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Case Study

Guernsey Housing Association - QL Hosted

Having been a long-time Aareon QL customer, Guernsey Housing Association (GHA) explored the market - looking to modernise its IT services and housing management system, before choosing QL Hosted.

After a quick implementation of just 6 months, GHA is now realising enormous ROI benefits for its move to QL Hosted, and expects to save £120,000 - £150,000.

Incredible Outcomes

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£120,000 - £150,000 saving

Realised over the 3 year contract, which will increase if the QL Hosted licence is extended in future years.
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Over 30% faster

The QL Hosted software works faster for end users, particularly search and processing speeds, which are up to a third quicker in some areas.
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Reduced Complexity

Infrastructure and upgrade management are now automatically handled by Aareon. 
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Greater IT autonomy

Due to the move to cloud software, GHA is no longer reliant and waiting on an outsourced IT provider to manage its software – it’s able to manage its IT itself. 
Guernsey Housing Association
"Projects like this usually deliver one outcome.

This one delivered them all - cost, simplicity, performance. It’s rare to get that.”



John Dunford

Deputy Chief Executive

About Guernsey Housing Association

Guernsey Housing Association (GHA), formed in 2002, is a not-for-profit company and the island of Guernsey’s sole social housing provider.

Having been a long-time Aareon QL customer, it took the decision in 2025 to transition from a locally installed version of the software to its cloud version - Aareon QL Hosted. This strategic move has delivered significant cost savings, reduced complexity, and improved system performance - freeing up resources for future innovation.

 

Business Challenge

Like many social housing providers across the UK, GHA needed to deliver more services, with limited budget.

With support from IT consultant Ian Crocker from LeanIT, the organisation explored its challenges and options, and came to realise that updating its IT infrastructure, would enable a lucrative digital transformation - resulting in cost savings, and improved performance.

 “We were seeing a lot of unnecessary complexity and cost - classic legacy IT. Our IT platforms had a lot of technical debt – which means lots of manual processes, and overheads. There was also a heavy reliance on an outsourced IT partner to manage it all. We believed we could solve with a cloud-first strategy and began to put our plans in place.” 

 Ian Crocker 

"This was as good as it gets.”

–Ian Crocker

Why QL Hosted?

Key to the business transformation was its Housing Management system, Aareon QL, which like much of its services, needed an update. The organisation explored a range of housing management options on the market, but when QL Hosted (the cloud-based version of QL) was released, it became the obvious choice.

“We looked at everything - from managed services to modern desktop. But once the Aareon roadmap was agreed and the QL hosted platform became available, it all aligned perfectly. It ticked every box.”
- Ian Crocker

Implementation Experience

The migration project from their installed QL product to QL Hosted began in early 2025 and was delivered in under six months. GHA worked closely with Aareon’s technical team, and the experience was overwhelmingly positive.

“This was as good as it gets,” Ian said. “The technical team were excellent. It felt like we were all in it together. We had a Teams channel, quick responses, and a real sense of momentum.”
- Ian Crocker

Incredible Outcomes

Since going live, GHA's transformation has been enormous:

  • Cost savings: Estimated to be £120,000-150,000 over the three years of the contract (£40,000-50,000k per annum), which will continue to deliver in future years if extended.
  • Improved performance: The QL software works faster and better for end users, particularly search and processing speeds, which are up to a third quicker in some areas.
  • Reduced complexity: Infrastructure and upgrade management are now automatically handled by Aareon.
  • Greater IT autonomy: Due to the move to cloud software, GHA is no longer reliant and waiting on an outsourced IT provider to manage its software – it’s able to manage its IT itself.

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