There is about a three-year lag in public sector adoption of CRM, with many public sector managers now applying the term to any customer-focused initiatives and interactions. One benefit of this time lag is that lessons have been learnt from many of the mistakes made in leading-edge private sector implementations. These can now be avoided in the public sector. Of course, the public sector definition of a customer differs greatly from the private sector definition. In the public sector, however, the situation is very different. The emphasis is on improving service across the board, rather than on segmenting and targeting customers according to profitability. CRM enables the public sector to enable improved customer access, to provide better service at the point of access, and to track the progress of customer problems/concerns more efficiently. Key public sector CRM benefits include:

• Managing the initial customer interaction, be it via telephone, in person or e-mail: a CRM approach enables a consistent delivery of information to the citizen.

• Prompting action to address customer need: using workflow processes, any citizen enquiry/problem prompts appropriate action by one or several departments.

• Tracking customer interaction throughout its full lifecycle to provide total visibility. Each enquiry generates a contact history, enabling both authority and the customer to keep a track of the situation without the need for the customer to repeat the enquiry and name and address details.

• Providing information for further analysis, to enable services constantly to be assessed and re-focused in line with evolving needs. For example, if a citizen calls requesting a house repair, an integrated CRM approach delivers key information from the outset. The citizen is told the current status of house repairs, length of the waiting time and when to expect an initial inspection. Indeed, with an integrated system that incorporates back-office information from the housing department, an initial inspection appointment can be made immediately. A reference number is then allocated to this request and, should further calls be required, the status of the repair process is immediately visible.

Having set a target date of 2005 for the delivery of e-enabled processes, the UK Government is working towards the delivery of online services, but many challenges remain. In Spring 2001, ukonline.gov.uk, the online citizen portal, was formally launched. However, while it provides a central point of access into government services, there are several key elements of the solution yet to be developed, most notably identification and authentication to enable personalized service delivery, as well as local or service specific portals. These too must also be supported by e-forms in a consistent manner across government.

Such challenges are not insignificant. However, by using CRM to transform the service delivery through face to face and telephone channels, local authorities and government agencies can create an environment that can then be replicated online as the technology infrastructure comes into place. Before services can be delivered coherently online, it is important to understand what citizens require; how they want to interact with the public sector; how inter-authority services can work together. CRM implementations that move beyond simple process automation to embrace new ways of service delivery provide a fundamental step in delivering e-enabled services to the citizen. Once interdepartmental cooperation and integration have been achieved and there is a robust, secure technology for identification and authentication, CRM can drive processes through the customer interaction lifecycle to provide a holistic customer view.