Unity Housing
A Zoom contact centre solution is helping Unity Housing Association respond to tenant queries faster and more effectively. Rapidly implemented by Maintel, the new Zoom-based phone system is enhancing service delivery, while AI Companion enables near-instant call wrap-ups. This allows Unity’s service experts to move seamlessly from one call to the next, improving efficiency and the overall tenant experience.
At a glance
Unity Housing Association is a Black and Minority Ethnic (BME)-focused social landlord based primarily in the Chapeltown area of Leeds, with operations extending to Harehills, Beeston, and other inner-city areas, as well as Kirklees. Established in 1987 to address housing needs for BME communities and now serves all sections of the community equally and has since added over 1,400 affordable homes to local housing stock.
The issue:
With the contract for its VoIP phone system coming to an end, Unity was looking for an upgrade. In particular, the Customer Service team was seeking a solution that would allow them to make video calls to tenants and offer more comprehensive reporting.
The project:
Maintel demonstrated three potential solutions of which Zoom was a clear winner in terms of its features, including not only the strength of the video calling offer but also its built-in AI. The Maintel team then completed implementation in around six weeks, ensuring all call flows and menus were transferred and the new phone system was fully integrated.
The outcome:
The impact on both customer and user experience was clear almost immediately. Call quality improved across the business and the solution delivered all the features Unity needed. The clearest benefits have been felt in the Customer Service team, who are able to access far more granular reporting as well as being able to offer an improved service to tenants.
Further, Zoom AI Companion provides an automatic summary of each call, which the Service team can check, then copy-and-paste into the housing management system. That reduces the time spent between calls, so Service advisers can speak to the next tenant sooner – helping reduce abandon rates from almost 1 in 10 to less than 1 in 25.
The Maintel advantage:
As a Zoom platinum partner, Maintel is equipped to provide optimal configuration for the Zoom suite and ensure its integration with other essential business applications.
The Background
One of the most important tasks on the 2025 to-do list of Rajesh Chaukria, IT Manager at Unity Housing Association, was updating the phone system. The Leeds-based social housing company had been using a VoIP solution for a few years, but it had become outdated. In particular, it had limited video capability and, for the company’s Customer Service team, did not offer the reporting functionality they needed.
Rajesh had been exploring options with the company’s existing partner, but after hearing one of the Maintel team speak at the 2024 Social Housing Strategy Forum, he approached him. He was immediately impressed with how Maintel understood Unity’s requirements, and this led to a demo of three different potential replacements.
The solution needed to serve as the core ‘landline’ telephony system for the company’s 50+ employees, alongside its use of Microsoft Teams and mobiles. But the primary demands were from the six-strong Customer Service team. They respond to around 500 calls a week from tenants, ranging from requests to pay rent, to booking services. However, the clear majority of calls are related to repair requests.
The Challenge
For Unity’s Customer Service team, the longer-term goal was to have video calling available for repair calls – either being able to help the tenant fix the issue in real time or ensuring that the advisor could give the clearest possible instructions to maintenance engineers.
The approach would be to offer a video option to tenants calling in; if they agreed, the Customer Service representative would send a link by SMS.
This option needed to be tightly integrated with the other contact centre functionality the Customer Service team uses, including queues, menus and reporting, as well as with Unity’s core Housing Management System.
Why Maintel
The initial impression that Maintel had given Rajesh, of understanding its needs, was reinforced as the discussions advanced. Maintel’s experience in the social housing sector quickly became apparent; it recognised the strict budgets Unity must operate within and was familiar with some of the key functional requirements, around issues like GDPR.
This meant Maintel was able to select relevant solutions for Rajesh and his team to consider, at a suitable price.
Of all the solutions that Unity saw – from Maintel and other providers – the Zoom suite Maintel recommended most obviously met its financial and technical requirements. Drawing on its expertise as a Zoom platinum partner, Maintel demonstrated how Zoom Contact Centre could provide the Customer Service team with the additional features it was seeking, while ensuring continuity of core service.
A key advantage was that the AI aspects of Zoom are built into the platform, rather than requiring Unity to add a second tool at extra cost.
The Solution
The voice solution was up and running within six weeks of the ink drying on the contract. Two Maintel engineers worked closely on the deployment, including spending some time in-house at Unity. Their expertise and focus gave Rajesh total confidence.
The engineers oversaw the transfer of numbers, menus and call routing, as part of configuring the Zoom solution to Unity’s needs – though as Rajesh notes, the fact that the solution only uses softphones, with no handsets whatsoever, took a bit of getting used to.
They also assisted with setting up reporting, adding extra Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that Unity wished to measure into a bespoke online portal and providing the in-house team with guidance on how to add their own.
What are the benefits?
By the end of the first month after implementation, the whole team had embraced the Zoom solution, with all six team members praising it to Rajesh. The core telephony was working well, with noticeable improvements in everyday call quality, important for an organisation where a large share of customers do not speak English as a first language.
Once a call is completed, Zoom’s integrated AI Companion automatically generates a written summary of it. The advisors can review it, edit it if necessary, then copy-and-paste directly into the Housing Management System, providing a comprehensive record of each call. This means that the wrap-up time after each interaction is far shorter, and advisors can swiftly move on to support the next tenant. The impact of this has been seen in a 6% reduction in call abandonment rates.
Should the customer call back, that summary appears as a screen pop up for the advisor, ensuring continuity of service. Overall, abandoned rates have decreased from 9.98% to 3.5% since the Zoom solution went live.
The Customer Service manager can also easily listen in, or listen back, to calls which brings quality benefits, identifying specific training needs and providing assurance about compliance.
For Rajesh, a further benefit has been the speed of response of Maintel when requested.
The future:
The three-year partnership provides substantial opportunity to make greater use of the solution. First on the menu is the full use of the video capability for repair calls, allowing service advisors to see exactly what the issue is and either guide the tenant to a first-time fix or gain a clear understanding of the problem to provide to the maintenance team.
A further priority for Rajesh is total integration into the Housing Management System, so advisors don’t even need to copy the AI summaries over.
Unity is also keen to explore further reporting and analysis, potentially adding other KPIs into the portal Maintel has provided, as well as learning about what other features are available in the Zoom suite.
Client Testimonial
“Astand-out moment was when Maintel demoed a solution from a provider that I knew it had a strong relationship with. It wasn’t right for us, and I wasn’t sure how Maintel would respond. The immediate reply from the client director was ‘I don’t work for them, I work for you.’ It set the tone for everything.
Of the six solutions we saw, Zoom was the clear favourite in terms of what it could do, but it then came down to cost. Maintel’s proposal was perfect commercially.
It was one of the easiest projects I’ve delivered, in 25 years working in social housing. The engineers were phenomenal: I can’t speak highly enough of them.
The real test of a supplier isn’t what the sales team say: it’s what happens when there’s an issue. We’ve raised two tickets and they’ve both been dealt with immediately and effectively.
I would recommend every part of the experience of working with Maintel. They were very thorough in understanding our requirements, the transition was seamless, the new system is working well and the support has been excellent.”
Rajesh Chaukria, IT Manager, Unity Housing Association
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