First Choice Homes Oldham

A Hosted Helpdesk for First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO)

First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO), a not-for-profit housing provider managing around 12,000 homes, selected Hoth to support their ICT operations and deliver top-tier customer service.

Selecting Hoth

David Gorman, ICT Service Delivery Manager, first discovered Hoth at the Service Desk and IT Support Show:
“Support Desk was recommended by a colleague who had seen it at the conference. We needed a flexible tool that could be hosted or on-premise.”

Following a product demo, FCHO saw that Support Desk met all their key requirements—including incident, problem, and request management, plus a customer self-service portal, knowledge base, and CMDB.

“It was important that we could start with a simple setup and expand functionality as needed. Hoth gave us that flexibility.”

Getting Started in the Cloud

FCHO chose the cloud version with a monthly subscription, avoiding the need for local installations or maintenance.

“We had a dedicated consultant from start to finish. She worked closely with us to understand our processes and tailor the system to fit.”

Hoth enabled custom workflows, SLAs, and email automation, allowing the team to work efficiently while keeping customers informed at every step.

Daily Operations

Supporting 450 end users and logging around 40 calls per day, FCHO’s ICT team handles multiple roles. Hoth’s user-role flexibility ensures each team member has exactly the access they need.

“We’ve moved from a basic internal database to Hoth—it’s transformed how we work.”

“When a remote worker calls with an issue, the SLA is automatically applied based on call type. Email notifications go to the customer and assigned engineer. If external support is required, selecting the partner triggers an email. Once resolved, a final email confirms the outcome, and the ticket closes automatically.”

A Culture Shift

“We’re driving a culture change by encouraging customers to use the self-service portal. They can log issues, access FAQs, and track progress.”

FCHO also uses case-based reasoning to surface potential solutions as users type queries.

“The team loves how easy it is to use. Creating articles, changes, or problems from existing calls is seamless.”

A Friendly Bunch

“The Hoth team is friendly, helpful, and genuinely cared about helping us get the most from the tool. The experience from purchase to implementation has been excellent. Hoth has revolutionised the way we work.”