“We’ve had people tell us they had never seen such a positive launch of a new system. People were smiling, happy, chatting. There was a real sense of joy and people really embracing it.
Saxon Weald: Transforming customer contact with AI-powered efficiency_
Key takeaways
- Saxon Weald is a housing association, managing approximately 7000 properties
- They faced lack of visibility across customer enquiries, threatening their goals of proactive, people-first service
- The BRIKHousing AI Smart Assistant brings smart, centralised and automated routing of incoming emails across inboxes, for easier management and faster response
- Since launch, over 50% of process painpoints have been resolved
Download the case study_
Learn more how Saxon Weald is using AI to finetune processes and reclaim control.
About Saxon Weald_
Founded in 2000, Saxon Weald is a housing association committed to providing quality homes and services to its residents. With a strong focus on customer experience, Saxon Weald manages approximately 7000 properties across Sussex and Hampshire.
As an organisation, Saxon Weald is dedicated to continuous improvement and innovation with housing management that puts people first. This means ensuring tenant queries are answered promptly, maintaining high standards of living across their housing stock and treating everyone fairly and with empathy.
Debbie Chun
Chief Information Officer, Saxon Weald
The challenge: Fragmented contact, manual processes and limited visibility
Prior to approaching Infinity Group, Saxon Weald faced fragmented visibility across their customer communications, which made it harder to resolve issues faster and take a proactive approach. Legacy technology led to operational bottlenecks that slowed real progress.
They were tracking incoming emails across 18 separate inboxes, meaning the emails could easily be lost. Teams lacked sight over the full customer journey, making it difficult to track and resolve issues efficiently. This spread to their complaints process, with no easy way to track progress or ensure compliance with agreed best practice.
The lack of a unified system meant Saxon Weald could only report on a fraction of customer interactions, undermining their customer charter and making it hard to identify and resolve pain points. It also meant time was often lost trying to understand context and cause inconsistencies in communication.
On top of this, staff were heavily reliant on manual email handling, copying and pasting information between systems and struggling to monitor response times and outcomes.
Overall, precious time was being wasted, customers weren’t getting the experience Saxon Weald wanted to provide and customer-facing teams were often left handling a high volume of communications without the tools needed.
“We only ever had half the story. For me, the big thing about the BRIKHousing solution was actually being able to see and track for the first time all the customer contact across the whole business. That’s really been the game changer.
Rachel Richards
Assistant Director Customer Experience
The solution: an AI Smart Assistant_
Wanting to move on from the legacy systems and use technology to elevate their customer service, Saxon Weald sought a solution that would unify their communications, provide greater visibility and streamline process.
After comparing options on the market, they eventually settled on the BRIKHousing solution. This was due to:
- Out-of-the-box functionality: Via the BRIKHousing solution, Infinity Group offered a solution that could be deployed quickly with minimal configuration, aligning with Saxon Weald’s design principles.
- Intuitive user experience: The system was easy to use for staff with varying technical abilities, which was evident in demos and a key factor in adoption.
- Support and partnership: Saxon Weald felt confident that Infinity Group would provide the support and partnership needed for a successful rollout, especially given their limited in-house Microsoft expertise.
During the demo stage, Saxon Weald were also shown the AI Smart Assistant. This is designed to streamline and automate the management of customer communications for housing associations. For Saxon Weald, this meant:
- Centralising all customer emails into a single inbox for streamlined processing
- Using AI to read and categorise each email, automatically routing it to the correct team or department
- Matching incoming emails to resident records, linking communications to tenancy and property information
- Generating concise summaries of email content and assigns sentiment scores to help staff quickly assess each enquiry
- Supporting automated case creation, enabling staff to convert emails into formal cases with all relevant details pre-filled
While AI had not initially been on their radar, it was clear this technology would solve many of the challenges they were facing internally. The potential rewards were so promising that the AI Smart Assistant was chosen to be rolled out as the first stage of the project. Most crucially, it would enable them to get a better handle on incoming customer queries while empowering their staff to drive a better, person-centred experience.
“Our ultimate aim is to use AI to deal with transactional, non-value-added process parts so we can focus our resources on things that really matter - complex cases, people who need extra support, where a human touch is essential.
