Leicester City Council looking to replace 10-year-old CRM system

Council had suggested it was moving to Microsoft Dynamics CRM in 2011 but this isn't mentioned in tender notice

Leicester City Council is looking to replace its existing decade old CRM solution for a new piece of software that it hopes will ultimately improve customer satisfaction.

A council spokesperson confirmed that the solution it was using - called LACRM - was provided by Belfast City Council and was no longer being developed.

In a previous document outlining the council's ICT applications strategy between 2011 and 2014, the council said it had concerns about the ability of the LACRM product to support the council's overarching strategy.

"The integration of CRM into back-office systems is key to future efficiency savings and also channel shifting from costlier channels to the web where appropriate will further reduce costs and improve customer service," the document reads.

The council said at the time that it would replace LACRM with Microsoft Dynamics CRM application by December 2011. However, there is no mention of this in the tender notice on the Official Journal of the European Union.

In the notice, Leicester City Council said it wants to enable customers to "self-serve" the council's services as much as possible, and to move towards achieving a single customer record and processes for efficiently updating this information. The council explained that it is under significant financial pressure and is therefore adopting a philosophy that encourages rationalising, self-serving and standardisation among other things when determining which solution to select.

The contract duration is for an initial term of four years with the option to extend for up to a further six years, two years at a time.