4 Ways Microsoft Dynamics 365 Helps Housing Providers Put Customers First

Housing associations up and down the country each provide vital services and support to thousands, of residents, with many placing emphasis and importance on the customer experience they offer.

As customers paying for a product or service, we all expect a level of efficiency. In today’s world, technology helps a whole host of organisations deliver in line with those expectations.

For housing associations, it shouldn’t be any different – but sometimes outdated systems have a habit of becoming a hindrance, rather than having a positive impact on the customer experience that residents have grown to expect.

If you’re feeling like your technology is creating more challenges than it’s helping you overcome, it might be time to consider a move to Microsoft Dynamics 365. Here are four ways Dynamics 365 can help your housing association enhance your customer experience:

1. Dynamics 365 provides you with a single view of your customers (making their experience smoother)

When various information about a person is stored across different software and systems that don’t talk to each other, it becomes harder for members of your team to support customers quickly and effectively when they get in touch.

With Dynamics 365, your customer data is hosted in the Microsoft Dataverse, which is safe and secure, but also easy to access; the various software used to access this data (for example Dynamics 365 Customer Service, or Dynamics 365 Field Service) are all interconnected, giving you a single view of each customer and, let’s say, any outstanding requests and their progress, or whether that customer is in rent arrears.

By relying on a single, consolidated platform, rather than several disparate ones, your team is better equipped to provide customers with the information they need, should they get in touch.

2. Eliminate the need for customers to phone or email altogether

When people lead busy lives, it can be difficult finding the time to reach out to a customer support team within office opening hours – especially when many anticipate being kept on hold. Similarly, it’s not uncommon to email and have to wait several days to hear back.

By adopting Dynamics 365 as your housing management platform, you can offer customers alternative ways to access the information they need.

D365 Portals give customers the opportunity to self-serve, logging into an online portal that’s available 24/7 at a time that suits them to access updates and information.

You can also use Dynamics 365 Customer Service capability to add online chat functionality to your customer portal, helping customers reach you quicker and in a way that many will consider more convenient.

3. Deal with at-property maintenance and repairs more efficiently

Dynamics 365 Field Service equips both office-based teams and teams that visit customer homes with some handy tech to help things run smoother behind the scenes.

Using D365 Field Service, office-based teams can schedule tasks for travelling team members with appropriate skills, keep on top of planned maintenance, and manage customer requests for repairs quickly and easily in a single platform.

Meanwhile, team members visiting customer homes can access the Mobile Working app via a handheld device to check their assigned tasks, access a map for directions to their next job, and log any information needed when they’re at the customer’s home. All the while, customers are kept up to date on when they can expect the technician to be with them.

The result? Real-time information for customers, and more timely and efficient maintenance and repairs.

4. Encourage your customers to share their views

While you can bring about changes and improvements in hope of boosting customer satisfaction, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s 2020 Social Housing White Paper places importance on ‘resident voice’ – and Dynamics 365 Customer Voice makes it easier for you to prioritise exactly that.

No matter a customer’s reason for getting in touch, Customer Voice helps you automatically request feedback on their experience, prompting them to share what went well and where there was room for improvement.

By actively taking an interest in what your customers have to say, they’ll feel listened to, not to mention the fact that any insight gathered can be used to inform future changes that will improve the customer experience you deliver.

Here at Tisski, we’ve worked with UK housing providers to help them explore the world of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and understand how technology can help them put their customers first.

If you’re keen to find out more, but aren’t sure where to begin, you may be eligible for Microsoft-funded Catalyst discovery sessions. They’re led by a trained expert from Tisski, who will spend time exploring your aspirations and challenges, and help you decide whether Dynamics 365 could help you reach and overcome them (without making an upfront commitment!).

Read Optivo’s customer story for a better idea on how Catalyst engagements work and the support Tisski can offer.