The promise of government having a “single view” of every citizen remains elusive, but technology and the Internet are offering new ways for all tiers of government to boost efficiency, improve delivery of citizen services and reach people quickly and cheaply.
That was the message to a conference on customer relationship management (CRM) in government, in Pretoria, from Julius Segole, the chair of the Government Information Technology Officers' Council (GITOC). The event was hosted by software maker Microsoft, and attended by some of government's top IT officials and local technology vendors.
Highlighting some of the challenges facing government, Segole said the 40 government departments still function largely autonomously and the promise of a single view of a citizen remains elusive. “The biggest challenge is to get the CIOs to see their work not in silos within their own departments, but within the government enterprise as a whole.”
Microsoft South Africa MD Mteto Nyati said there was no doubt that government had inherited many service delivery challenges, but there was a clear will within government to change for the better.
“We must make use of the many possibilities the digital era brings with it. I believe the secret lies in how government can deliver the best services to the many South Africans at a very low cost,” said Nyati.
These low-cost options were highlighted by Microsoft's top CRM expert in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, David Brown, who cited a UK study that showed the cost for the government to handle one walk-in request was £20. To handle the same request telephonically cost £5. Through digital interaction, the cost plummeted to a mere 20p.
“Citizens expect the same things from their service providers, whether government or private sector. Whether you are claiming from your car insurer or reporting a pothole in your neighbourhood, all you want is to have your complaint heard and responded to quickly,” said Brown.
“Using current technologies, it's possible for governments to revolutionise citizen services by delivering efficient, on-demand services for citizens and businesses that are available at any time and any place through the Internet.”
The value that CRM systems brings to back office management in government is “immense”, said Brown. Better information management leads to increased productivity, and data can easily be exported into management reports to enhance compliance.
Piers Matthews, a solutions strategist at business process enabler nVisionIT, said familiarity with the technology was an important part of it being used. “If a call centre agent can use a CRM program that looks and feels like Word or Outlook, it is familiar and easy to use, which means little to no training is necessary.”
Share
Editorial contacts