Debbie Chun
Chief Information Officer
The Infinity Group approach_
Infinity Group began the deployment by working closely with Saxon Weald to understand their existing processes and pain points, particularly the fragmented handling of customer emails across multiple inboxes. The team mapped out the end-to-end customer contact journey, identifying where automation could deliver the most value.
The technical implementation involved configuring the BRIKHousing AI Smart Assistant to process incoming emails using advanced language models tailored to the housing association context. The assistant was set up to automatically read, categorise and route emails to the appropriate teams based on predefined categories and business rules. Integration with Saxon Weald’s resident database enabled the assistant to match emails to resident records, ensuring that each communication was linked to the correct tenancy and property information.
Our team prioritised using out-of-the-box functionality wherever possible, minimising the need for custom development and accelerating deployment. Throughout the project, Infinity Group maintained close collaboration with Saxon Weald’s stakeholders, providing demonstrations and iterative refinements to ensure the solution aligned with operational needs.
Overcoming AI hesitancy
As a relatively new concept in the industry, there was unsurprisingly hesitancy around incorporating AI at Saxon Weald. While the potential rewards were strong, careful management of anxieties and resistance was still critical. Saxon Weald took a proactive stance, developing a clear AI policy before implementation. This policy set out “red lines” for usage, explicitly stating that AI would not be used for decisions impacting customers’ lives or colleagues, but would be leveraged for transactional interactions where automation could add value without risk. This clarity helped reassure staff and the board, who were consulted and kept informed throughout the process.
To further demystify AI, Saxon Weald’s team piloted AI tools like Copilot in advance, allowing staff to experience the benefits firsthand and build familiarity with the technology. This groundwork meant that, by the time the BRIK AI Smart Assistant was deployed, AI was already familiar. Infinity Group supported this approach by providing transparent demonstrations and ongoing support, ensuring that Saxon Weald’s team felt confident and empowered throughout the transition.
There were also established mechanisms for ongoing oversight, including an AI impact assessment tool to evaluate new use cases and ensure ethical, equitable deployment long-term. This combination of clear policy, open communication practical exposure, and visible support enabled Saxon Weald to move from initial caution and anxiety to widespread acceptance and even enthusiasm for AI.
“We set clear boundaries for AI use, consulted across the business and put the right policies in place. Yes, there was anxiety, but the benefits absolutely outweighed the risks.
Debbie Chun
Chief Information Officer
Outcomes and benefits_
It has only been a short time since the AI Smart Assistant went live at Saxon Weald, but the impact has already been seismically felt. Over 50% of identified pain points with the customer contact and complaints management process have been solved. There has been a sense of calm and confidence among staff. While resistance to AI was an initial concern, employees have rapidly adopted the new solution with only a minimal number of support request raised in the initial weeks.
On top of this, Saxon Weald have experienced:
- Time savings for the customer support team through automated case creation and intuitive workflows
- Improved visibility of all customer and non-customer contacts, enabling smarter resource allocation
- Positive feedback from staff and leadership, immediately following launch
- Compliance and risk reduction through guided processes and reduced GDPR risks
With further BRIK modules due to go live in the coming months, covering repairs and further AI scaling, the benefits so far feel like the tip of the iceberg.
“We’ve now resolved over 50% of those pain points related to customer contact and complaints within that first launch. That’s not just a vague improvement; these are real business problems solved.
Debbie Chun
Chief Information Officer
Bring your housing processes into future with BRIKHousing_
Legacy technology may feel like a safe place for your business, but it can quickly leave you struggling with bottlenecks and frustrations that threaten performance and growth. Embracing innovative, AI-ready technology is crucial to achieving goals, addressing incoming challenges and making processes easier to manage.
The BRIK Housing Management System was made to revolutionise housing processes, futureproofing your organisation. With tailorable modules built to meet your specific needs, we can help you overcome challenges and drive your desired results.
We would love
to hear from you_
Our specialist team of consultants look forward to discussing your requirements in more detail and we have three easy ways to get in touch.
Call us: 03454504600
Complete our contact form
Live chat now: Via the pop up
