The Housing Corporation confirmed that it has signed a three-year contract with Steria for the management of its core infrastructure services, including the hosting of business applications, the provision of a service desk solution which will provide a full end-to-end service management service solution.
The contract also allows for the upgrade of the Corporation's desktop and server infrastructure to allow for a more resilient and stable infrastructure service.
The service will go live on 2 January with service transformation activities being delivered over a six-month period to June 2008.
IBS OPENSystems signed an agreement worth over £400,000 with Cheshire Peaks & Plains Housing Trust. Under the agreement, IBS will provide the Trust with an integrated housing management and repairs system. The system will help the Trust to reduce license and support costs by 50%.
The software will enable the Trust to record housing information in real time and streamline business processes across departments. It will support 40 users and enable staff to handle housing repair requests and complaints of antisocial behaviour more effectively. The Trust will also deploy around 50 handheld personal digital assistants for its field engineers.
Cheshire Peaks & Plains Housing Trust began operation in July 2006 following the transfer of nearly 5,000 homes from Macclesfield Borough Council.
IBS OPENSystems also signed a five-year agreement worth over a million pounds with Sandwell Homes, to provide a housing management system. The system will support over 1,000 users and enable employees to access and record housing information in real time.
Sandwell Homes is an Arms-length Management Organisation set up by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council to manage 30,000 council dwellings.