CRM delivers in public sector

A London council has created customised and affordable customer relationship management (CRM) software for use by any public sector orgasnisation.

Staff at the London Borough of Brent have worked with integrator Deloitte and Touche to tailor Onyx CRM software to meet the needs of the public sector.

The deal is part of Brent's Pathfinder project, one of 25 pioneering schemes funded by central government to address specific aspects of electronic service delivery.

It can be duplicated by any other public sector organisation from a police force to a park authority.

CRM software is key to developing joined-up government but most systems are very expensive and designed for the private sector, says Brent Council Information Manager Dane Wright.

The start-up cost for the Onyx deal is £25,000 for seven seats - enough for a small call centre - plus another £8000 for installation.

'So for £31,000 you can be up and running with a CRM tailored to public sector requirements.

'There is a different emphasis in the public sector - it's about dealing with a whole range of issues for people, not about selling them a service,' said Wright.

The wide range of services provided by a typical council - Brent currently offers 108 - particularly needed addressing.

'Most CRM systems are geared towards a limited range of facilities because private companies have a reasonably narrow portfolio.

'But local government has an incredibly wide portfolio of services - everything from street sweeping to paying university grants,' said Wright.

The system also needed to hold information about geographical locations as well as people.

For example, if someone reports a broken streetlight the information has to be stored under the location of the light, not the name of the person reporting it.

Brent's implementation is at the final test stage and will be rolled out to the council's six one-stop-shops and one contact centre at the end of this month.

CRM is crucial to developing joined-up services, says Wright.

'It is difficult to see how joined-up government will work without a single customer-facing environment to answer questions straight away rather than referring them somewhere else.

'CRM is the IT support for that,' he said.