The new portal, which has been in development since the middle of 2021, follows extensive research into how to create a much slicker customer experience while making sure that the product continues to offer members a ‘gold standard’ experience that reflects the complexities of deposit protection by adapting to tenants’ individual circumstances.
Ome says that members accessing the new platform will benefit from improved communications throughout the process, with the choice of multiple options around how they would like to receive these communications. They will also be greeted by a much cleaner member panel that will enable more sources of information to be displayed in a format that is clear and keeps them up to date.
The platform has the functionality to offer additional complementary products and services alongside deposit replacement, and this will be a focus for further updates throughout the year, ultimately enabling customers to access all their products in one place.
As part of the launch, the Ome brand will be refreshed to align more closely with the other products within the Hamilton Fraser Group, while keeping its own distinctive identity as the Deposit Replacement Membership of choice for a new generation of renters.
Peter Agathangelou, Group CTO, said: "This launch represents the first major implementation of our business transformation strategy. Not only does it deliver a refresh of Ome, but it also contributes over 85% of the new membership journey for our planned refresh of the tenancy deposit platform and is our enabler for bringing together our vision of the single customer marketplace, which will allow our customers to manage their engagement with the Hamilton Fraser Group through a single portal.”
Eddie Hooker, CEO of the Hamilton Fraser Group, said: “We launched the Ome brand in late 2019 and deposit replacement in 2020 with two goals in mind: To offer choice to tenants by introducing a Deposit Replacement Membership alongside our traditional deposit offering with mydeposits. And to create a brand that would be at the forefront of our digital transformation, both internally and for customers of the wider Hamilton Fraser Group.
"Despite the pandemic, we have continued to push forward with our Group’s digital strategy. The launch of Ome’s new portal will pave the way for future development as the Group’s brands and products are added to the portal. The next step in our transformation will see mydeposits integrated into the tenancy deposit platform, enabling our customers to access all their deposit needs in one location.”
