Welcome to 3C Consultants Ltd – Your Partner in Social Housing IT Solutions

At 3C Consultants Ltd, we specialize in providing innovative IT solutions tailored to the unique needs of the social housing sector. Our expertise helps housing providers enhance their data management, improve compliance, and achieve operational excellence.

Social housing IT solutions
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Social housing technology services
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Social housing Fractional CDO
Social housing Fractional CTO
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Data integration for social housing
Data error detection software
Automated data management system
IT strategy for housing providers
Social housing performance analytics
Cybersecurity for social housing
Knowledge and information management (KIM) in social housing
How to improve data management in social housing
Best IT solutions for social housing providers
Social housing regulatory compliance IT services
External assurance for social housing IT
Social housing data maturity audit
Social housing data audit
Social housing knowledge and information management
Social housing KIM
Data integrity solutions for housing associations
Social housing IT consultants in the UK
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IT services for housing providers in the UK
Data management for social housing in the UK
Social housing IT consultants in England
IT services for housing providers in England
Data management for social housing in England
Social housing governance risk compliance consultants in the UK
Social housing IT consultants in Scotland
IT services for housing providers in Scotland
Data management for social housing in Scotland
Social housing governance risk compliance consultants in the UK
Social housing IT consultants in Wales
IT services for housing providers in Wales
Data management for social housing in Wales
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Social housing IT consultants in Ireland
IT services for housing providers in Ireland
Data management for social housing in Ireland
Social housing governance risk compliance consultants in Ireland
Housing Ombudsman data management
Regulator of Social Housing compliance
Social housing regulation

Why Choose 3C Consultants Ltd?

Expertise in Social Housing ITWith years of experience in the social housing sector, we understand the challenges you face. Our team of experts is dedicated to delivering solutions that address your specific needs, from data integrity to regulatory compliance.
Comprehensive IT ServicesWe offer a wide range of IT services, including:

Data Management and Integration
IT Strategy and Planning
Compliance and Risk Management
Performance Analytics
Cybersecurity Solutions

Proven Track RecordOur clients trust us to deliver results. We have a proven track record of helping social housing providers improve their IT infrastructure, streamline operations, and enhance service delivery.
Customized SolutionsWe know that one size does not fit all. That's why we provide customized IT solutions that are tailored to your organization's unique requirements. Whether you need a complete IT overhaul or targeted improvements, we have the expertise to help.

Our Services

Data Management and Integration Ensure your data is accurate, secure, and easily accessible. Our data management services help you integrate disparate systems, improve data quality, and gain valuable insights.

IT Strategy and Planning Develop a robust IT strategy that aligns with your organizational goals. Our consultants work with you to create a roadmap for IT success, ensuring you stay ahead of the curve.

Compliance and Risk Management Navigate the complexities of regulatory compliance with confidence. We provide comprehensive risk management solutions to help you meet regulatory requirements and avoid penalties.

Performance Analytics Unlock the power of your data with our performance analytics services. We help you analyse key metrics, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to improve your operations.

Cybersecurity Solutions Protect your organization from cyber threats with our advanced cybersecurity solutions. We offer a range of services to safeguard your data and ensure business continuity.

Social Housing Data Maturity Assessment Undertake a data maturity assessment to evaluate your journey towards excellent data governance and excellence for your customers and colleagues.

Social Housing Data Compliance Review data policies and data procedures to assess compliance.

Social Housing Data Strategies Create or review a data governance strategy, data management strategy, information management strategy or data quality strategy.

Social Housing Information Architecture Undertake data lifecycle mapping, to understand the passage of data through your organisation, resulting in "as is" and "to be" information architectures.

Social Housing Data Assurance Perform data quality and data compliance evaluations using our data management tool, 3C Data Logic, providing assurance to your organisation.

Social Housing Data Insight & Performance Develop key performance Indicators to measure ongoing data quality and data compliance throughout your organisation.

Social Housing Data Roles Establish the key data roles, key data responsibilities and the associated operating models for excellent data governance.

