30 June 2003

Launch of the National CRM* Programme

By Eric Bohl, Corporate Director, London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Tuesday 17th June saw the launch of the National CRM* Programme at Cabot Hall. 180 Local Authority Delegates from all around the UK attended the meeting. Chris Haynes of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and LGOL Sponsor of the programme gave the keynote address and Eric Bohl, Corporate Director at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and co-sponsor of the Programme chaired the meeting. The purpose of the launch was to introduce Local Authorities to the different aspects of the National CRM Programme, and to describe how to apply for some of the £1.5 million being made available to pilot product elements of the CRM Programme as they are being developed.

The ODPM regards CRM as a critical component in modernising local government to assist councils to become more customer friendly, and take on board the cultural change necessary to become customer-centric. A large proportion of councils surveyed has been found to want help with the implications, scope and approach to implementing CRM, so the ODPM has approved £4.5 million to fund the National CRM Programme to encourage as many councils as possible to transform their services through the use of CRM.

The programme takes Local Government on to the next stage in exploiting CRM. Building on the wealth of ideas generated from previous Pathfinders projects it now draws on several year as of real experience on the ground, distilling all the learning from the councils that have 'been there and done that'.

For those Local Authorities who wish to seek funding and to pilot product elements, Geoff Connell of London Borough of Newham explained the criteria. The goal of the pilots is to test and refine the content and usability of the products created within the Programme. In order to do this the Programme wants to work with real users who will be following the CRM Roadmap, and to cover a wide range of authorities both large and small, and at different stages of the CRM Roadmap, covering everyone from newcomers to the most advanced. Those Local Authorities who get involved will be given support for their CRM implementation, and advice on the use of products that should help. These products will include: model business cases; diagnostic self-assessment toolkits; CRM specifications; advice on suppliers and products; CRM Training through the CRM Academy and technical architectures, integration strategies, and adaptors.

In order to participate, the Local Authority will need to have completed an eSurvey at www.salfordadvance.org/crmsurvey, and be following the stages of the 'roadmap'. They will also need to show that the product will be tested within a three month time frame, and that the project timing will match the readiness of the product. Other criteria will include: does the project help the least investigated products?; will the project fill a gap in the Programmes?; will the authority add to the range of types of authority covered? and, of course, will the project cost and value for money be suitable? Bids will be judged by the Programme Board and a reference group of Local Authorities.

For Suppliers there will be three Forums held during July to explain the National CRM Programme. These will include a CRM Suppliers Workshop; a CRM Systems Integrators and Consultants Forum; and a CRM Suppliers of Middleware and Local Authority Legacy Software Workshop. The goal is to work with suppliers to ensure that the Programme is able to benefit from suppliers' existing expertise, and to allow suppliers to gain an understanding of the specific requirements of the Local Authority sector. The Programme will not be re-inventing the wheel; however, it also believes that the needs of Local Authority CRM differ in a number of ways from that of the Private Sector. This exchange of information should allow suppliers to create offerings which are much more marketable to Local Authorities.

Finally a survey of those 180 delegates attending the launch indicated that 41% already had a CRM strategy, 46% were planning a strategy and 12% did not. When asked why they were at the launch, 32% believed that CRM will help transform service delivery, 37% simply wanted to know about CRM and local government; 17% wanted to find out about funding opportunities; and 14% wanted to find out more about managing their existing CRM project. Views on the role of CRM were split between organisational transformation (46%) and culture change (53%) with fortunately only 1% of those surveyed believing it was simply about technology.

To access presentations and find out more about the National CRM Programme, please visit www.crmnp.org

* Customer Relationship Management.