How Complaints Management Software Can Boost Customer Satisfaction

Ciara McMillan Oct 28, 2024 12:15:07 PM

Right now, it has never been a tougher time to be a social housing provider.

Housing associations are facing a real cocktail of issues at the moment; not least the introduction of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act which came into effect in April 2024.

Under the new legislation, providers have a new Complaint Handling Code to adhere to from the Housing Ombudsman. They have new, strict standards to abide by from the Regulator of Social Housing. And they will have to regularly collate and report Tenant Satisfaction Measures.

We’ve no doubt that these measures will benefit countless customers across the UK. But it does put a lot more work on the shoulders of already stretched social housing providers.

So how can conscientious housing associations balance their new legislative responsibilities, genuine customer complaints, and the preexisting challenges of the sector – whilst also doing what is fundamentally right for all parties?

There’s no doubt that the right complaints management software can play an instrumental role in fundamentally overhauling how you handle complaints for the better.

Let’s explore.

8 Benefits of Complaints Management Software for Social Housing Providers

Cohesive Systems Enable More Responsive Customer-Facing Teams

Good complaints management software provides a real-time connection to all relevant, customer-facing departmental data.

With a less connected tool, contact centre teams who receive a complaint may have to sift through multiple IT systems, manually find prior communications, and physically track down other customer-facing repair teams/people before they can provide a meaningful response to each complaint. And the longer the customer has to wait, the more frustrated they are likely to get.

Yet when all customer, property, and repairs data is available through a more cohesive software platform, customer-facing teams are better equipped to resolve complaints quickly and effectively.

Power Pages (within the Power Platform suite) enables housing providers to create online portals for housing officers, repair people, contractors, etc. so they can enter relevant case data directly into the system whilst in the field. This provides up to the minute updates on any case, all through a central repository.

Improve Record-Keeping and Data Handling

Housing providers may be good at housing people, but they’re not so great at housing the data under their care.

According to the Housing Ombudsman’s Spotlight on: Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Report, poor record-keeping and data handling practices are “ubiquitous” in the social housing sector. A massive 93% of the report’s respondents mentioned problems with accessing and using data to some degree.

Poor data practice doesn’t just impact your teams though – it impacts customers too. When data is hard to pin down, this can delay important case and repair decisions. Without centrally available information about each customer’s situation, it’s impossible to deliver appropriate, personalised care to those with certain needs. Customer facing teams may even struggle to allocate resources to customers outside of planned improvement programmes.

Richard Blakeway at the Housing Ombudsman notes in the KIM report: “At Grenfell, crucial fire safety data was lost because the landlord believed it was held on its server rather than an individual device. At Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, key information was stored on individual computers and emails lost when new software was introduced.”

Effective complaints management software, like that available with Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, serves as a central, always-on repository for all complaints and resolution data. Understandably, this does away with the complexities of storing critical data on individual devices or in a document “somewhere” within your IT estate.

A robust, central data handling system can even flag gaps in essential customer and property data so a customer-facing operative can retrieve that data from the customer or from a property.

Allows for True End-to-End Case Management

When all complaints and customer interactions are handled through complaints management software, housing providers gain totally auditable insight into each complaint - from initial contact through to its resolution.

This central source of truth for everything related to customers, properties, and complaints can be invaluable when the time comes to submit your TSM report or respond to a maladministration. That data can also help you grasp important metrics that may need improvement, such as repair response times.

For-purpose complaints management software can also help you routinely follow up with customers after an issue is resolved to ensure their satisfaction.

“Lessons learned” and “learning from outcomes” are essential in the social housing sector. Not only does end-to-end complaint record keeping help you track your progress, but systems like Power Platform are flexible enough to allow for new or changing workflows as you improve services in line with complaints.

Facilitates Over-Communication

Over-communication might sound like an odd benefit but hear us out. Given our experience in the social housing sector, we feel that a lot of complaints get raised because the customer doesn’t feel in control of the situation. Over time, this may even translate into a worrying lack of confidence in the roof over their head.

This unease can leave people feeling anxious or angry - and only gets worse as days go by with no updates or communication. When customers get left in the dark, it eventually leads to a more demanding phone call asking for an escalation.

Therefore, good complaints management software should always be focused on communication. When housing providers are able to overlap complaints management tools with contact centre technology, they can provide timely updates about an issue in line with customer communication preferences.

