How WDH Transformed Tenant Engagement With Kerv’s Powerful Digital Solution

Inciper (now Kerv) is working with one of the UK’s largest social housing providers with over 32.000 homes across Wakefield district and the north of England (now Vico Homes). 

In 2022, the housing association embarked on an initiative which aimed to increase engagement with tenants and support a large-scale survey, including the capture and tracking of actions and reporting on KPls and benefits. The housing association engaged with Inciper to co-produce a Power Apps App to support the process. 

Before the app, the organisation relied heavily on paper-based processes and Excel spreadsheets. This created a complex, manual system that was slowing them down and leaving too much room for error. Some of the biggest hurdles included:

• Cumbersome survey planning: Visit lists for tenant surveys had to be compiled manually, sorted by location, and physically distributed to field reps, making the process inefficient and prone to mistakes. 
• Protecting vulnerable tenants: There was no simple way to flag residents who needed special consideration or should not be approached, putting both the tenant and staff at risk of negative experiences. 
• Tedious data capture process: Survey responses, follow-ups, and action items were gathered manually making it easy for things to be missed and hard to track any outstanding needs or questions. 
• Connectivity issues: Many areas lacked stable internet access, meaning staff in the field couldn’t reliably enter or access data in real-time. 
• Lack of reliable insight: With no centralised reporting tool, analysing feedback and tracking progress against KPIs was difficult, delaying improvements that tenants urgently needed. 

That’s where Inciper (now Kerv) stepped in. Working closely with the housing association, they set out to design an app that would not only digitise the old paper-based system but elevate it to something far more powerful.

Built on Microsoft Power Apps, the solution was created specifically for mobile use—fully accessible in areas without connectivity, ensuring teams could work seamlessly in the field.

It allowed staff to:

• Access a real-time list of properties and tenant details, including any sensitive information that needed to be considered during visits. 
• Capture survey responses directly in the app quickly, accurately, and consistently. 
• Flag follow-up actions and re-visits on the spot, so nothing fell through the cracks. 
• Instantly report and analyse data using Power BI dashboards bringing real-time transparency to KPIs, trends, and community feedback. 

This wasn’t just a one-off project. The success of the initial rollout opened the door to even greater opportunity.

In 2023, Inciper (now Kerv) continued to work hand-in-hand with the housing association to expand the app’s features and explore brand-new use cases where Power Apps could simplify and enhance more processes; both for staff and tenants. At the same time, they’re supporting the organisation’s journey towards digital independence providing knowledge transfer and training to in-house teams, so they can confidently manage and evolve the platform themselves.

This partnership is a powerful example of how technology, when combined with collaboration and purpose, can do more than digitise a process, it can transform a community.

Highlight: 

The App helped the housing association to secure the award for ‘Best Resident Involvement Initiative’ at the Northern Housing Awards in 2022. The Northern Housing Awards judges said of the project:

This was an incredibly ambitious project – to visit 32,000 homes in just three months is a huge undertaking!

WDH (now Vico Homes)