Social Housing Data Competency Establish your data competency frameworks to identify the skills, competencies and training your staff need to fulfil their data roles.

Social Housing Data Security Establish a robust, secure and compliant data environment.

Social Housing Data Governance Establish or review all aspects of your data governance framework ensuring it aligns with your organisation's business strategy and vision.

Social Housing Data Classification Improve your information management by understanding and implementing a data classification scheme and a data dictionary.

Social Housing Data Audits Perform audits on existing data frameworks, data strategies or the data itself to provide assurance.

Articles by 3C Consultants

Data Standard in Social Housing

6 months ago, I published an article in Housing Executive entitled The Social Housing IT Timebomb. This is an alarmist headline, but looking back was it justified?

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 went ‘live’ in April. This was a probably the largest change in regulatory requirements that the social housing sector has ever seen, with the Regulator of Social Housing (RoSH) stating that it will take a more rigorous approach to checking the reported performance information it receives from social landlords. This was in reaction to a poor perceived sector performance in 2023, with maladministration findings up 323% in 2022 and compensation payment orders having doubled. Poor knowledge and information management (KIM) was seen to be at the heart of the problem with the Housing Ombudsman’s May 2023 Spotlight Report stating:

“…poor information management is such a strong and reoccurring theme across service areas that it is the closest thing the sector could get to a silver bullet. I urge the sector to digest the learning from this report and create a KIM strategy.”

Since April there have been a number of examples of this more rigorous approach. For example, in October the London Borough of Newham received a ‘C4’ grading from RoSH, reflecting “serious failings” in Newham’s performance reporting. Such has been the concern with regards to the accuracy of information being provided by some Landlords that RoSH has said:

“We would ideally like to see independent external assurance to support any internal audit”

The new consumer standards

Not only do the new regulatory standards mark an increase in performance scrutiny, but the breadth of requirement has expanded. In addition to the existing standards around rent, governance and viability, and value for money, there are a number of new consumer standards:

Safety and quality of tenant’s homes
Transparency and accountability - How landlords provide information, listen and act.
Neighbourhoods and communities - How you work with other organisations to create safe neighbourhoods.
Tenancy standards - How landlords allocate and let homes and manage tenancies.

This was the regulatory timebomb I was referring to and it is no surprise that it is reported that many social housing senior executives are questioning if they want to hang around to see if the bomb goes off in their organisation.

At the heart of the new regulations is a demand for social landlords to better manage knowledge and information management systems or simply put to better manage the data they hold. It is generally accepted that landlords are ‘data rich, but insight poor’. Performance data is often spread across disparate IT systems and spreadsheets, without checks on data integrity. Most of the sector’s data analysts will tell you that they don’t have complete faith in the data they use for reporting purposes and that they spend far too much time trying to collate data before they can do any analysis. This creates enormous inefficiency and presents a considerable threat to organisational governance, risk and compliance – a metaphorical ticking timebomb that threats organisational security and job security that is already resulting in increasing level of data-related regulatory downgrades. Research carried out by 3C indicates that:

Around 80% of governance and consumer downgrades are related to poor data management

We expect that this will be further compounded by the introduction of the new 4^th regulatory grading level that was introduced in 2024. RoSH has stated that achieving a top level 1 grading will be more difficult.

The need for data standards

A criticism of the new regulations is that there is a lack of clarity as to exactly how to formulate the regulatory data being requested. Why are data standards important?

Consistency and Coherence – helping ensure accurate comparisons.
Improved Data Governance - crucial for compliance and for maintaining tenant trust.
Enhanced Performance - more effectively analysis of performance metrics
Streamlined Reporting - making it easier to comply with requirements and avoid penalties.
Integration and Interoperability - facilitates better integration of different IT systems.
Cost Efficiency - reducing the time and resources spent on data management and reporting.

