of errors. Automated report generation is fast and delivers accurate insight to a decision maker when they need it. Defining the delivery timetable for reports should be set early in the roadmap creation process.

Data automation is a multi step process, each step will aim to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the association’s data. Automating processes like data extraction, transformation, visualisation and notification of a new report can free up your association’s skilled data staff to focus their time and effort on more complex issues that will benefit the association.

With much of the data in place, housing associations can map their way to become leaders in data-led decision-making now and into a future that will surely see artificial intelligence (AI) provide greater benefits to housing associations and their tenants.

For professional and experienced help in defining and creating a data roadmap, discover how an AI readiness assessment can help your housing association leverage the power of your data and the potential application of AI