Agenda item

Members considered a report proposing procurement of a Customer Relationship Management System (CRM), including drawdown of capital monies and the provision of transitional revenue monies.

The Strategic Lead for Customer First introduced the report, and highlighted the following points:

·         West Lindsey District Council (WLDC) was undertaking a transformational programme, with a vision of putting customers at the centre of everything it did. Further service efficiencies were being sought when looking at how customers access Council services;

·         WLDC had a range of IT systems focussed on specific services.  This range of systems could make it tough on the customer experience, and could also make it difficult to relay information from the back office to customer facing staff;

·         A number of the systems currently in place were old; these old systems did not have the capability to take advantage of technological advances;

·         One proposal was to adopt CRM software.  This was aimed at the customer, and holding all of their requests in one place.  It would also allow for better communication with customers;

·         A soft market test had been undertaken on CRM systems; some of the current WLDC processes could be run through these systems.  New modern technology was taken into account during this testing; it also gave a wider understanding of the current state of the market, and identified a cost envelope;

·         The soft market test also identified a set of benefits, and how software could be used to generate savings.  One of these benefits would be that more vulnerable customers could be highlighted to staff.

Following this introduction, Members asked questions of officers present.  Further information was provided:

·         It was not possible to demonstrate a working product at this point because the tendering process was still underway.  However it would be possible to demonstrate any new product to Members once it had been chosen.

Officers were looking for a capable product that would support CRM style technology;

·         It was expected that any new system would fall within a government framework of 4 years; however it should last between 7-10 years, but this could not be guaranteed.  Officers wanted a product capable of being supported, as well as leaving scope for growth over a 4 year term;

·         Testing of the product would have to form part of any contract; it would be imperative that officers were satisfied with any product that they purchased;

·         When addressing a concern that the product may be considered inexpensive at £130,000, the Strategic Lead for Customer First informed Members that market leading products had been looked at and would be considered, however some of these market leading, or larger systems would have more functionality than a small district would ever need;

·         There were three parts to purchasing a new system; procurement, ongoing support and maintenance, and implementation;

·         WLDC did not want to be reliant on expensive consultative staff from those larger, pricier suppliers.  The new system was seen as an opportunity to develop existing staff.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Commence a procurement of a CRM system and award to the preferred supplier;

(2)  Approve the drawdown of up to £130,000 of monies from the existing Customer First Capital Budget to cover the cost of the implementation activities.