Overall, implementing data standards is a critical step towards achieving better data management, improving service delivery, and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements in the social housing sector. The UK Housing Data Standards, developed by HACT in partnership with OSCRE International, aim to address this need by improving data quality, governance, and performance across the sector, but these have yet to be formally recognised by RoSH.

The introduction of data standards in the sector needs to be seen as a priority!

What do social landlords need to do?

Social housing leaders also need to accept accountability for data management and KIM strategy, ensuring that the right skills and resources are in place. This journey to data maturity is well trodden. You assess your starting point and draw up your plans for improvement, prioritising those data areas where there is greatest risk to your tenants and your organisation. Two fundamental principles need to be applied:

Appropriately qualified C-level accountability for KIM
The use of technology to support information integrity assurance

The business case for external assurance, rather than internal, the ‘Fractional Executive’, is compelling: lower cost; no recruitment; turn on and off as required; less management time; no training; cover should an individual be unavailable; and often a breadth of knowledge that’s drawn from across the sector. I suspect it won’t be long before most landlords are accessing such support to help ensure good governance. Indeed, if high regulatory gradings are to be achieved, it is likely to be required, just as it is for financial information.

Combine a Fractional Exec with data error detection software and you have much of what you will need to defuse the IT timebomb, not just improving KIM and good organisational governance, but supporting the culture change needed to become a truly effective and data-driven business.

Data Lakes, Data Warehouses and Good Data Governance

Case Study: Data Lakes, Data Swamps, Data Warehouses – How to utilise with 3C Data Logic

Many organisations are developing data lakes or data warehouses to better manage data and to demonstrate good data governance. This article explores what they are, their challenges and alternatives.

What is a data lake?

A data lake is a centralised location within the organisation in which to store your data, regardless of its source or format. The data stored can be either structured or unstructured. The idea is that it provides for cost-effective, high-volume storage allowing your organisation to centrally store data to be analysed and processed at a later stage in its life cycle.

Importantly, but often overlooked, you should then use a variety of data processing tools to add structure, curate and extract value from the data that you are storing and make the resulting data widely available to data consumers within the organisation for analysis purposes. Failure to provide the curation and analysis features of a data lake far too often results in the creation of a “data swamp”, an outcome to be avoided!

Because of the growing variety and volume of data, both structured and unstructured, data lakes are an emerging and powerful architectural approach, especially as organisations look to innovate and improve with decisions backed by data.

What is a data warehouse?

A data warehouse is a centralised store of data, typically generated by the departments of an organisation from application databases. A data warehouse is the result of one or more extract, transform and load (ETL) processes pulling data from a company's operational and sometimes external (structured) data sources and turns them into meaningful data for analytic and reporting purposes.

A data warehouse is typically used for business intelligence purposes providing consumable data to data reporting, analysis and visualisation tools like Power BI, Qlik, Tableau and others.

Because data warehouses are highly structured in nature, they can take time to assemble and as a result can lack the flexibility required by the modern data led organisation for processing new sources of data, especially of the unstructured variety.

What is the difference between a data warehouse and a data lake?

Data lakes and data warehouses are both widely used for storing data, but they are not interchangeable terms. A data lake is a vast pool of raw data (structured and unstructured), the purpose for which is often not yet defined. A data warehouse on the other hand is a repository for structured, filtered data that has already been processed for a specific purpose – usually data analytics, reporting or business intelligence.

The objective of a data lake is to enable the curation of data, adding structure, enabling it to be subsequently analysed and used. Data warehouses can be used to ingest curated data from a data lake, augmenting what is already available.

Can a data lake replace a data warehouse?

No. Data lakes most likely will not replace data warehouses. Rather the two options are intended to complement one another. Typically, with data curated within the lake being used to populate a data warehouse or analysed by data scientists who are able to use a data lake’s analytics tools (if available).

Building a data lake or a data warehouse for your business should not be undertaken lightly. A very clear understanding of what you are seeking to achieve, the value to the business and why it is needed, should be availed to decision makers. In addition, a bottom-up analysis of the data that will be used as inputs should be undertaken to attain as fully as possible, knowledge and understanding of the scale and complexity of the project.

