A group of 35 councils is planning to market a customer
relationship management (CRM) system suitable for local
authorities, which they claim will cost a fraction of the systems
currently available.
CRM systems are essential for the provision of the call centre and
one-stop shop facilities that many councils are installing as part
of their e-government plans.
From January 2003, the Local Authority Shareware Club will offer a
generic version of the system developed by the London Borough of
Newham.
Information Services Belfast (ISB), part of Belfast City Council,
is adapting the Newham system for general use. ISB will offer
advice on implementing the system and provide maintenance and
support services for ongoing development.
The Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm), the
local authority IT directors' organisation, said the shareware
system will be far cheaper than its commercial competitors. This is
because Newham is making its system available at no cost while
development costs will be based on a share of the actual
costs.
In addition the licence is being offered on an "unlimited seats"
basis. A site licence for the system, including three standard
interfaces will cost £12,000. Implementation assistance will be
charged on an as required basis and support will be approximately
£10,000 per annum. A large council with a 300-seat licence would
normally expect to pay around £250,000 for a comparable system from
a leading CRM vendor, according to Socitm.
The Newham CRM system is tried and tested, according to Socitm. A
recent audit by management consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers and
the MORI polling organisation showed high levels of
satisfaction.
Newham's 300-plus users are achieving 95% first time resolution of
calls without reference to the back office as well as 96% customer
satisfaction. The results depend on good staff and organisation but
would not be possible without efficient and appropriate IT systems,
Socitm noted.
The Local Authority Shareware Club was set up in 2001 under the
auspices of Socitm and its work has been facilitated since its
inception by Socitm's Consultancy arm, Socitm Consulting.
Club Chairman Mike Tuck, head of ICT strategy at Cheshire County
Council, said the Shareware Club was conceived when colleagues
began to consider how they might capitalise on the software written
by local authorities and how they might collaborate to reduce
council spending with commercial software suppliers.