Thenue Housing Association has introduced mobile workforce technology from 1st Touch (www.1sttouch.com). The software will be used to support the Association’s strategy to deliver more services digitally through its mobile operatives. Initially, these include estate management and tenancy services along with pre and post void inspections.

A registered Scottish charity, Thenue Housing owns and manages over 3500 properties spread across 6 main communities in the Glasgow region. They chose 1st Touch as it had a proven integration with the Association’s Aareon back office system. In addition, they had received a number of strong references from other users of the software whilst researching the options available on the market. Another factor was the system’s unique Smart Airtime facility. This enables operatives to send data back to base in compressed and encrypted bursts, whenever a signal becomes present. By utilising this function, users can continue working and do not need to waste time looking for a constant signal.

Commenting on the news Brian Gannon Head of Housing at Thenue noted, “We see our Digital Strategy as a very sound investment and 1st Touch is an important element of this. Not only will its deployment boost customer service delivery but it will also deliver significant efficiencies for the business. Naturally, any resources we save as a result can be redirected towards helping those tenants in greatest need, especially those struggling with the impact of Welfare Reform.

“We looked at a number of different solutions but 1st Touch won through. We were aware that they are a leader in the market in the supply of enterprise mobile workforce software for social housing. However, the main driver for us is the software’s ability to integrate with our existing back-office Aareon QL system. With 1st Touch we can now have live real-time data going straight from the mobile device into Aareon and that is a real step forwards. In addition, the system’s Smart Airtime feature will ensure that communicating this data is exceptionally easy, as the system doesn’t require a constant signal. We were also impressed that these processes are already in place at other 1st Touch customers and that we were able to read the testimonials from numerous happy users. We look forward to identifying other areas where 1st Touch software can help us.”

For his part, Greg Johns CEO of 1st Touch noted, “Thenue Housing Association has a clear digital vision and could see the very real benefits that our software will deliver. Whilst we are delighted at the efficiencies this will bring to their business, it’s especially pleasing that the savings they derive will ultimately help those tenants who need support the most.”