Lagan CRM Solution helps WSASP win ‘Team Success’ Award
West Sussex Accessible Services Partnership was awarded one of the UK’s highest level of commendation for the best e-Government Services, at the e-Government National Awards 2006, presented on 17th January 2007 at the Savoy Hotel, London.
The Awards are presented to those organisations who, through innovative online delivery or IT implementation, have positively transformed the lives of citizens, local communities, business and stakeholder groups. Winners were chosen from among the 345 nominations from across the public sector, and came from Councils, central government departments, the NHS, non-departmental public bodies and charities – showing a great diversity and spread of achievement in e-Government right across the UK.
As winner of the ‘Team Success’ Award, West Sussex Accessible Services Partnership, was recognised for its achievements in local government excellence. The West Sussex Accessible Services Partnership is a unique combination of seven borough and district councils, the county council, Sussex Police and the NHS, which has broken new ground in teamwork overcoming political, cultural and technical challenges to deliver a seamless information service to the 750,000 citizens of West Sussex. Using Lagan’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution, the partnership resolves well over 90% of citizen enquiries first time, with 2,000 plus enquiries handled per day across 18 Help Points and newly opened Call Centre. A truly joined up system is delivered providing consistent, quality service across the county, irrespective of enquiry type.
Commenting on the Partnership’s achievement, Ian Lowrie, Chief Executive, Adur District Council and Chairman of the West Sussex Accessible Services Partnership, says, “The ability to service such a high level of enquiries at the first point of contact is a unique testimony to the service offered to customers. The use of the Lagan CRM system to record data and to time-stamp transactions is starting to inform service managers about required staffing levels and to highlight problem areas where service standards are not as good as others.”
He continues, “The use of CRM has furthermore enabled more lateral thinking across West Sussex, with reports generated from it used as a means of communication between offices and sub contract agencies.”
The winners of the e-Government National Awards 2006 were chosen for their proven excellence in the following areas:-
• Demonstrable achievement of strategy or tactics in e-Government
• Evidence of sustained growth of take-up
• Commitment shown by staff, teams and individuals
• Ability for good practice to be adopted by others in the public sector
• Evidence of substantive or measurable impact
Speaking at the Awards ceremony, Pat McFadden, Cabinet Office Minister with responsibility for Transformational Government said, “Using technology in reforming our public services to fit around the needs of the citizen is essential. But it is not just central government which has a role to play here, organisations across the public sector all need to provide the best possible service to their users – whether individuals, businesses or whole communities. We support these Awards and in doing so we support the efforts of all those organisations who are committed to best meeting the needs of their customers.”
Des Speed, CEO of Lagan, adds in conclusion, “It is an honour to be involved in such projects as the West Sussex Accessible Services Partnership – projects that truly aim to revolutionise the way in which public services are delivered, and have been conceived with the customer at their heart. Lagan is proud that our technology is an enabler of such transformation.”
About the e-Government National Awards
The Awards were run by e-Government news service PublicTechnology.net and supported by the Cabinet Office e-Government Unit, the Office of Government Commerce, the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm), and SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers). Platinum sponsor was KPMG, and also sponsoring were SunGard Public Sector and O2.