You’ re probably already paying for your next digital transformation project
Every housing provider I speak to has a list of technology fixes they want to make.
Andrew Buckels
Author: Andrew Buckels, Sector Principal for Housing and Head of Advisory Services
The hard part is rarely knowing what needs fixing. It’ s finding the budget, the people and the business case to make it happen.
Meanwhile the pressure keeps building: modernise services, improve efficiency, tighten compliance, show the board what AI can actually do for you. Most providers are missing one of the most powerful tools already sitting in front of them.
If you’ re a Microsoft 365 customer, there’ s a good chance you already own Power Platform.
The question isn’ t whether you have it. The question is whether you’ re getting anything out of it.
More than another platform
Say“ low code” or“ citizen development” to an IT leader and they’ ll picture just another app builder.
That’ s not where the value is. The real value is fixing the everyday problems that fall between your core systems.
Most housing providers have already spent heavily on housing management, asset management, finance and CRM platforms. The systems aren’ t the problem.
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The manual processes, disconnected data and workarounds that have grown up around them are.
• The spreadsheet used to track compliance
• The inbox where contractor approvals sit and wait
• Data re-keyed by hand between systems
• Paper inspections typed up later, days after the visit.
None of these frustrations is big enough on its own to justify a transformation programme. Together, they eat staff time and add risk that nobody signed off on.
This is exactly where Power Platform earns its keep.
Solving real housing problems
The best examples we’ re seeing across the sector aren’ t big transformation projects. They’ re small, targeted fixes that cut admin and improve service.
• Automating compliance workflows
• Mobile apps for estate inspections, stock condition surveys, damp and mould investigations
• Simpler contractor approval and invoice processes
• Self-serve tools for colleagues
• Real time dashboards instead of reports someone builds by hand every month
• Data joined up across systems, without a costly development project behind it.
None of these looks like transformation on its own.
Add them up and they free real capacity, sharpen data quality and give teams more time for residents.
And they usually cost a fraction of what a new platform would, in both time and money.