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How we helped

TSM Void Energy Service specialises in resolving energy issues for vacant properties, working with social landlords and local authorities across the UK.

Their main service involves managing tenant move-in and move-out dates along with meter readings. They coordinate this information with energy suppliers to ensure accurate billing for both landlords and tenants.

TSM currently partner with over 100 social housing landlord clients and manage more than 1,000,000 properties, processing a significant amount of data daily.

When the company initially contacted Ridgeon Network for help, it was following a specific request by an energy supplier to use a Secure FTP (SFTP) server to handle the transfer of data, as Chris Davis, COO at TSM explains. 

“With a huge amount of data passing through our hands and some of this being personal information that would be fall under the governance of GDPR, it made a lot of sense to put a formal data transfer structure in place. 

“We looked for a well-established SFTP provider and when we found Ridgeon Network were impressed by the standard of service offering, strong references and technical knowledge. Critically, because we’re not an IT-focussed business, we needed a partner that could deliver for us and not leave us drowning in technical jargon.” 

With the SFTP service up and running, TSM continued to onboard new clients and grow the number of properties under management. While the SFTP service was making data transfer more straightforward between TSM and the energy suppliers, there was still a lot of manual work to collate and check the data being sent from the housing associations.  

Alice Richardson, Training Manager at TSM continues, “we were running the business on spreadsheets which in the earlier stages of our development was more than adequate, but as the amount of data we needed to process grew, we needed to look at alternative options.” 

In the first instance, Ridgeon Network worked with TSM to automate specific data transfer processes, but it quite quickly became clear that there was an opportunity for a wider reaching digital transformation programme. 

Chris Ridgeon, Managing Director, Ridgeon Network picks up the story. “Alongside the provision of SFTP hosting and server hosting, we also offer custom web portal/application development so were in a great position to advise TSM on what was possible and how that could be engineered into their business.” 

Following a period of rigorous scoping and specification, Ridgeon Network proposed the development of a custom portal to handle the input and management of data from housing associations and other social landlords coupled with onward distribution to the energy companies. 

The proposed solution allows each client to securely login to their own area to submit move in/move out data and meter readings as well as request other void energy services. For example, clients can use the portal to log requests for engineer visits, meter resets or to let energy suppliers know about broken meters or other issues. 

Chris Davis, COO at TSM continues, “We needed a system that provided a one-stop shop for void energy issues, was easy to use and could expand as we grow both our customer base and our team. The portal developed by Ridgeon absolutely meets these requirements.

“We also needed to make sure the system would be secure. Ridgeon Network are ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and Cyber Essentials certified which provides a lot of reassurance and is of huge importance to us and our clients.”  

When the company onboards a new client, it’s simple to set them up with their own area on the portal. Equally important is the fact that the system is intuitive and easy to get to grips with. TSM’s clients can be up and running in a very short space of time which means a quicker route to saving time and money. 

For TSM, what started out as a project to improve data transfer has grown into all-encompassing digital transformation.  

As Chris Davis concludes, “thanks to Ridgeon Network we’ve been able to re-engineer our core business process and role that across 60+ clients, which not only saves huge amounts of time and effort for both parties but also simplifies the interactions and increases the accuracy of data. 

“It’s an absolute win-win situation for TSM and all our clients. We’re all saving time and money and we couldn’t have done it without Ridgeon Network.”