Depending on your setup, you may even be able to provide customers with a tracking link for their complaint, providing up-to-the-minute details about where that issue is within your complaints and resolution process - just like tracking a parcel!

Enables Real-Time Data-Crunching Dashboards

Cohesive, joined-up complaints management software, along with its associated real-time customer data, can act as a periscope for monitoring customer satisfaction in true real time - not just at TSM reporting time!

With real-time reporting dashboards like those available through Power BI, managers and senior executives can flexibly explore complaints data however they like. That might include taking a top-level view of complaints metrics and KPIs; interrogating repair response times; or diving into a particularly thorny complaint that’s causing a lot of inconvenience.

Dashboards like these can be used to track the metrics that each housing provider must focus on under the new legislation. However, access to this data can also be used to reduce issues like repeat complaints or missing customer data.

Helps Teams Provide Informed, Personal Care

Social housing providers have an especially important duty of care to customers who have additional health, social, or care needs. Yet in order to provide the often quite individual, personalised support that these customers require, customers need to feel they can trust the housing association with what might be quite sensitive personal information.

If customers don’t feel comfortable sharing this with their housing association, then that association may need to do more work to earn that trust. Yet having this information about every customer - and overlaying that data with property data and complaints handling functions - can help complaints handling teams provide thoughtful, considerate, context-specific support.

For example, customers who are elderly, experiencing mental health problems, or living with a disability may require more notice and care around repairs, maintenance, and housing officer visits. This may be as simple as keeping them more informed than other customers to avoid undue stress.

Providing thoughtful care like this improves trust and sentiment between customer and provider. It may even minimise future complaints or at least make them a little more amicable; and may result in customers opening up to the provider a little more.

Boost Productivity with AI Automation

As a social housing provider, your job is helping people, not doing tedious, repetitive admin. But with good future-focused complaints management software, you can leave the tedious stuff to AI!

There are numerous ways that AI can enrich the complaints and resolution process. AI can be used to generate automated case or complaint timelines to help call handling teams get up to speed quickly. AI can be used to infer a customer’s level of satisfaction with the provider. AI can even analyse previous complaints data and provide complaints handlers with the best possible course of action, as informed by previous well-handled cases.

AI can even be used to digest, sort, and import disparate information and file it within your data system, where all customer-facing staff can use and get the most value out of it. You can sometimes even cautiously use AI to infer missing information.

AI-powered tools can also automate some parts of the complaints process by providing automated responses and facilitating always-on, customer-facing chatbot functionality.

Improve Customer Satisfaction with Predictive AI

AI can also help social housing organisations provide more proactive care and repairs. Not only can AI enriched tools “sound the alarm” when a particular issue is on the rise in a certain area, they can also find the commonalities between those issues so the provider can nip the wider problem in the bud.

For example, if a lot of boilers are failing on a certain estate, AI tools can help to identify what those boilers and properties have in common so the housing provider can solve the issue for all potentially affected customers - not just those who have voiced a concern.

AI can also help housing providers prioritise repair tasks in a way that minimises long journeys or contractor callout fees. For instance, if number 25’s window needs replacing, but number 28’s and 31’s does too, a proactive AI powered system could identify that commonality so you can address all complaints with one repair trip.

All in all, this can help you to pre-empt complaints, manage poor customer sentiment, and prioritise repairs that will minimise customer distress.

Additionally, AI can be used to digest, categorise, and triage complaints made through non-attended channels like email, complaints portals, and text messaging in real time, rather than having to wait for a human to do so.

Watch our latest webinar here:

Meet New Regulatory Standards and Transform Your Complaint Handling with Crimson

Ready to overcome the confusion of multiple data sources, the inefficiency of outdated systems, and the worry around regulatory compliance?

Crimson's Complaint Management Solution uses leading Microsoft solutions to transform how housing associations handle complaints. The tool seamlessly integrates case management, instant data capture, evidence gathering, data insights, and predictive AI tools into a single, user-friendly, always up-to-date platform – where AI can be embedded throughout.

Crimson’s vast experience of digital transformation within the social housing sector enables us to develop practical solutions that help social housing providers resolve complaints sooner, provide 24/7 tenant support, and rationalise repairs - all while doing what is best for your customers.

So, if you’re looking to transform your complaints management workflow, book your free consultation today with our housing transformation team.

AI, Social Housing