Councils gain CRM advice

Newham council has launched a customer relationship management (CRM) project to demonstrate how the technology can help local authorities meet e-government targets.

Along with identifying the benefits of CRM systems for local authorities and their residents, the Newham project aims to provide councils with tools for calculating the return on investment of the technology. An evaluation tool will be offered to authorities that have already invested in CRM systems. The programme will also feature support networks, set up to help councils work together and share advice on implementing CRM systems.

Newham is scheduled to publish a report on the project in early December. The council's project forms part of the CRM National Programme, one of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's projects for local e-government.

Mark Bassham, CRM National Programme manager, said that as the 2005 deadline approaches for getting local government services online, councils need to understand that CRM is an essential element in the process. He added that by providing facts and figures to outline the benefits of the technology the CRM National Programme should encourage councils to adopt more CRM tools more quickly.

Separately, CRM tools provider Onyx Software has launched a CRM implementation centre to illustrate to local authorities the benefits of the technology.

Onyx's eGovernment Acceleration Centre, based at the firm's Bracknell headquarters, promotes the benefits of CRM through simulations, and by offering a methodology for faster implementation.

Local authorities will be able to work with staff at the centre to model and analyse their current processes. This will enable them to determine where CRM can improve the efficiency of processes and cut costs.

Initial implementation and development testing can also be carried out on Onyx's site, and customised modules created for previous customers can be reused, reducing development time and costs.

Paul Trefonas, European marketing director at Onyx, said many local authorities are implementing limited CRM projects to meet the deadline for e-government services, but some are not deploying the technology at all. "This is largely due to lack of understanding and experience, and a fear of not getting it done in time," he said.

Trefonas said the centre could encourage more authorities to deploy CRM systems, by offering them a safe environment for testing simulations and by exploring the potential benefits of more comprehensive programmes.

Recent research from public sector IT association Socitm shows CRM adoption is uneven. Socitm surveyed 339 organisations for its annual Application Software Survey, of which around 300 are local authorities. It found that 114 had CRM systems in place, up from 54 the previous year.