How digitally mature is the affordable housing sector?

Inside Housing is launching a major research project to explore how affordable housing providers are navigating today’s challenges.

Digital technologies offer the potential for housing providers to operate more efficiently, deliver better customer experiences, and understand their homes and residents in more detail. But do providers have the infrastructure and skills to make the most of it?

With resources stretched, housing providers can find it tough to invest in cutting-edge digital tools and skills. We want to understand how organisation assess their own digital capabilities and where they see the biggest potential for improvement. We also explore how digital channels impact resident engagement and what importance housing providers place on digital inclusion as they shape their current and future services.

This short survey should take only a few minutes to complete. The results will be used to inform a sector-wide report in Inside Housing, but no respondent will be identified without their express permission.

As a thank you for your time, we will enter you into a prize draw to win a £200 Amazon voucher or donation to a charity of your choice.

Thank you for sharing your time and expertise.

Question Title

* 1. How important is a good digital experience to your residents, on the whole?

Very important: Residents expect to be able to access services online on any device

Somewhat important: Residents prefer digital services but will use others

Not very important: Residents are happy to use both digital and non-digital channels

Unimportant: Residents prefer telephone, paper or face-to-face channels

It varies from person-to-person, so we need to provide a range of options

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* 2. How confident are you that the digital experience you provide to residents meets their expectations?

1 (Not confident at all)

10 (Completely confident)

Clear

i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

Question Title

* 3. Do you actively address the issue of digital literacy and inclusion, where some residents might not be able to access services because of lack of internet or device access? (Select all that apply)

We actively help residents access digital services by providing internet or device access

We actively help residents access digital services by providing digital skills training or education

We ensure that our services are equally accessible through non-digital means

We prioritise digital channels, but provide some services via traditional means

We don’t actively address digital literacy and inclusion

Do you have any other comments about digital inclusion for residents?

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* 4. What could help you provide a better digital experience to residents? (Select all that apply)

Working with residents to co-create better experiences

More money: we know what we want to improve, but we can’t afford to do it

More expertise: we know things need to be better and would benefit from more internal or external skills to design better experiences

Something else (please specify)

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* 5. Do you feel that your organisation has the digital skills it will need for the next 5-10 years? (Select all that apply)

Yes, we’re well placed to meet current and future challenges

We need to invest in data specialists

We need to invest in cybersecurity specialists

We need our workforce to be more data literate overall

We need to better harness the capabilities of AI in our organisation

We need more core IT staff looking after day-to-day operations

Something else (please specify)

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* 6. How do you think digital technology will impact roles within the housing sector over the next 5 years? (Select all that apply)

Technologies like AI will make some roles redundant

People will still be doing the same roles, but digital skills will become more important in fulfilling those roles

There will be growth in digital and data-related roles

There won’t be major changes

Something else (please specify)

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* 7. Do you personally use AI to help you in your daily work?

Yes

What do you use AI for, or why do you not use AI?

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* 8. Do you feel that important decisions in your organisation are based on robust data?

Yes

Can you explain why you said yes/no?

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* 9. How would you score your organisation’s current data maturity out of 10? Data maturity here is defined as “the ability of an organisation to collect, store, and analyse data, then use it to inform decisions across all levels of the business.”

1 (Low level of maturity)

10 (High level of maturity)

Clear

i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

Question Title

* 10. What are your major challenges in becoming a more data-mature organisation? (Select all that apply)

Lack of in-house data analytics skills

Lack of modern technology and processes

Leadership does not prioritise data-driven decisions/ways of working

Our systems are not well connected, so we can’t make decisions about the organisation as a whole

Something else (please specify)

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* 11. Does your organisation have digital targets that you measure at executive or board level? These may include cost reductions or improved resident experience, for example.

Yes

I’m not sure

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* 12. How would you rate your organisation’s attitude towards innovation overall?

Very high: We have the structures, roles, clarity, accountability and leadership to drive digital service take-up and service transformation

Fairly high: We tend to adopt new technologies early and use them to our advantage

Medium: We adopt technologies once they are well established and have been proven in organisations like ours

Fairly low: We rarely explore how new technologies can improve the way we work

Very low: We lag significantly behind other organisations in the technology we are using

33% of survey complete.