Leading technology company Alertacall has benefitted from a £1.5m investment from Middleton Enterprises to support the growth of its Housing Proactive service, enabling it to become a one-stop shop for customer engagement for social landlords.
The service enables housing providers looking to strike the right balance between digital engagement and personal contact with their customers, to improve resident communication, as well as creating cost and time saving efficiencies.
Alertacall’s Housing Proactive service is a specialist, technology-based housing management system designed for older people and those with additional needs. They have a customer base of more than 50 housing providers across the UK and ambitious growth plans. With Digital Switchover imminent, Alertacall is also expanding its housing technology suite of solutions to create safer, smarter and more connected homes, including WiFi deployment, video door entry, fire alarms and video calling.
This investment will create 15 new jobs in Alertacall’s technology and business development teams. The company has offices in Windermere and Warrington, is debt free with an A1 credit rating, currently employing 80 people.
James Batchelor, CEO of Alertacall, said: “It’s fantastic that we have secured this investment from an organisation that has a real track record in supporting SMEs with unique business propositions. We were approached by several private equity firms however Middleton Enterprises stood out due to its commitment to be involved as part of our business on a long-term basis, and also because they understood the importance of our social purpose too. The investment will help us deliver several brilliant services for social housing providers looking for the very best ways to engage digitally with residents, and particularly those with sheltered housing looking for modern, flexible and highly-affordable approaches for their properties post Digital Switchover.”
Mike Elliot, Finance Director of Middleton Enterprises, added: “We are really pleased to invest in Alertacall, which has strong growth potential and is exceptionally well regarded by its client base. We are also impressed with the social value created by the business, which has a goal to improve the lives of individuals with higher needs. It’s rare to find a company that has such strong purpose, leadership and sustained investment in technology, and all of us here are excited to support the team on the next phase of the journey.”
Alertacall’s new range of innovations supported by this investment include:
- WiFi installation ‘made easy’ – dramatically reducing costs and improving efficiency compared to ‘hardwired’ solutions ahead of Digital Switchover
- A unique environmental sensor to help landlords to comply with the Homes Act and proactively identify maintenance issues
- Video calling and messaging for residents to contact staff using the Housing Proactive touchscreen
- Video door entry integration to portable touchscreen, enabling residents to view staff, family or other visitors
- A free repairs reporting app built into its touchscreens enabling further self-service
- Further investments in artificial intelligences that can be used to detect changing needs
