Governments Embrace Idea of CRM, But Not Reality

Government executives realize commercial techniques used to manage customer relationships, such as customer retention and profit-per-customer, can be critical to the success of public-sector initiatives, but they have a long way to go in making customer relationship management a reality, according to a new global study by Accenture Ltd.

Accenture studied CRM, a technology-enabled capability that allows governments to organize services around customer intentions and coordinate services across multiple agencies, in 11 countries.

Interviews were conducted in August and September with senior executives and managers at revenue, human services, motor vehicles and government information, or portal, agencies in Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Hamilton, Bermuda, management and technology consulting firm found governments know they need to improve service delivery to citizens, but they have not realized the potential of CRM, which can provide self-service options to the public, streamline government processes and improve interagency data sharing.

"Most government agencies are just beginning to harness the power of CRM and need to do much more to truly realize its potential. Government managers have the will but not necessarily the way to fully implement CRM capabilities," said David Hunter, global managing partner of Accenture's government practice.

Seventy-six percent of respondents expressed confidence in CRM's applicability to government, but much smaller groups said they planned to implement key CRM techniques.

For instance, only 7 percent of agencies said they would develop customer segmentation, a technique that enables organizations to gain greater insight into customers and tailor services to meet individual needs.

And while managers said customer education and awareness was crucial to achieving superior CRM performance, only 7 percent said they plan to develop capabilities in this area.

Respondents identified bureaucracy and technology as the two greatest obstacles to CRM adoption, at 35 percent and 27 percent, respectively. Barriers to adoption include the challenge of making a business case for investment, securing leadership support and the inability to share information with other agencies and businesses.

Only half of respondents said they have the ability to share information with other government agencies, and only 11 percent reported the ability to share information with businesses.