January 2012

We are now one week into the Closer to You housing pilot, and so far it has been a positive experience all round for the housing team. We have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the project for several weeks, so we are excited to finally get going!

We started off the week by moving to our new north London base at The Chocolate Factory in Wood Green. We had a very productive first team meeting; we talked a lot about how we will get out to meet all our residents in their homes – our number one aim. The whole team agreed that visiting all the residents in their regions would be a very valuable exercise. By going out and talking to people, we will get a better understanding of our customers and how we can provide them with an excellent service and meet their needs.

Although it is still very early in the project, the team have already noticed the benefits of having a tablet computer with them when they are out and about. Visits have been really productive, and the tablets mean the team do not need to waste time making trips back to the office to answer emails and telephone messages.

We are trialling five different types of tablet computers during the project, so we can make a decision about which one we will use as standard. The Neighbourhood Managers have also been receiving calls from customers straight to their mobile phones, so we hope this means people are finding it much easier to contact us when they need to.

This week we are holding the first residents’ panel meeting for the pilot project. For the project to be the success we want it to be, we need to work alongside our customers to make sure we are getting it right! If there are things we are still getting wrong, we need our customers to tell us what those things are and help us fix them.

We are very positive about our new way of working, and we hope all our customers are too. I will keep everyone updated about our progress and what the team has been up to in future blogs.

Melissa Gent
Area Manager