Building the Blueprint

Ben Virgo

Strategic Director, Housing Software

At a Glance

The business is based in London and was formed in 1995 by experienced practitioners to provide a unique combination of expertise in Software and services for the housing sector. Since then, the business has grown substantially by providing excellent products and reliable services.

The Starting Point: A Desire to Evolve

When Paul Flowers (Managing Director), Ben Virgo (Director) and the rest of the board sat down to think about the future of Housing Software, they weren’t short of ambition. What they needed was clarity, a way to turn vision into reality, align the team, and build a roadmap everyone could get behind.

Housing Software already had a strong reputation in the housing sector. From running best-in-class industry events to offering publications and development software, they were established players. But like many growing companies, they faced a classic challenge:

We knew we had potential, but we didn’t know exactly what that looked like, or how to get there.

The Challenge

With a strong leadership team and deep market knowledge, the business had solid foundations. The vision and values, though in place, needed sharpening and refreshing. The team’s enthusiasm was evident, but without a structured process to channel that energy, progress wasn’t as focused or consistent as it could have been.

The Work: That’s where Reclaro stepped in

• Over several weeks, Reclaro worked closely with our executive and leadership team to lay the groundwork for long-term success. They achieved focus, clarity, structure, and alignment
• First, they helped define a clear company purpose that everyone could rally behind
• Then came the 5-year vision, built using the GAP Model to stretch ambition while staying grounded in reality
• A multi-year strategy framework was designed to be scalable, actionable, and practical
• The exec team mapped out their first draft 1-3-5® plans, pinpointing the key objectives that would drive results
• In a live, face-to-face session, the entire company came together to launch the new strategy framework
• Every business unit leader then took ownership of their department’s objectives, ensuring buy-in across the board
• Finally, a focused set of six-month priorities was locked in to “clear the decks” for a major rollout in January 2026

The Impact: The difference was immediate

This is just the start of our vision journey, but we’re very happy to be sharing it with Reclaro.

Some key wins so far:

• 100% Alignment on Vision: Company purpose and 5-year vision fully signed off, driving team-wide engagement across all departments
• Majority of all staff now agree that their daily work directly contributes to the company’s 5-year vision
• Implementation of a clear strategy framework that connects all employees’ long- term plans directly to daily execution, eliminating strategic drift
• Foundation for Growth: With 2025 priorities underway, we are now prepared for a smooth and highly focused setup for 2026’s aggressive goals
• Achieved a significant decrease in cross-departmental conflict and delays by implementing a clear accountability system and defined monthly milestones
• Monthly milestones are mapped out to track progress, ensuring real-time visibility and proactive course correction
• Recruitment and onboarding overhauled, setting the stage to efficiently double the recruitment team size from 32 to 64 over the next five years
• All 2026 company objectives are defined and shared across all departments, ensuring cross-functional clarity and collaboration
• Achieved £10 million annual revenue target with a lean team of 64 people, equating to an industry-leading £168k generated per FTE
• Delivered a 25% increase in additional recurring customer income driven by the team’s ability to act on real-time data insights in 6 months
• Integrated housing software beta successfully adopted by 5 key early-stage customers, validating product market fit and paving the way for full launch

If you’re choosing between Reclaro and someone else, go with them. It is the best decision we have made. They are a 5-star Company.

Looking Ahead: This isn’t a one-off planning exercise

For Housing Software, this is about embedding a way of thinking and working that will carry them through the next five years and beyond.