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News

    HousingIT delivering 'software as a service'

    Date issued: 21st May 2009

    Paul Tomlinson, MD of HousingIT, delivered a presentation at at Microsoft’s offices in Reading yesterday. Paul was there to give an overview of his new offering which, I believe, offers something unique in this sector. His new housing system, from HousingIT, is called HousingPoint and it offers proper integration with Microsoft Office applications. It is developed using Microsoft Silverlight and has direct integration to Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint giving full integration with products such as Outlook, Excel and so on (it was demonstrated running on Windows 7 and working with Office 2010). The product is not just browser accessible – it is web delivered, i.e. the software is, maintained by them and managed by them. Users do not have large hardware costs, software costs or license fees. IT staff costs can also be reduced since all users need is a web browser - it was even shown working on a netbook.

    Security is always a concern but Paul is planning to have the system hosted by Microsoft and during a presentation by Microsoft it was learnt that they had been operating their communications and applications worldwide for many years without significant problems and they are well targetted by hackers!

    The application is aimed at small to medium sized organisations although there is nothing really to prevent roll out to much larger entities.

    Paul has not finanlised prices but the figures that were mentioned seem very competative. The application is to be offered on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis, again, something believed to be unique in the sector. Pricing will be based on a cost per seat per annum basis. Those who are responsible for managing costs for IT software, licenses, support, and consultancy are sure to find the approach attractive.

    This product seems to be an application for the 21st Century designed to be delivered in a manner appropriate for today. Furthermore, Paul is someone with experience in the housing software business who knows what users want and the best way to deliver it. He is going to the CIH Conference next month and will be keen to demonstrate the application to those interested.