TECH@Housing: exploring the future of the industry

Discover what went on at the recent TECH@Housing event and where the housing sector is going next.

Tech@Housing: a very successful forum

I’m delighted we took part in the inaugural TECH@Housing event at the end of June. It was a productive forum for bringing together housing industry stakeholders to discover the latest innovative business transformation and future proofing technologies.

Digital transformation depends on successfully integrating people and technology

It was a really successful event: over 12,000 people visited Housing 2018 and 1,500 people attended the more specialised TECH@Housing sessions. We took part in three interesting sessions as well as a whole host of conversations exploring the current and future housing landscapes.

What was encouraging was how consistent the themes were that emerged from the event. Whether in a presentation session or in a networking opportunity, we were all talking about how the housing industry needs to explore alternative ways to long, drawn out procurement processes in order to achieve better outcomes but most importantly focusing on how successful digital transformation depends on successfully integrating people and technology.

We’ve advocated for some time the value of bringing in partners and suppliers earlier in the procurement process, so they can work collaboratively to develop the requirements to ensure the Housing Association’s needs are met. The housing environment is a rapidly-changing one, and procurement needs to be able to respond in a more agile way.

In response, our new Hitachi Essentials solution delivers a selection of pre-built core functionality that covers a selection of processes, speeding up implementation. It’s then simple for the housing provider to tweak these core processes, freeing up their people, time and resources to be more innovative and to focus on all the elements that make them unique.

The technology we embrace has to be fit for the future

It was encouraging, too, to take part in debate around the roles of people and technology within a digital workplace. TECH@Housing attendees shared our vision that any technology you embrace has to be fit for the future — that it’s vital that any technological pathway you choose has the flexibility to adapt to changes in users’ and customers’ lives. Successful tech today isn’t just the province of the IT department, it has to work for everyone involved.

I really enjoyed talking to so many people at TECH@Housing and look forward to going back next year to see how the event has evolved. If you’d like to talk more about the issues we covered at the event, or would like to know more about how we can support your organisation, please drop me a line: [email protected]