IT-manager Stadgenoot about the results of the BusinessITScan

Stadgenoot uses BusinessITScan® as 360º Business/IT-thermometer

Stadgenoot: a modern housing corporation

Stadgenoot is a social enterprise working on affordable housing in the metropolis of Amsterdam. Stadgenoot is there for people who cannot make it on their own in the Amsterdam housing market. For people who earn too little to buy a house or rent an apartment in the free housing sector. We rent out homes, take care of the daily and systematic maintenance and ensure a liveable environment. We are a housing corporation that only works within the borders of Amsterdam and we are proud of that.

Stadgenoot was founded in July 2008 from a merger between two Amsterdam housing corporations: the Algemene Woningbouw Vereniging (AWV, founded in 1910) and Het Oosten (founded in 1911). Over 300 people work in Stadgenoot's four business units. Two business units provide financial and housing management: Finance & Operations and Strategy & Portfolio. Customer-focused work is housed in the Customer & Housing business unit. The Real Estate & Development business unit is responsible for real estate-oriented projects.

CFO Roger Doomen is Director of Finance and Operations, Edward Przewozny is Manager of Information Technology.

Why did you choose the BusinessITScan?

Edward explains that he wants to include all his colleagues in this change process: "Operations and IT are the backbone of our organization, all our colleagues have to deal with them. It is therefore important that we periodically assess how they experience this. The BusinessITScan appears to be the only independent 'thermometer' with which IT satisfaction, data-driven work, business operations and IT can be measured easily. We did this fully web-based in two phases: first with all IT colleagues, then with Stadgenoot's business colleagues. We immediately saw the status of the Six success factors for digital transformation and the 25 themes in the dashboard. For a lot of these themes, colleagues entered explanations and suggestions for improvement, which immediately ended up with relevant advice (from the built-in advice library) in the advice report. This way we got an overall picture of our situation. We have shared this - because of Corona - in a webinar open and transparent with all colleagues who completed the BusinessITScan. With all the insights, we have now set up a much better business/IT alignment, we are realizing more successful projects with our colleagues, and we have made good steps in our change process."

Activity-based working to respond more quickly to change

Activity-based working ensures that corporations can respond more quickly to change. But how do you facilitate that with business operations and IT? Edward Przewozny says: "Properly linking expert applications with our core is essential to support activity-based working."

Being fully in control while moving to the cloud is the IT challenge for Stadgenoot, according to Edward: "Our IT vision is that we want to provide our employees with the most current information possible at all times, on all devices. By responding to SaaS applications, we want to ensure that people can do their work anywhere. That means making a switch from managing IT ourselves to managing more IT contracts. At the same time, you want to retain the technical knowledge about the "old" systems, even if you lean more on suppliers. Finding a balance between that technical knowledge and the move to the cloud is currently the challenge for us."

Three pillars in the change process: bits, bytes and behavior

"The move to the cloud is necessary in order to support activity-based working at Stadgenoot, among other things. "We had already examined this hybrid working concept before the corona crisis, but we want to implement it again when it is possible," says Edward. "Activity-based working means that activities are the starting point for choosing your flexible workplace. That can be at home or at the office. That also means that our office has to be adapted." He continues: "We have identified three pillars in this change process: bits, bytes and behavior. The first two relate, for example, to the realization of 22 general meeting rooms for people who come to the office for the day, or the connection of extra networks in order not to overload the wifi on a day when many people work on location. With behavior, we refer to the behavior of people, for example by not disturbing each other in common workspaces with a call but finding a separate space for that. This new way of working really means a change process for us."

Why did you choose the BusinessITScan?

Edward explains that he wants to include all his colleagues in this change process: "Operations and IT are the backbone of our organization, all our colleagues have to deal with them. It is therefore important that we periodically assess how they experience this. The BusinessITScan appears to be the only independent 'thermometer' with which IT satisfaction, data-driven work, business operations and IT can be measured easily. We did this fully web-based in two phases: first with all IT colleagues, then with Stadgenoot's business colleagues."

What insights did you get, and what did you do with it?

Edwin: "We immediately saw the status of the Six success factors for digital transformation and the 25 themes in the dashboard. For a lot of these themes, the 54 colleagues entered explanations and suggestions for improvement, which immediately ended up with relevant advice (from the built-in advice library) in the advice report. This way we got an overall picture of our situation. We have shared this - because of Corona - in a webinar open and transparent with all colleagues who completed the BusinessITScan. With all the insights, we have now set up a much better business/IT alignment, we are realizing more successful projects with our colleagues, and we have made good steps in our change process."