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Dumping our web provider and going it alone proved a good decision
Dropping our web provider was a bold decision but has paid dividends. Sometimes housing associations have to find ways to go it alone, writes John Rockley
In May, Rooftop made a big decision. It was a decision that had the executive team very worried:
“Will it work?”, “Are you sure this will work?”, “Honestly, can this work?”
We were about to fly in the face of common sense, sector thinking and standard practice.
We were about to dump our website provider and go it alone.
I’m not a technical person. I manage people who are, but I’m not.
However, when I was a communications consultant, I’d build my own website using a drag and drop web-based interface and I’d found it really easy.
So, when I was having another grumble about the slow updates, lumpy architecture and saggy design of our previous website, it struck me that we could easily do it ourselves.
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Scrolling back, part of the issue with our old site was that it was built in a rush. The supplier at that time went bust and we had to get something done quickly to maintain service – it was never right.
I inherited it two months after launch and it was already a rat’s nest of dead links and outdated design.
“I think this is just one of those times that as housing associations we have to ask, not what do we want, or what have they got next door, but what do we need, and what can we do ourselves?”
So, there I was, teetering on the edge of a decision to save £9,000 a year and avoid the horrific tendering process. I spoke to my team, floated the idea, and they tested, and researched, and came back and said it would work for about £100 a year. Count the zeros. £100 a year.
We’re lucky at Rooftop. We’re having a new housing management system that will do all the heavy lifting: the booking of repairs, the checking of balances, the contacting neighbourhood officers.
The things that customers may want to do is entirely separate from our website. All our website needs to be is a brochure. We don’t need £9,000 a year worth of support.
It hasn’t been plain sailing.
The build had to be handled by one member of the team as the chosen platform allows many editors, but only one at a time (although news content can be added by many people simultaneously), and the process of getting information for the site collated has been a challenge, as it’s a classic case of it not falling in to anyone’s day job.
But we’ve done it.
We are free from ‘big website’, we’ve saved a substantial amount of money and we’ve got complete control over the design and look of the site.
We’ve added apps that help us sell homes, send mail updates, provide interactive forms, do everything we were being quoted hundreds of extra pounds by our previous supplier.
I think this is just one of those times that as housing associations we have to ask, not what do we want, or what have they got next door, but what do we need, and what can we do ourselves?
John Rockley, head of communications and marketing, Rooftop Housing Group