Keeping pace with change is the new mantra for housing providers

Housing providers have changed substantially over the years, with many also becoming house builders (or working closely with house builders). And the sector is still going through massive change meaning that providers are having to do more with less. These changes are due to a number of factors:

Demand continues to outstrip supply due to increased populations.
Property portfolios have become more diverse.
Supply of labour and the materials needed to increase the build-rate has been affected by the pandemic and energy and fuel markets.
New regulations and policy shifts are introduced.
Budgets are under mounting pressure with high inflation and significantly higher cost bases impacting operating costs.
Acquisitions and mergers in the sector is driving transformation where organisations end up with disparate, fragmented systems.
Increasingly ambitious targets in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability.

And often a mixture of the above.

Housing providers play a critical role in providing affordable homes, but in recent years, policy changes have heightened pressure to grow income from non-traditional sources – from providing social services, to partnering with commercial enterprises – that has resulted in an increasingly diverse set of operations and increasing demand on managing suppliers and contracts.

Three barriers to success for diversifying housing providers

Housing providers play a critical role in providing affordable homes to thousands around the UK. But, in recent years, there has been heightened pressure on providers to grow their income from non-traditional sources, resulting in an increasingly diverse set of operations.

Download our free guide to learn the three barriers to success for diversifying housing providers, and how to overcome them.

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Three barriers to success for diversifying housing providers

With the role in today’s society being more than ‘managing’ a property, it’s important for providers to encourage a holistic approach against a challenging economic backdrop. Your procurement and finance decisions play a pivotal role as to whether your organisation can meet the rising expectations of tenants, communities, employees, stakeholders, funding organisations and regulatory authorities. The Parliamentary Bill in late 2023 that holds Housing providers liable for mistakes made by their suppliers is just one example of this.

Additionally, many purchases are initiated by on-site personnel, such as orders with contractors and maintenance supplies, often resulting in increased risk of out-of-contract spend and use of unapproved suppliers. And with construction and renovation projects relying on reliable supplies of good and services, not only does management of supply chains dictate the success of such projects, Housing organisations process thousands of time-consuming and labour-intensive operations.

The trouble is, traditional operating models cannot cope with so many fast-moving pieces. So it's no wonder that innovative strategies, fresh operating practices and new technologies are the choice for forward-thinking executives.

Mears Group increases AP efficiency by 500% with Proactis

“Before Proactis we were processing 20,000 invoices amongst a team of 8 every month. Today, we are processing 100,000 invoices. We have absorbed the additional growth without any additional resource, whilst improving accuracy and reporting.”

Read the full story

Take a fresh look at how you manage spend

Gain greater value for money by improving methods for sourcing, purchasing and paying for the wide range of services and products your organisation buys, from building materials, furniture or services. Housing providers are constantly innovating, identifying ways to improve costs while making life better for tenants - for example, many associations now provide energy (gas and electricity) to tenants as part of the offering.

With Proactis, you can use new capabilities to run your operations more effectively and affordably. As a result, you can allocate more of your scarce budget to the central mission of providing homes, services and hope to disadvantaged communities. Respond to market and regulatory changes in a way that drives greater efficiency and compliance within key back-office processes.

Proactis SRM and Contract Management are ideally suited for Housing providers needing to manage their suppliers and contracts in a more effective manner and mitigate against any risk. Up-to-date Supplier performance measurement and risk identification are critical, but possible via the correct system. You can control out of contract spend across the whole organisation via Guided Buying to ensure that all staff get what they need, when they need it, from approved suppliers – at previously negotiated contracts.

Having visibility and control of cost against budgets via a strong P2P process helps department managers effectively manage budgets by driving value back into your business strategy through planning, forecasting and cost control. Having clear visibility into your “all in” transactional cost will help you make better-informed decisions.

Staff will also be freed up to concentrate on value-add tasks as a strong P2P process, underpinned by well-integrated technology, ensures that the processing of thousands of time-consuming and labour-intensive operations is automated. Straight-through invoice processing and ‘right first time’ invoices are possible with the right software. You can free up time so that you can focus on the things that really matter to you and your tenants, whether that’s building more homes or investing in regeneration programmes.

Procure-to-Pay (P2P) for Housing Providers: Get a handle on how your organisation really buys goods and services

Download this guide for a practical way to get started in the pursuit of the savings that are found in the P2P cycle for most organisations. Specifically, it is designed to help you:

Get a handle on how things are really done today.
Identify where the savings opportunities lie.
Start a dialogue among key managers.
Develop a vision of how to tackle problems and seize opportunities.
Gain a general view of how a good Procure-to-Pay software solution can help you do that better, faster, cheaper.

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Get a handle on how your organisation really buys - P2P

We’ve teamed with over 65 leading housing providers to make it happen:

Orbit Group improves supplier and contract management with Proactis

“Proactis enables us to ensure greater compliance to the required standards. Its web-based tools help us improve and develop supplier and contract performance across locations, nationwide, via a consistent approach which will maximise efficiencies and promote value adding across the supply base.”

Learn more

Platform Housing Group to modernise its Finance function with Proactis

"We need to ensure that the right people have control of what we are buying and that our budget holders have visibility of purchase commitments to manage and track their budgets properly."

Learn more

Housing Technology magazine features Proactis

Learn about the challenges faced by housing associations when diversifying their operations and gain valuable insights into the three key barriers hindering their success in the latest article by Ilija Ugrinic, our Commercial Solutions Director, in Housing Technology magazine (pg 29).

Click here to read the latest edition

Housing Executive magazine features Proactis

Platform Housing Group Launches Microsoft Dynamics 365 & Proactis Source to Pay Solutions in the next stage of Transformation Delivery.

Click here to read the article

Let our experts help you with your unique requirements.

Spend Control for Housing providers