Data warehouses are tried and tested methods of collating structured data from databases for analytics purposes, but they lack flexibility and can be time consuming and expensive to build. They are considered inappropriate when large volumes of data from unstructured sources are to be analysed. It is commonly for this reason that data lakes are heralded as the modern way of collecting and processing data for analytics purposes.

Data lakes, in theory, should eliminate the concerns of the data analysts and scientists but in so doing, introduce a massive new set of issues not least of which is managing the governance of the data, the risk of data loss / theft, data retention, compliance, quality and more.

A data lake is one way to go, but only if there is a layer on top of the lake which is used to govern it’s use and provide support to not only your data analysts and scientists to curate and in-turn analyse the data, but empowering all employees to undertake ad-hoc, self-service, insightful engagement with data to inform data-backed decisions to improve business outcomes.

Data lakes are relatively new technology solutions and can be resource and time intensive to build, run and maintain. Realising storage benefits are the easy part, but curating the data for use is often considered a dark art, restricted to those that are technically skilled. Consequently, the perceived ROI is often not achieved, and the lake quickly clogs up to become a data swamp.

Is there an alternative?

Data curation tools are now available that compliment or even provide a cost-effective alternative to a data lake or warehouse.

These tools provide a means of not only servicing the historical needs of a data warehouse solution for your structured data sources, but enhancing it to provide ad-hoc, self-serve analytics. It is also an innovative way of addressing the challenges of processing unstructured data offered by a data lake, empowering all employees to engage with data, delivering trust and confidence in the data, through a process that delivers quality and compliant data within the business.

In conclusion, such data curations tools can either co-exist with a data lake and/or a data warehouse or replace or run independently of the two, to suit and support business data needs now and into the future. The data dictionary/catalogue functionality and the tightly integrated ability to automate and facilitate data quality and compliance checks also provide distinct benefits to support organisational data governance objectives, therefore solving key data governance requirements.

Cost implications and the time taken to achieve required outcomes and a return on investment are also essentially important. In our experience, the cost and risks are less and easier to control.

Another final but significant benefit is that these tools can be procured ‘as a service’ which effectively enable you to utilise them on a try before you buy basis enabling you to establish what role they should play in fulfilling your data strategy and what its potential value is to your organisation without the significant up-front capital investment typically required.

In summary, organisational strategy should explore the option of utilising such tools as the benefits in cost, time and outcomes could be considerable.

The Social Housing IT Timebomb

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act went ‘live’ this month and represents the greatest change to regulation in decades, both in its requirements and the increasing level of scrutiny. Many organisations fear they will struggle to comply.

The vision behind the new regulations is simple:

“Tenant’s will live in safe homes and their relationship with their landlord will be one of respect” Regulator of Social Housing (RoSH)

They come at a time of poor perceived sector performance, with maladministration findings up 323% in 2023 and compensation payment orders having doubled. Poor knowledge and information management (KIM) is seen to be at the heart of the problem. In May 2023, the Housing Ombudsman’s Spotlight Report stated:

“Poor information management is such a strong and reoccurring theme across service areas that it is the closest thing the sector could get to a silver bullet. I urge the sector to digest the learning from this report and create a KIM strategy.”

Pilot inspections in preparation for the new regulatory standards revealed that too often organisations weren’t able to evidence the policies and processes they claimed to have, so the Regulator will now be requesting evidence-based outcomes of compliance, rather than submitted policies and procedures.

Which brings us to the social housing IT timebomb

I.T. stands for Information Technology, but too many have focused on the technology element, rather than the information. Ask most ‘IT’ Departments, and they will tell you that their focus is technology, and that integrity of information is not their responsibility.

