Lagan and Scottish Council Collaboration
Posted: Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
The National CRM Project for Scotland selects Lagan as preffered Supplier of Customer Relationship Management
The Improvement Service, the body responsible for improving the efficiency, quality and accountability of public services in Scotland, has announced that the National CRM Project for Scotland has selected Lagan as the Preferred Supplier of its Customer Relationship Management solution. The initial phase of the National CRM Project will be implemented across four councils Aberdeen City, Inverclyde, Scottish Borders and West Lothian, which serve a total of more than half a million citizens. The four councils expect the collaborative partnership to realise significant efficiency savings combined with improved service delivery. The project is being coordinated by the Scottish Executive funded Customer First programme.
At West Lothian Council today Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth John Swinney said:
“Throughout the summer, I will be visiting businesses, public and third sector organisations across Scotland. I am looking to find ways of improving our public services to deliver better value for taxpayers and build a wealthier and fairer Scotland.
The Customer First National CRM project managed by West Lothian Council is a good example of how we can do this. This project will generate efficiency savings and improve service delivery within four local authorities – a clear demonstration of the benefit in taking a joined up approach – for both local communities and local authorities.
I look forward to seeing this project progress over the coming months.”
Martin Brown, CRM/Citizen Account Programme Manager with the Improvement Services, says the decision to procure a CRM and Case Management solution to facilitate citizens’ access to key services across multiple councils will yield a number of benefits: ’’We expect that people calling their council with an enquiry will be given a satisfactory solution in a fraction of the time it takes currently. Not only that, opting for a solution that can be implemented at four sites at the same time has saved time and money in selecting a suitable supplier, and paves the way for other councils in Scotland to do the same. The agreement with Lagan creates a Best Value solution that ensures other Scottish Councils can benefit from a very attractive offer that would not be accessible to an individual council. ’
The lead council within the Partnership is West Lothian, whose Chief Executive, Alex Linkston, is looking forward to getting the CRM and Case Management system up and running as quickly as possible: ‘’We’re confident that citizens across the four councils will experience a dramatic and quantifiable improvement and that our front line staff will get greater job satisfaction because they will be able to help callers directly rather than passing them on. The collaborative approach implemented by the Improvement Service, achieved within an aggressive timescale, has resulted in a very effective solution for everyone, with no wasted time and effort.’’
The CRM solution, procured through the Catalist framework, will be implemented by Lagan’s newly formed “Scotland First” Delivery Team which has been brought together to ensure the company’s combined knowledge and expertise is used to best effect. The Scotland First Team will work in conjunction with the Improvement Service’s National Project Coordinator to facilitate Best Practise within the National Project.
Lagan is already the CRM supplier to five Scottish Councils and this latest project will make Lagan the clear market leader in Scotland. Philip Murray, Lagan’s Director of UK Business and Executive Sponsor for Scotland comment, “We are absolutely delighted to be chosen by the Improvement Service and the National CRM Project councils. We recognise that Scottish Councils have a unique set of priorities and core programmes and we have therefore formed our Scotland First team to ensure that best practise is shared across the National Project in a way that reflects the specific needs of Scotland. Our aim is to play our part in a 3-way partnership with the Improvement Service and the councils to deliver real service improvement for the citizen and significant cost savings for the tax payer.”
The first part of the CRM implementation programme is scheduled to begin in July 2007 subject to contract finalisation.
