Use Cases
How to triage housing tenant enquiries with Azure OpenAI
How PTR can build an AI front door for housing associations with Azure OpenAI: a conversation that works out what each tenant needs, routes the case and writes it into the CRM.
A housing association can hear from thousands of tenants a day, by email, web chat and phone. PTR can build an AI front door with Azure OpenAI that holds the first conversation, works out what each tenant needs, and routes the case to the right team with the details already captured.
The Challenge: every contact needs triage
Much of that contact is routine, and some of it reaches the wrong team, but every message still needs someone to read it and decide where it goes. The usual answer is more administrative staff, so the cost of handling contact rises with demand. Tenants are often asked for the same details twice: once when they get in touch, and again by the team that picks the case up.
Teams need to be able to:
- Deal with routine enquiries without a person reading each one
- Send every case to the right team the first time
- Capture a tenant's details once, at first contact
- Spot issues that are already resolved before a tenant asks again
- Handle rising demand without the cost of triage rising with it
What PTR can build: an AI front door for tenants
We can build a first-contact layer with Azure OpenAI in Microsoft Foundry Models. It holds a conversation in context rather than following a fixed decision tree, so it can follow what a tenant says, ask a clarifying question and work out what they need. It then routes the case to the right team.
Each response is structured as the conversation happens. Structured outputs make the model return the fields your systems expect, defined by a JSON schema, and function calling lets your application write that record into your CRM at the point of contact. The agent also reads the tenant's history in the CRM, so it can recognise an issue that is already resolved instead of opening a new case.
A tenant's message goes to Azure OpenAI, which returns a structured record. Your application writes it to the CRM, reads the tenant's history back, and routes the case to the right team.
How PTR builds it: from first contact to the CRM
Agree the routes and fields with your team
We map the reasons tenants get in touch to the teams that handle them, and agree the fields each team needs to pick up a case without asking the tenant again.
Design the conversation
We write the instructions and the functions the model can call, so it asks a clarifying question instead of guessing and uses only the actions you have given it. Tenants get a conversation that follows what they say, not a menu of options.
Structure and write back each contact
Each response is returned against a JSON schema, so every record carries the same fields. Your application checks each call before it runs, then writes the record into the CRM with only the access that job needs.
Train your team to run it
We pair the build with training, mentoring and ongoing support, so your team can tune the conversation, add routes and run the service themselves.
What it gives your teams: contact that scales
- A predictable cost base:the volume of contact no longer sets the number of people needed to triage it.
- Fewer routine contacts reaching a person:routine enquiries are dealt with at first contact, so staff time goes to the cases that need it.
- Better first contact:each case reaches the right team with its full context, so tenants are not asked again.
- Fewer repeat enquiries:the agent recognises an issue already resolved in the CRM before a new case is opened.
In practice, a tenant who gets in touch by web chat is asked the right questions once, and the case reaches the team that handles it with everything that team needs to act.
Our view: an AI front door is only as reliable as the data behind it. With a governed CRM to read from and write to, automating first contact is reliable rather than risky.
Put an AI front door on tenant contact
Stop triaging every tenant message by hand. Talk to us about an AI front door built on Azure OpenAI and your CRM. PTR provides consultancy, training and support in AI readiness, data foundations and Azure AI.
Call 0118 979 4000 or Email info@ptr.co.uk.
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