Mobile working specialist Footprint Solutions has announced plans to further strengthen its catalogue of offsite workforce solutions with a new app under its Housing Support Pro service, which gives housing trusts across the UK full operational control over information capture, payment collection and lone worker protection.

The Housing Support Pro app, which will be available in March 2015, will provide mobile neighbourhood officers and their management team with access to business critical information while out in the field. It will transform the way in which housing organisations engage with their customers, removing the silo approach to service provision by providing real-time information and generating service requests for customers in an instant.

“There are three distinct elements to the new app,” commented Glyn Cunnah, Head of Housing Sales at Footprint Solutions. “First, it is completely vendor-neutral, so it will sit alongside any core housing management solution. Secondly, customer and account information will be available offline to enable continuous work without mobile signal, and finally the forms can be generated from the app with pre-populated data, saving time and resources for remote workers.”

John Sant, Chief Executive of Footprint said: “Prior to launching our Housing Support Pro web-service in June 2014, we identified two key issues within the housing market. The most prominent problem is that housing management solutions are large-scale, complex systems which are generally poor at providing mobile workers with information on-the-move. We designed the solution to sit alongside these larger systems, providing critical information to ensure high standards of service.”

“The reason the solution has received unprecedented levels of interest from housing trusts is due to the significant time and efficiency savings that we have achieved here. We are looking at paper-usage reductions in excess of 47% and cost savings in year one exceeding £500,000. Not only has this meant that the solution is cost-effective to run, but it has also achieved a 400% return on investment.

“The industry has been subject to considerable reform over the past 24 months and we feel that, in certain areas such as mobile working, the larger solution providers have struggled to keep up with the demands placed upon our organisation. Footprint has allowed us to transform our services and we look forward to implementing the app in the New Year.”

John Sant of Footprint continued: “There has been high demand for the first phase of the Housing Support Pro solution and we are 100% committed to enabling our housing customers to efficiently and cost effectively work within their communities. Using our expertise, we have plugged a gap between what the existing housing solutions offer and the actual information the client-facing teams need in the community.”

Footprint Solutions provides information management and mobile working solutions to some of the highest profile clients in the UK including The Information Commissioner and the National Archives.