Vangent Launches New Solution to Manage Social Housing Repairs

in the London Borough of Southwark

Innovative solution brings together customer services, maintenance contractors and Southwark Council to power speedy, effective and responsive delivery

13th September 2007

Vangent,a leading provider of information management and business process outsourcing services to the government and telecommunication sectors today announces the launch of its Repair Control Centre in partnership with the London Borough of Southwark, London largest provider of social housing.

The Repair Control Centre pools representatives from the Council, the Customer Service Centre and three different maintenance contractors, supported by advanced technology systems. Every month Southwark receives an average of 45,000 housing repair calls. Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) can now immediately book an appointment having determined the exact nature of each tenant request and automatically log the issue with the contractors. Simultaneously, the customer receives an SMS to inform them of anticipated next steps, including the time when the repairer will visit. The Repair Control Centre automatically tracks the progress of repairs through to completion, enabling the CSR to answer any subsequent customer queries quickly and precisely, while authorising & booking follow-up appointments if required and following up on all missed appointments – both of which have been dramatically reduced.

With all repairs and maintenance details logged on one central system, Southwark will benefit from greater visibility of its social housing stock and repairs performance. “We anticipate that the Repair Control Centre will better enable us to provide consistently excellent customer service and reduce time-to-fix, particularly for complex and emergency enquiries as these can be redirected to the planning team immediately. ” “We are very proud of this innovation which has streamlined our service and had a massive effect on eliminating a large percentage of emergency jobs. It really is helping to serve one of the most challenged areas in London. We believe that outsourced solutions such as the Repair Control and Customer Services centres that we provide to Southwark are the future of local government, delivering the efficiencies detailed in Gershon and providing and true value for the tax payer.” Commented Dominic Cain, LB Southwark