Luton Borough Council has entered into a seven-year deal with Civica for a suite of software products across the latter’s Cx range.
The deal gives the council a modern cloud solution that integrates with mobile, opening the door for social housing resident self-service.
The products in question are the Cx Housing Management, Asset Management and Contractor Workforce applications. These are being complemented by the Abritas Choice Based Lettings service.
The value of the contract is £1.09 million, with Civica saying it will make the day-to-day management of 7,000-plus properties, 1,100 temporary accommodation residences and 1,500 garages much easier though a single view of residents, properties and assets data.
A new customer portal is also in the pipeline, tailored to individuals and their communication preferences.
“This is a long term innovation partnership to support Luton Borough Council’s 2040 strategy to create a healthy, fair and sustainable town, where everyone can thrive,” said service director for housing at Luton, Colin Moone.
“We want our residents to be able to self-serve online to get the answers to their queries more quickly and streamline our processes and this new platform will improve resident and stakeholder engagement, allowing us to better capture feedback and ideas from a much wider demographic – ultimately leading to better, safer homes for everyone.”
Improving staff workdays
Civica said that among the expected benefits are that increased automation and better workflow will free up staff to deliver more outreach programmes, including training and therapy sessions offered in the community.
Luton also aims to move its homelessness case management into a joined up system with temporary accommodation management for the first time.
The vendor has also committed to add social value through a new partnership with a local education provider to run a T-level or similar work experience linked qualification. The company also pledged to attend careers fairs and publicise local employment opportunities and mount community roadshows to help train people to use the customer portal and boost digital inclusion.
