The social housing sector is at the forefront of cloud adoption in the UK, according to a recent survey by OneAdvanced. The annual Business Trends Report 24/25 shows that social housing organisations are outpacing all other UK industries with the exception of business services in the exclusive use of cloud-based applications.
The OneAdvanced survey drew responses from over 6,000 professionals and leaders across UK industry, with the aim to discover the current relationship between public and private sector organisations and the latest technology.
When asked the question ‘Which types of applications are used within your organisation?’, 47% in social housing said they use solely cloud-based applications. This figure is second only to business services (50%) and notably higher than other private sector industries, including distribution and logistics (28%), retail and wholesale (30%), and manufacturing (31%).
In the public sector, we find 37% in education, 33% in local and central government, and 33% in the NHS using the cloud as a stand-alone technology. While these numbers show an increase of a few percentage points per sector when compared to last year’s survey, the social housing sector has jumped from 29% to 47% – the biggest increase of any sector.
Blazing a trail
Looking at the figures, it appears the social housing sector has become something of a trailblazer for wholesale cloud adoption. There are a few possible explanations for this rapid advancement to the cloud:
- Agility: the social housing sector must remain agile in the face of new legislation and ambitious home building targets; the cloud is the ideal platform for this level of flexibility and scalability.
- Cost: amid financial uncertainty, cloud and other SaaS-based models represent a known quantity, with fixed costs.
- Communication: with stringent new rules surrounding tenant communication, the cloud allows providers to offer 24/7 access to services and information.
Other benefits to going fully cloud-based include enhanced security, easily accessible data for analysis and reporting, and an intuitive, ‘always on’ platform for hybrid and remote working.
Looking to the (near) future
While the social housing sector has done an exceptional job in embracing new and emerging technologies, there is still a little catching up to do – after all, 35% are using a combination of cloud and on-premise systems, while 16% are using solely on-premise infrastructure.
However, given the rates of adoption, we would expect to see complete (or near complete) utilisation of the cloud within the next few years. For social housing providers looking to make the change from on-premise to the cloud, we have a dedicated support team on hand to answer any questions you may have.
For further details on the insights above and to find out how the social housing sector is faring when it comes to ESG, DE&I, cybersecurity, AI, and more, download your copy of the Housing Trends Report today.
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