Housing corporations are dealing with enormous challenges and ambitions. These issues can only be addressed effectively when data is well-managed and utilized. How do you start with this as an organization, and what does it bring to both the corporation and its tenants? CorporatieGids Magazine spoke with Senior Strategy and Policy Advisor Ingmar Box and Business Consultant Bella van Meel from Trudo.
Trudo has set high ambitions in its vision, Supporting People: Let’s Innovate, focusing on availability, affordability, sustainability, attractive locations, and inclusivity. Ingmar begins, "To achieve these ambitions, innovation is crucial. The societal challenges are so large that continuing to do what we've always done is no longer enough. Therefore, we are constantly seeking innovations in our products, projects, activities, and processes. By pushing the boundaries in this way, we can achieve our ambitions and tackle the challenges head-on."
Good Data Management
According to Ingmar, good data management is essential for innovation: "We define this as systematically collecting, recording, and analyzing data to obtain valuable knowledge and insights. These insights support our decision-making processes, enabling us to realize our ambitions and improve the organization’s performance. Good data management also means ensuring the quality of our data, making it reliable enough to analyze trends, explain events, and predict future developments."
Backbone of Information Provision
"Managing data well also requires the use of a Document Management System (DMS)," explains Bella. "Such a system ensures the proper, structured storage of data and documents, allowing teams to quickly access the information they need. This not only speeds up workflows but also enhances the consistency and quality of our work. Additionally, a DMS helps us comply with regulations by ensuring that all documents are stored, managed, and accessed in a correct and secure manner. Together with our ERP system, a DMS forms the backbone of our information provision. Recently, we chose E-Content 365 from Archive-IT. Since this system is fully cloud-based, it fits perfectly into Trudo’s cloud strategy. E-Content 365 offers additional benefits in terms of security and user-friendliness and supports our organization’s innovative ambitions."
Clear Strategy
Good data management requires both technical and organizational efforts, Bella continues: "Organizationally, a clear document management strategy is essential. New ways of collaboration, such as within Microsoft Teams or SharePoint, require clear agreements on how we work together and where we store things. A document management strategy provides frameworks for the use of these systems and helps employees work consistently and according to guidelines. However, the success of the system ultimately depends on the involvement and correct usage by the users themselves."
Taking Steps
"A good example of this is monitoring usage and compliance with agreed processes," says Ingmar. "This is key to good data management, meaning that it’s essential to continuously check whether the system is being used properly and is functioning according to the correct setup. By regularly collecting feedback and implementing improvements where needed, we ensure the system remains aligned with the organization’s needs. This is a challenge we still need to make several steps toward."
Consistency and Precision
According to Bella, the future of data management in housing corporations lies in further digitalization and the increased use of smart technologies: "Trudo aims to focus on efficiently managing and utilizing data, with security and compliance as top priorities, while also enhancing the user experience for employees. In E-Content 365, for example, AI will make it possible to search more advanced and automatically classify and tag documents. Additionally, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can be used for the automation of routine tasks. This allows employees faster and more accurate access to the right information, ensuring greater consistency and precision in document management."
"To sum up," concludes Ingmar, "Trudo aims to prepare for a future where data management is seamless, and employees have quick and reliable access to all the information they need. Ultimately, this benefits both the organization and the customers."
Source: CorporatieGids Magazine, 6-01-2025