15th July 2020 | 4 min read

A future-proof solution for Incommunities

Sage X3 is the cornerstone of this digital transformation journey

We spoke to the Transformation Director Paul Knight about how he is helping to lead a transformation programme to help Incommunities become a “digital organisation”, fit for the future.  With the advent of Covid-19, huge leaps have been made in both mobile and home working and the business needs to build on this new agile method of working.

Incommunities Group is one of the largest social housing providers in the UK. It currently manages approximately  21,300 in the Bradford district and a further 1,100 across Kirklees, Rotherham and Wakefield.  The company employs approximately 1,000 people delivering high quality services to its customers with a balance sheet of over £324 million per year.

• A huge logistical operation with many opportunities for change.

Managing and maintaining these properties, especially since the Grenfell Tower fire, is a significant consideration for the business and much of this work is carried out by its own internal workforce.  The workforce is supported by a Logistics Department which procures and stores thousands of fast moving parts for the workforce.  The range of materials is considerable, from building materials to specialist gas and electrical parts.

The challenge for the Logistics Team is to ensure that an efficiently organised warehouse dispatches the right materials, just in time, whilst demonstrating high levels of value for money. 

The business identified that systems supporting this operation need to be electronic, robust, fully auditable and easy to use. Commenting on the project, Paul said, 

“ We have fully digitalised our front line repairs service and the next step is to bring in a contemporary inventory control system, and this is why we have come to Sage X3. We want to modernise across the entire flow from transparent procurement, wireless barcoding and mobile van stocks - all in real time.”

• Sage X3 provides the solution

The organisation has a 5 year operational plan to modernise all activities within Asset Management and this requires an easy to use, multi-company system. Through Datel, the Incommunities team chose Sage X3 for Stores & Procurement Management as one of the cornerstones of their plan and is confident that they are working with the market leader.

With responsive repairs implemented, the team looks forward to bringing Logistics and Inventory Control into the digital world.  The plan is to control everything from a single integrated planning and scheduling system and a fully digital system will create less paper, remove the risk of over or under stocking and increase the number of first-time fixes.

• The future is digital

Right now, Incommunities is heading into the Sage X3 scoping stage with Datel, examining the warehouse and making their operations wireless adapted. Incommunities has a fully described pathway to becoming fully digital and is excited to be working with the Datel team on the Sage X3 implementation. Paul comments,

“We chose Sage due to its pedigree and heritage and I am confident we’ll gain a great return on investment.”