Identifying the need and choosing a solution

Q: What concrete need led you to start considering a digital tenant experience platform like Avy?

Answer: We had no digital channel of our own for enquiries between us and our residents. Communication was handled through employees’ personal email addresses and phones, which made customer service very dependent on individual availability, resource-intensive and hard to keep track of. The overall picture of incoming cases became fragmented, and from the residents’ point of view it was neither clear nor smooth. We needed to centralise housing-related enquiries, reduce the load on customer service and create a more structured way of working – both for residents and for the organisation. Initially we assumed this need would be met in other ways, in particular as part of a future ERP system.

Q: How did you conclude that Avy was the right solution for you and your residents?

Answer: The idea of a digital service channel was initially tied to a larger ERP procurement, where a resident-facing solution was seen as part of a future all-in-one system. That made the solution feel distant and hard to pin down. A visit from a representative from Avy changed our perception and made the need far more concrete. Through that conversation it became clear that a tenant platform could work as a stand-alone solution that could be implemented quickly and address the everyday challenges we were facing. It made us shift our focus from a long-term systems project to a practical solution that could create value straight away.

Implementation and use

Q: How has the implementation of Avy’s platform gone so far?

Answer: The implementation was generally well controlled, but it did require a lot of work from the organisation. At the same time we introduced several other major changes to our ways of working: we phased out employees’ personal email addresses and introduced shared team inboxes, voicemail and appointment booking. Avy was therefore part of a wider change in how we work, not an isolated initiative. From our perspective the implementation went well on Avy’s side. Support was available and any issues that came up were resolved smoothly. The collaboration made it easy to be open about both half-formed ideas and practical challenges, and those discussions often helped us clarify our needs and take concrete steps forward. The implementation did not require any changes to our existing systems. Technically the platform works well, but in practice we have had to find creative solutions, because our property portfolio is varied and a single uniform model does not suit every property.

Q: What has worked well and what has been challenging?

Answer: What has worked particularly well is that residents now have a clear channel for enquiries and contact. It has reduced the load on employees’ personal email and phones and created a better structure in customer service. Even though Avy is part of a larger change, it has been a very valuable addition to our service offering. The challenges are mainly about activating existing tenants. Not everyone switches to a new channel straight away, and during the transition we have had to keep parallel ways of working in place. We see that as a natural part of the process of change, though.

Q: Is there a feature or service in the platform that you find particularly valuable?

Answer: The most important thing is that all housing-related enquiries are gathered in one place from the resident’s point of view. Repair reports, information and contact with customer service are not separate functions but parts of a whole. That strengthens residents’ self-service and makes it easier to divide the work internally.

Future and further development

Q: What future opportunities do you see for Avy’s platform in your business?

Answer: From our perspective, Avy’s most important future role is to be the primary contact channel for residents. The aim is not to keep adding services without control, but to strengthen one clear, well-functioning channel where housing-related enquiries are handled smoothly. We see Avy as a flexible platform that can be developed incrementally, based on our operations and our varied property portfolio. Not every feature lends itself to being implemented the same way everywhere, which makes adaptability a key strength. In the longer term Avy can become part of a larger system landscape, where different digital solutions work together without locking the business into one specific way of working. Our development is guided by residents’ needs and by insights from day-to-day work. The most important thing is that the platform supports smooth processes, reduces manual work and gives a better overview.

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