It is normal for landlords to be data rich, but insight poor. Performance data is often spread across disparate IT systems and spreadsheets, without checks on data integrity. Most sector analysts will tell you that they don’t have complete faith in the data they use for reporting purposes and that they spend too much time trying to collate data before they can do any analysis. This creates enormous inefficiency and presents a considerable threat to governance, risk and compliance. This is the timebomb I am referring to and is already resulting in increasing level of data-related regulatory downgrades. This will now be further compounded by the introduction of the new 4th regulatory grading level. RoSH has stated that achieving a top level 1 grading will be more difficult.

Defusing the IT timebomb

Housing Executive magazine (Page 102)

The first step is for social housing leaders to accept accountability for KIM strategy, ensuring that the right skills and resources are in place. This journey to data maturity is well trodden. You assess your starting point and draw up your plans for improvement, prioritising those data areas where there is greatest risk to your tenants and your organisation. Two fundamental principles need to be applied:

Appropriately qualified C-level accountability for KIM
The use of technology to support information integrity assurance

I would add to this the need for a level of external assurance due to issues arising from organisations ‘marking their own homework’. In a recent “Interview with the Regulator” hosted by CIH, it was stated:

“We would ideally like to see independent external assurance to support any internal audit”

The first judgements against the new regulations will be released in June/July 2024. They will give us an indication of what the future holds. I believe that those landlords that embrace the new regulations, defusing the IT timebomb, will be those that flourish. The financial and reputational penalties for those that don’t could threaten the future of the organisation. There are over 1,500 social landlords in the UK, which many say is far too many.

“It is not the strongest that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin

4 things to consider when buying software and…

Is the change in ownership of Housing Software Companies a good thing for the social housing sector?

Housing Executive Magazine (page 129)

I was recently asked by Dave Louden of consultancy firm Digital Bark if I would join a webinar to explore if recent changes in ownership of housing management software suppliers has been a good thing for the social housing sector. Aareon, Civica and Capita have recently made announcements about such changes and there have been many other over the years.

Far too many social housing landlords appear unhappy with the service they receive from their housing management software supplier, and this can be particularly evident after there has been a change of ownership. Yet you would expect that by providing a great customer experience, the new owner would enhance their chances of being successful.

In my experience, the answer can be found in understanding motivations (which for me applies to most things in life). What are those in charge of these software companies being motivated to do? When they sit around the Boardroom table, what are their priorities and importantly, how are they incentivised? Once this is understood, much can often be explained.

The webinar took place in September, was well attended and facilitated some great debate. The consensus of opinion on the impact of changes to ownership was that it depended on what has justified the investment. For example, two potential drivers can commonly be:

Synergies and economies – Products and services can be improved by bringing two complimentary organisations together, providing access to skills, software and other resources that strengthen the combined offer and provide benefits and assurance to both shareholders and customers. A recent example of this could be the coming together of Designer Software (who own HomeMaster) and Housing Online (who own the MyHome customer portal). A few months after Designer Software took a stake in Housing Online, feedback from both these organisations along with comment from their respective customers suggests that this is generally considered a positive move for all concerned.
Shareholder value – This is where the primary motivation for change of ownership is a return on the money invested. There are many examples of this, with one I am particularly familiar with being Castleton’s acquisition of Documotive and Kyperia. Such acquisitions can provide great value to customers and staff, but too often achieving this is put secondary to generating shareholder return.

Having for 8 years been a CEO of a business that had significant institutional investment from banks and venture capitalists, I know how hard it can be to balance great service with ensuring you meet the requirements of the investor, but it is entirely possible. I believe my business was renowned for good service and it certainly enjoyed low levels of staff turnover and high levels of customer retention. This strategy was rewarded by both growth and profitability. Many however can take a different approach, focusing on profit at the expense of a good working environment for staff and great service for customers. The latter approach is often considered a swifter and more assured method of achieving a return for shareholders. It is all reflects the preferences and motivations of leadership.

