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More Governments Using 311 Systems to Provide Better Service to Citizens
From Denver to Atlanta and Albuquerque to New York City, more local governments are turning to Oracle CRM solutions as they seek to transform the way they provide service to their constituents.
For many localities, the original goal was modest: reduce the volume of non emergency calls to 911 operators by establishing a new 311 phone number. In the process, though, many localities discovered the value of a single point of contact for their government organizations. Indeed, government organizations are gaining many of the same benefits that CRM delivers to the private sector.
"A 311 system changes the way a city runs itself," says Jeffrey Ford, professor at Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business, who worked with one of his graduate classes to develop a 311 plan for the City of Columbus, Ohio. "Cities become much more performance-oriented and delivery-oriented. There is more accountability, and it becomes very clear which departments or divisions are not working well."
Unexpected Benefits
The following cities all saw unexpected benefits from their CRM implementations:
- Kansas City, Missouri, which plans to go live in early 2007,expects to cut operational costs, speed decision-making cycles via enhanced analytics, and speed resolution by enabling employees to file reports from mobile devices while in the field.
- DeKalb County, Georgia, which encompasses the heart of Atlanta, is implementing CRM to consolidate call centers and service information for the county's 46 departments. The new 311 system will also integrate with the county's other Oracle applications, including Oracle's financial management solution, to further streamline business operations countywide.
- As Denver, Colorado implemented its Oracle-based 311 solution, it conducted a business process mapping that gave the mayor's office a deeper understanding of how city agencies do business. The result: significant new business process efficiencies.
Measuring and Managing Performance
In rolling out CRM solutions, local governments find that they can measure and improve performance in ways that were never before possible.
For example, Denver's solution measures the average time to complete a common task, such as removing a stray dog from city streets. Cases that take longer than average can be reviewed for inefficiencies, and high performers can be analyzed to learn about potential process improvements.
"One of the primary goals is to make the City and County of Denver the number 1 customer service city in the nation," says Michael Locatis, the city's CIO. "And 311 is a great start to that. It really does improve services across the city and county."
For more information, see the Oracle press release.
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