Housing Associations need to rethink software specialising in Housing Associations.
I have come across a number of software services that specialise in providing solutions to the housing sector. What I have discovered is that this software generally has the following issues:
- Premium price
- Additional ongoing support costs
- Premium charges for add-ons
- Not fit for purpose
- Lack of innovation
- Customisation comes at significant cost
- Creates unnecessary admin
- Desktop based
- No fixed price
The solutions draw a parallel to Enterprise software. Stick Enterprise in front of the product name and you can charge 10x as much and be 10x as slow at rolling out new features and updates.
This isn’t something that just exists in the Housing Association sector. Software that is not necessarily built for a certain sector finds a bit of traction and then rebadge as being “specialist solutions”. This makes perfect business sense. If you say you specialise in a specific sector then it makes that sector take notice of you.
I don’t blame the IT departments for this situation. They are often already stretched with reactive support tickets. They simply opt for the solution that on paper looks great. Designed for housing and used by other housing associations. This makes board approval easier.
The majority of these solutions also do not have a fixed price. Visit the website and it will be impossible to work out how much it costs without having to speak to sales. This is because the company wants you to get in touch so they can work out how much “value” they bring to the HA. This “value” is then used to calculate a cost that is different for each HA. Again this makes perfect business sense but does not mean value for money for the HA.
There is no reason why such software can not provide indicative pricing or per user pricing.
But as a HA you might think you are special. The reality is that your processes are likely to be the same as most businesses. You are not really special just different. No need for special software.
Software solutions need to be considered differently. Instead of thinking as a HA solution think of the problem trying to be solved.
Look at software aimed at small business. This tends to have a low monthly price, has continually improvement strategies, solves an actual problem.
Take for instance customer support systems. Available for £10 per month per agent with basic features. That’s right basic features. Stop buying the all singing all dancing version as it usually isn’t needed. Start basic then upgrade as necessary. All with no long term tie ins. These all include API access allowing you to build on top of these. All but the overly complicated and over priced systems have pricing shown on the website.
In summary stop thinking specialist enterprise and start thinking small business and do not be afraid to be first.