So how do you decide if an acquisition is likely to be a positive move for the sector. Below are a number of questions that could be asked:

Has the new owner acquired before and if so, what was the experience of those customers that found they had been acquired? 30 minutes on the internet will probably give you a good idea.
Leadership is generally considered fundamental to service excellence. You can use LinkedIn to review the background of the senior team followed by an internet search to explore their track record.
Often details of the new owner’s strategy can be found online. Do they have an ‘Investors’ web page? This may include details of the business mission, which in itself can provide an indication of what the organisation’s priorities are.
Is the new owner likely to stay the owner or will they sell the business in a few years? Again, indications of this can often be found online based on past track record.

Asking these questions will support the software selection process. The more concerned you are, the more customer referencing you should do prior to purchase. Buy based on customer feedback rather than the slickness of the sales operation. Utilising specialist software procurement consultants will help ensure nothing is being missed from a governance perspective.

It is a fact that good software businesses attract the attention of investment companies who are willing to offer shareholders large sums for their shares. Understanding how these investors have achieved a return in the past will provide a good indication as to what is likely to happen in the future should they invest. Consideration of this should play an important part in any procurement decision. The quality of customer service you receive will usually be dependent on organisational leadership. This is why it is commonly said that ‘People do business with people’. A change of ownership will often see a change in the senior leadership team and hence the people you deal with and their attitude to service.

Housemark welcomes 3C Consultants to new ‘Hub’ to help tackle housing sector data challenges - Housemark

Housing Executive Magazine (page 85)

We have launched a new Housemark Hub, designed to bring together landlords with best-in-class solutions to improve their use of data.

3C Consultants is the first organisation to join the Hub and will help landlords improve their data quality and governance. We’re set to announce several more partners as we work collaboratively to help landlords make proactive, informed decisions on everything from investment, customer services, asset management and beyond.

Rob Griffiths, our CEO, said:

“Harnessing and maximising the power of data is both the greatest challenge and the most significant opportunity for the sector. We’ve closely examined trends within our exclusive data, identified the challenges landlords face, and recognised the growing imperative and the drive to improve data quality.

“In response, we are working with partners and our network of over 350 landlords, inviting like-minded organisations to collaborate with us in supporting landlords to achieve more and enhance the lives of residents.

“The Housemark Hub will bring together technology solutions and data partners, providing landlords with a one-stop-shop to harness the power of data and improve the resident experience.”

The partnership with 3C Consultants offers data assurance and governance services to the social housing sector, leveraging combined market expertise to support landlords in pursuit of data excellence.

Commenting on the partnership with 3C Consultants, Rob added: “Both organisations are dedicated to supporting the UK housing sector in enhancing performance through the better use of data, ultimately improving tenants’ lives and strengthening organisational capability and capacity.”

Colin Sales, a founder and CEO of 3C, said: “We are delighted to join forces with Housemark to provide landlords with a comprehensive solution for assurance, data governance, risk and compliance. Data has never been more crucial for landlords, and our clients consistently tell us that concerns over technology and data governance are hindering progress in fully harnessing the power of data.

“This partnership brings together the UK housing sector’s leading data provider with 3C’s market-first data assurance solution, 3C Data Logic, along with our data and technology consulting and interim services.”

Achieving Data Excellence | Data Protection People

3 Golden Rules for Data Quality

In this podcast, our hosts Oliver Rear and David Holmes join Colin Sales from 3C Consultants to discuss Achieving Data Excellence

Our conversation was all about data excellence, data accuracy, and more specifically data quality. Colin and the guys at 3C focus mainly on the housing sector but aim to work with a wider range of different sectors across the UK in the near future. Even if you are not in the housing sector there are tons of useful takeaways in this episode, you can find all the links to the documents mentioned in the discussion at the bottom of the page below.

Ultimately, 3C’s business focus is information. Information governance is the quality of that information, its accuracy, and the value that you can draw from that. In this session, we share details on why it’s important to focus on the details and how mishandling data can be worse than never collecting it at all.

