intelligent

Founded in 2019 , Designer Software is the developer and provider of the HomeMaster financial accounting and administration platform for UK housing associations . The five company founders , with their previous and varied experience of working in the housing sector , had identified the market opportunity for the provision of a comprehensive , yet more flexible Software-as-a-Service ( SaaS ) solution delivered via the web .

At that time , all financial software offerings available to housing providers were locked into custom on-premises solutions , which presented growing security , compliance , cost and support concerns to many .

In May 2019 , with the support of cloud hosting infrastructure specialists , Host-IT , Designer Software launched HomeMaster to its first housing association customer based in Glasgow .

Project requirements

When designing and developing its initial web-based solution in 2019 , the team at Designer Software recognised the importance of identifying a suitable hosting provider . This was essential to enable it to be ready to quickly roll out and scale the software platform at launch . However , with no previous in-house infrastructure experience , the chosen hosting partner would ideally need to be willing to invest time in learning and understanding the unique challenges of its start-up business as well as the changing and often complex requirements of its housing provider clients .

“ We knew we required a more hands-on approach and on-going technical support ,” said Craig Brock , Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at HomeMaster . “ While we had plenty of knowledge from working in the housing sector , we were not cloud hosting infrastructure experts and recognised from day one that we did not want to be hosting our

IT ’ S VERY TOUGH TO BREAK INTO THE HOUSING SECTOR AND WE COULD NOT AFFORD TO RISK OUR REPUTATION DUE TO ANY POTENTIAL IT DELIVERY ISSUES .