1st Touch (www.1sttouch.com) the UK's leading developer of mobile systems for the social housing and local authority sectors has added ‘supporting people' and ‘arrears' modules to its award winning range of mobile workforce solutions.

The Supporting People module fully automates the processes involved, providing support officers with all the tenant information and functionality they need in the field. This includes pre-defined forms for possible areas of risk. Whilst they are still with the tenant, the mobile system also enables support officers to refer tenants for an Initial Needs and Risk Assessment, initiate a programme of regular visits or to draw up a support plan. 

The administration time saved over manual methods boosts efficiency and means that more time can be spent with those customers who need it most. Supporting People data gathered by 1st touch can be then automatically updated to a social housing provider's back office systems. A full range of up to the minute management information can also be produced to facilitate on-going review and quality checks.

The Arrears module fully automates the arrears management function delivering a powerful tool to both senior management and field based operatives. By using the Arrears module, social housing providers can help customers with outstanding payments, therein providing help and support at times of need.

When used in the field, the mobile system can display, collect and update a wide range of data including: recent history, transactions, charges, special arrangements and details of completed or outstanding arrears.

This enables operatives to add new arrears actions or activities such as generating supporting letters. They can also use the system to calculate tenant budgets, to request a rent statement or to make a card payment.

Commenting on the launch of the new modules Robert Dent CEO of 1st Touch said, "We have listened closely to what our customers need and these two modules came top of the list. Both enable social housing organisations to enhance the services they provide and we are confident that demand will be high.

"1st Touch is widely acclaimed by social housing organisations for the breadth of solutions available, so the addition of these two new modules is a sign of our on-going commitment to providing the sector with a comprehensive range of mobile tools. We have a number of other key developments in the pipeline and look forward to announcing these as the year progresses."