Maximising AI's Transformative Potential Through an Effective Operating Model

While artificial intelligence offers transformative potential, achieving meaningful returns depends on having an effective operating model.

The housing sector, like all sectors, is on the brink of a major transformation driven by the rapid acceleration of digital capabilities, particularly through the adoption of AI. What’s less clear for housing providers is how this will happen and what they need to do to take advantage of the opportunities. The winners won’t be those who simply digitise old processes. They’ll be the ones who rethink how they operate, to unlock strategic value to achieve significant long-term ROI.

In this blog I make five recommendations from our experience implementing technology and AI in the sector.

1. Think strategically but act decisively

AI will enable both the delivery of efficiencies and improved services for residents. However, too often, the approach to change begins with a list of features or functional requirements: what the system can do, how it relates to the current ways of working, and how to integrate with other systems. This tends to lead to the development of technology which tweaks existing working practices to deliver only minor improvements.

Instead, organisations should think more strategically about how technology will allow them to deliver services differently and how this will be delivered through their operating model.

Your strategy, technology roadmap and transformation plan must be tightly coupled and they must define what role technology and AI will play. Change needs to start with a clear strategic vision for the service not with a set of detailed bottom-up requirements.

The pace of change in technology capability is likely to be faster than anything that we are used to, so differences in speed of adoption between organisations is likely to result in significant differences in operating capabilities.

2. Speed to Capability = ROI

In a world where technology and AI will progressively transform how we operate; the most important driver of ROI is likely to be the speed to acquire capability. Every delay in implementation is a missed opportunity to improve performance, reduce costs, or to improve outcomes for residents.

The phrase “don’t let perfection be the enemy of good” is not new and can be traced back to Aristotle and Shakespeare amongst others... This is even more true when the pace of technology change is accelerating.

There are a two of implications for technology decision making.

The first is about considering opportunity costs when making decisions. We see lots of housing organisations push high value technology change many years into the future because a desire to self-build. While this might get them the ‘perfect’ solution (it often doesn’t!), if this results in years of poor performance before they get there it is unlikely to be the best approach.  

Secondly, a fragmented landscape of legacy systems and internal build projects will slow you down. Instead, platforms that can scale, adapt, and consolidate your data in one place are likely to be the critical enablers for early adoption of AI capabilities.

3. AI is here. But are you set up to take advantage of it?

With all the hype, AI capabilities might still feel like something way off  on the horizon. However, for those with the right foundations it is already helping address challenges that have frustrated the sector for years: optimising diagnosis of repairs, reducing the commercial overhead of managing contractor relationships and optimising the decision to repair versus replacing a component are all activities that AI is already capable of improving. But unlocking these benefits depends on more than the individual use case. It requires a stable technology and data platform, a strategy, and a clear understanding of how each new capability fits into your broader operating model and the changes that will be required to support adoption.

4. Being good at managing change will be a critical enabler of success

It’s impossible to predict how AI capabilities will develop and evolve over time, but that’s not a reason to not start the process of adopting capability when it’s available. It’s likely that the pace of change is going to be fast, we can already see how quickly tools such as ChatGpt are evolving.

The organisations that outperform their peers will likely be those that have the capability to rapidly deploy, test, refine and adopt new capabilities. This is a capability and mindset to invest in.  

5. Lean techniques will still be vitally important

A Partner Ecosystem Built for Change

At Rannoch Associates, we help housing providers assess strategic options. Not just in theory, but in real-world operating conditions. That means working with platforms like Plentific to ensure clients aren’t just buying technology but are building the operating model of the future.

With the right advisory support, housing providers can confidently answer the most important questions:

-        What capabilities will deliver the greatest impact?

-        How quickly can we deploy them?

-        What changes must be made to achieve the desired benefits?

This is where transformation happens. Not in the tech alone, but in the clarity of purpose and speed of execution that sits behind it.

The future of housing is not about point solutions or digital pilots. It’s about having the right platform, the right partners, and the right strategic lens. Don’t self-build complexity where there are alternatives. Don’t delay strategic clarity. Do move quickly toward a connected, AI-ready operating model. The opportunity is here, and the pace of change will be rapid.