Over half of the UK's 442 local authorities have yet to start implementing CRM systems with fear of cultural change cited as the main barrier, according to new research.
The survey of 250 authorities in England, Scotland and Wales was carried out by systems integrator NDL. It found 52 per cent have yet to install CRM and three per cent have no plans to do so at all. Out of the remainder who have CRM systems, Oracle is the leading supplier (17 per cent), followed by Northgate (16 per cent) and Onyx (12 per cent), although NDL admitted that the variation in who council IT departments would consider to be CRM suppliers has to be taken into account.
But 16 per cent have also gone down the in-house route, building their own bespoke CRM systems. Of those who used external suppliers there was a lot of dissatisfaction with many having to do further integration work. A third also said they have no plans to integrate their CRM systems with back-office systems.
"I'm not impressed with my CRM supplier. They have promised that the back-end system would be integrated with the database, but they simply cannot do it. I have had to get an in-house developer to do it," said an e-programme manager for a metropolitan borough council in the survey.
There also appears to be a feeling among some councils that they are being forced into implementing CRM. A third of those yet to install CRM systems said the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's e-government mandate is the main reason they will implement CRM. Most of the remainder cited better customer service. Not one respondent said cost savings are the main reason.
The report warned: "If these projects are not approached with savings defined as a specific outcome then there is a significant risk that they will be negligible. Many are implementing due to central government mandate rather than looking at the full transactional efficiencies."
On the barriers to successful CRM, cultural change is the main issue (47 per cent), followed by integration (24 per cent), and then business process complexity (17 per cent). Cost only came in at five per cent.
The survey found that the 52 percent of local authorities yet to install CRM systems plan to in the next 12 months.
Autor: Andy McCue
Quelle: Silicon, 28.07.2004