(36) 12 Golden Rules for successful Digital Transformation - Rule #1 | LinkedIn

3C's 10 Essential Rules for achieving Data Maturity - 3C

10 Golden Rules for Achieving Data Maturity

A Guide from 3C Consultants

Introduction

Data is an invaluable asset for any organisation, and when it’s correctly managed it will assist you to more swiftly and easily achieve your goals whilst also being the catalyst for continued improvement and growth.

The assessment of how to use data effectively is known as ‘data maturity’, identifying how able an organisation is to make best use of the data it holds. There are several elements to achieving data maturity, which is why at 3C Consultants we’ve created the 10 Golden Rules to achieve data maturity.

Apply these rules properly and effectively and watch as your organisation benefit, empowering staff, improving working environments and providing customers with better service.

Golden Rule 1 - Leadership

In 3C’s experience, if there is no commitment at leadership level, key strategic initiatives will fail.

On the basis that decisions should be based on factual, data-led insight, the Regulator of Social Housing has clearly stated that ‘good quality data forms the cornerstone on which all other assurance of compliance is based’[1]. Hence, the leadership and expertise to ensure this is fundamental. This accounts for the emergence of the CIO (Chief Information Officer) as part of the leadership team.

In theory, the risk that poor data presents to tenant safety and organisational security, along with the essential nature data related insight plays in the achievement of corporate objectives and value for money, should make the need for data maturity compelling enough. However, many leaders simply do not know where to start and, in some cases, delay the journey to data maturity fearful of what they may find. This mindset must change if we are to succeed.

Note: Roles such as CIO need not be full-time and indeed may be cost prohibitive for many organisations. However, due to the regulatory necessity to have access to such expertise, a part-time arrangement should be considered. 3C’s “Fractional Exec” arrangement provides a good example of such a part-time solution.

Golden Rule 2 - Benchmark

In order to measure and celebrate progress, you need to understand and quantify your starting point. Activities to improve an organisation’s data maturity can then be agreed and progress measured and celebrated. Interrogate the data you hold through a data quality discovery process along with interviewing your management, staff, customers and stakeholders, will allow you to identify the challenges and opportunities data provides, whilst also ensuring you consult those you want to travel with you on the journey. It is not uncommon for early, unexpected and valuable improvements to be achieved as part of this process.

Note: Data quality discovery is best achieved through the use of the new breed of automated data quality management tools that are now available. Indeed, The Regulator of Social housing now states the need for “the use of automated data quality assurance tools that monitor and report on data quality in real time”[2]. 3C use Data Logic automated data management software to carry out the data quality discovery process, so providing the reassurance the Regulator needs.

Golden Rule 3 - Don’t recreate the wheel

Many mistakes have already been made by your predecessors. Achievable targets and milestones can be set once you have established what a successful journey to data maturity looks like. Interviewing those who have done it before you or talking to experts like 3C can provide a relatively quick and simple way of discovering what cost effective, proven and reliable methods will work for you.

Golden Rule 4 - Create a Vision

Once you understand what you want to achieve and the benefits a data driven culture will provide, produce and publish your vision for a data-driven organisation and culture. Specific objectives are not necessarily required at this stage, but the vision will help ensure that stakeholders understand your direction of travel and appreciate what ultimately is to be achieved - an environment that will empower staff, reduce cost, increase efficiency and improve customer experiences.

Golden Rule 5 - Return on investment and prioritise

When considering your plan, review where the greatest benefits will be achieved. Organisational security is often seen as the priority. An analysis of recent governance downgrades[3] clearly demonstrates that the majority are related to poor data and the associated poor compliance reporting. Once priorities are understood, plan your activities. The output of this phase should be a roadmap with a defined list of projects, resources, timescales and anticipated outcomes.

Golden Rule 6 – Turn off the ‘Dirty Data Tap’

Create your internal rules for data standards, usually referred to as your ‘Data Dictionary’. Once standards are agreed, use automated data quality software tools, such as Data Logic, to assist you to discover and police data standards, allowing you the opportunity to correct problems by alerting you should a data standard be breached.

