Langstane Housing Association is to equip its Direct Labour responsive-repairs operatives with mobile software from 1st Touch (www.1sttouch.com). The software which will manage and support all aspects of the operatives’ work, will link their handheld PDAs to Langstane’s QL back-office Housing Management System. Langstane plans to roll the new mobile solution out to other departments over time, including: a dedicated voids team; arrears control operatives and neighbourhood services.

Founded in 1977 to provide affordable rented accommodation, Langstane now has a housing stock of over 3500 units in management throughout the City of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray. With such a large area to cover, Langstane decided to opt for a mobile solution to replace the paper based forms they had been using.


Langstane HousingAfter reviewing the market, they chose 1st Touch for their significant experience of delivering effective and reliable mobile solutions to social housing organisations. It was also felt that 1st Touch mobile software offered an unparalleled level of functionality.

1st Touch applications can bring significant efficiencies and productivity increases to any application where field based operatives provide services. The system manages and supports all aspects of mobile operatives’ activities, enabling easy, programming-free, user-customisable PDA based solutions to be created through its easy to use graphical interface and is specifically designed to simplify handheld form design and data capture. Any type of electronic form can be generated without the need for Business Process Mapping.

At Langstane, the software’s Smart Airtime feature was of particular relevance too. This, in contrast to other “always on” solutions, sends data in short encrypted bursts eliminating the need for a constant signal; which is often a problem in rural areas. With the variable geographic nature of the Grampian area, covered by Langstane, the decision to opt for 1st Touch ensures that effective communication can always be maintained with field based operatives, regardless of the terrain.

Another important driver, behind the choice, was 1st Touch’s ability to work with Langstane’s QL back-office Housing Management System from Aareon. As Aareon is already a partner of 1st Touch, an integration link between the two systems had already been developed. This reinforced the decision to choose 1st Touch.

As Lynn Cargill Langstane’s Director of Customer Services comments, “We chose 1st Touch for their considerable experience of our market and their track record of delivering successful solutions to social housing organisations. Their software also incorporates many features and functions, such as Smart Airtime, that are simply not available anywhere else. We were also impressed by the existing integration with our Aareon Housing Management System.

“The new mobile solution will make a considerable difference. Previously, the use of paper based forms generated a horrendous amount of paperwork. With 1st Touch mobile, the paper function has been eliminated. The PDAs now electronically replicate the forms we have used and the data captured is automatically updated on our systems. And, with the new mobile technology in place our empowered operatives no longer need to return to base to find the next job or to receive instructions. Overall, the resource savings will be huge. Beyond this though, we also now have a system that is much friendlier for staff to use and that helps us to deliver and even higher level of service to tenants.”

For his part Robert Dent, CEO of 1st Touch welcomed Lynn Cargill’s comments adding, “The Langstane team deserve immense respect. They recognized the considerable benefits available from combining technology from a leading housing management systems company Aareon, with the leading mobile solutions provider in their sector. However, what really inspires me is that this has improved the quality of life for the people who use it and in addition it helps Langstane to deliver an even higher level of service to tenants. To me that is a win-win situation.”