CRM - March 2009 - (Page 25)

MARKET FOCUS: GOVERNMENT further with RightNow at this time, Silva says that it lays the groundwork for what could be an extra-difficult season, with the recession hitting the state of Colorado particularly hard—a hiring freeze on all state employees started in October 2008. “We’re not able to hire any new [employees], which works against us even though we have all these great services people can self-service through,” she says. “It’s going to hurt because…you still have people who have specific issues that need to be addressed, and it might mean they may not be able to get through as quickly.” Silva remains thankful that she has RightNow’s system in place. Otherwise, they would have to shut down the email channel just to alleviate the pressure placed on the agents. “We just wouldn’t be able to get to it all,” she says. GOVERNMENT 2.0—NEXT ON THE AGENDA? The 800-pound gorilla in the room comes in the form of Web 2.0 technologies, including blogs, chat, forums, social networking sites, Twitter, and wikis. Filtering into the CRM world via the private sector, this is the next opportunity for innovation, according to Madgett. But, just as with traditional CRM deployments, strategy must be in place first.“Governments are slow to adopt, and especially with something like Web 2.0—where you get into using utilities like Twitter—they are experimenting with it but haven’t captured what they want to do with it yet,” he says. “It’s good to adopt the technology but without a strategic framework the practical usage of it can be lost.” (See this month’s “CRM on Twitter,” page 16, for a quick snapshot of some government twitterers.) Karen Trebon, a program analyst with the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services, cites a plethora of examples of agencies at all levels starting to adopt varying forms of Web 2.0 technology to help inform and interact with their respective constituents. The examples run all the way to the top: With President Barack Obama in the White House now, she expects government to delve even deeper. From the Obama campaign’s Web site to the transition www.destinationCRM.com team’s efforts with www.change.gov to its revitalized www.whitehouse.gov, community participation clearly ranks high on the national public-policy scene.“One of the things that is driving this and will continue to [do so] is Obama coming into office,” she says. “I think everybody can agree that he outclassed [Senator John] McCain in the use of the Web and technology. For the first time, I think we’ll have a president…who is just as smart as all of us about technology.” Beyond Obama’s potential, Trebon admits she also feels the heat from constituents demanding equality in the “There is a reticence to refer to the citizen as a customer, and that mindset has to go away. ” service they receive from both the public and private sectors. “People love Amazon.com and they expect to go on our Web site and love it just as much,” she says. “We don’t get allowances for being the government, so we have to keep up with what people want on the Web.” By Trebon’s count, there are 37 active, public-facing, federal agency blogs right now, plus an untold number of efforts at the lower levels of government. “[Blogging] seems to be the most adopted form of Web 2.0 at this time,” she says. “But a lot of these technologies are free or lowcost, so there is no worry about ROI or going and asking anyone for money.” So if that’s the case, why aren’t more agencies picking up on Web 2.0? She believes it has to do with bandwidth concerns, potential viruses, and actionable strategy. “I spoke with representatives from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and they deal with very serious information including the [number] of people who are incarcerated and on death row…and they’re not sure how to take this information and use it on something like Facebook,” she says.“To them, [that context] seems very lighthearted.” While that may be an extreme case, Trebon points to several instances in which using Web 2.0 can serve the people well. The bloggers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) determined through blog comments that passengers were experiencing different rules at different airports, making unclear what rules were optional and which were absolutely mandatory, such as removing shoes before going through security. “[The TSA] actually used that information to tighten up the mandate across the country,” she says. “That’s an example of how Web 2.0 can actually achieve results. The TSA didn’t just take comments from people on the Web, but actually made a process improvement.” Like blogs, Trebon says Twitter can also provide an opportunity to continue a dialogue with constituents, particularly during times of crisis.“We used it here in our office during the Mumbai incident,” she says, referring to the December 2008 terrorist attacks. “People can follow our tweets to keep up to date on what’s going on, where and how to call if you have family or friends in an area that’s being affected by some form of calamity.” While still in its nascent stages, Government 2.0 has the potential to not only increase citizen satisfaction, but to offer a sense of transparency and, as a consequence, trust—a trait that’s sometimes lacking but always essential to the democratic process. “The Obama team has been talking to us a lot about transparency and just putting more information out there,” Trebon says. “The interactive nature of these technologies increases trust in government and makes people feel like they’re being listened to because we’re responding back to them.” Assistant Editor Christopher Musico can be reached at cmusico@destinationCRM.com. 25 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | MARCH 2009 http://www.change.gov http://www.whitehouse.gov http://www.Amazon.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - March 2009

CRM - March 2009 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Stay Tuned Stimulating Citizen Experience CRM on Twitter Retailers Face Reality Making Relationships Matter Required Reading We the People Innovation Nation CRM and the iPhone Looking to Score The Virtual Welcome Mat A Tough Transition Made Easier A Training Regimen Gets Rigorous A Battle Fought from Afar Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Connect Pint of View

CRM - March 2009

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