Golden Rule 7 - Eradicate Data Munging

Executive stress is often caused by the poor information that is used to underpin important decisions and provide assurance of compliance. Ask any data analysts and they will tell you that the production of poor information is far too often due to the necessity of having to manually compile reports (referred to as ‘data munging’), This can be time consuming and creates the potential for mistakes. It is also only human to want to produce information that others will want to see or that supports your position and therefore if any manual compilation of data has occurred, it needs to be challenged. Again, an automated data quality assurance tool can assist in providing reassurance of data accuracy.

Golden rule 8 - Accountability

Assurance of compliance requires someone to be made responsible. CEO’s have been fired due to someone else within their organisation not being challenged and held accountable for essential compliance requirements. Job descriptions therefore need to reflect accountability for the integrity of important information and competences regularly checked, ensuring any necessary support and development is ready to be provided. If there is concern as to if this capability exists within your organisation, the assistance of a short-term or part-time executive can address it.

Golden Rule 9 - Analytics

There are now a wealth of tools to support you on your journey to data maturity. 3C’s Data Logic service is just one example that provides real-time, 24x7 alerting of data issues as they arise, providing monthly compliance reports that support the assurance you need. Such analytics also provide valuable and proactive insight on your customers and the performance of your service delivery.

Golden Rule 10 - Cultural transformation

The social housing sector is on a trajectory of rapid change driven by changing customer demands and expectations; the need for better compliance; and the drive for better services that reflect value for money. Accurate, accessible data is essential to addressing this challenge. It provides the insight required; empowers staff to make the right decisions; enhances efficiency; enables better customer service and improves working environments. However, great data and insight is worth little without cultural adoption. Ensure staff understand the benefits of data-driven culture change to ‘them’ rather than just the organisation.

To keep staff focused, celebrate success wherever possible, recognising those responsible. Recognition is a powerful motivator in achieving culture change. Considered one of the key motivators, it’s appreciated by those that receive it and envied by those who want it.

Next Steps

The 3C Consultants team have expertise in the challenges posed in achieving data maturity in the social housing sector and these 10 golden rules provide example of that. Our mission is to empower people to deliver social value through the better use of data and technology and 3C are here to support you through every step of your journey , whether that involves digital transformation guidance, cloud solutions consultancy or the expertise and tools to optimise the value you can achieve from better using the data you hold.

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On the latest Digital Outcomes & Specialists 5 (DOS5), to help the public sector buy, design, build and deliver bespoke digital solutions and services using an agile approach.

And in the latest Cloud Support Services category G-Cloud 12, which helps customers in the UK public sector find and buy cloud computing services.

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Digital Transformation

3C provides digital, data and IT consultancy to the social housing and care sectors, and other public sector organisations. We provide a range of services that support the procurement and successful implementation of cloud services that represent true value for money.

Data quality management

A managed service to support good quality data in social housing, care and other public sector organisations. This includes data governance frameworks, data strategies, data skills competencies and testing, data maturity assessments, data audits, data cleansing, data profiling, business intelligence, dashboard development, data migration, and a Fractional CIO service.

3C Data Logic data quality management tool

Cloud or server-based data quality management tool for social housing and public sector, automating data quality monitoring and data compliance for both structured and unstructured data. The tool collates data into a centralised repository, enabling a single version of the truth, providing assurance to your board and regulator.

Should you want to discuss any points in the article and/or see how 3C can empower, engage or transform your organisation, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0333 188 6993 or email info@3cconsultants.co.uk

3C Consultants provides ICT, data and transformation consultancy to the Social Housing and Care sectors. We support clients in the delivery of their digital ambition through modern and innovative technologies, and through supporting sound data governance and data management to ensure demonstrable value and assurance.

A summary of everything 3C

The new consumer standards

This was the regulatory timebomb I was referring to and it is no surprise that it is reported that many social housing senior executives are questioning if they want to hang around to see if the bomb goes off in their organisation.

The need for data standards

What do social landlords need to do?

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