The CHIA Vic and CHIA NSW have teamed up to launch a Digital Transformation project and are now calling for organisations in each state to join a steering group.
CHIA Vic is thrilled to be working with CHIA NSW and grateful for the funding support from Homes Victoria through its Community Housing Sector Development Fund, the New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice governments, and the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) on what will be an innovative and valuable step forward for the sector.
With the community housing sector still a relatively small market segment in the eyes of major technology players and providers, there is work to be done to develop digital technologies to increase the efficiency of CHOs operations and enhance the service they provide to vulnerable people, many of whom are marginalised in the digital divide.
New digital technologies, like mobile platforms, tenant portals, e-payment options and many more, can be a catalyst for change and will improve service delivery by supporting CHOs to interact with tenants through additional, more efficient channels. The project will take into account the needs of all tenants, regardless of access or ability to use technology.
Giving tenants the ability to conduct more self-service like logging repairs and maintenance requests will allow providers to work with a more mobile workforce, increasing efficiency and freeing up time and resources to focus on engaging with their tenants in meaningful ways.
The project comes after scoping workshops with CHOs which showed a shared interest in working collectively to better understand and develop technological capabilities across the sector. It aims to support organisations to understand their future IT needs and available solutions and to develop plans to upgrade IT infrastructure in order to improve the client experience, ensure data quality, improve cyber security and increase efficiency by eliminating manual processes and double handling.
A critical element of the project is developing a CHO-led Industry Steering Group made up of three providers from Victoria and three from New South Wales. The Steering Group is an important opportunity to provide an industry voice to the project and shape its direction.
CHIA Vic and CHIA NSW are seeking steering group members with an interest and experience in technology to provide expert strategic input into the group. The group is expected to meet quarterly between now and November. There’s also an opportunity to be involved through a broader reference group, or just to be added to a mailing list to be kept informed.
CHIA Vic and CHIA NSW are encouraging providers of any size with IT experience to express interest to join these groups and provide invaluable industry perspectives on the work. You can do so by clicking this link.
The project includes four stages: strategy phase; digital transformation phase; consortium based approaches phase; and cyber security phase.
The key aims and deliverables of the project are listed below:
- Develop a detailed and community housing specific digital transformation process map for the community housing industry. The process map will be based on:
- A baseline stocktake of CHOs’ digital channel capabilities to be conducted through a self-assessment process based on a template to be developed by the project consultants. This will provide an update to the technological capability survey conducted in 2017 under the Technology Mapping IDS project.
- A sector visioning process that will establish the industry’s long-term objectives for digital transformation.
- Detailed persona and journey mapping to identify the needs and technical requirements for different client[1] and staff personas. These personas will be able to be adapted and updated by each CHO as necessary. CHIA NSW will work with the industry reference group and the digital network to select personas for this aspect of the project.
- Develop an implementation guide that CHOs can use to inform their specific digital transformation plans.
This project would not have been possible without funding from Homes Victoria through its Community Housing Sector Development Fund, the New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice, as well as the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC).
For more information about the project, email jason.perdriau@chiavic.com.au . To be part of the mailing list, reference group or steering group, just click here.