From: Dan Jellinek [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 12 June 2006 16:34
To: egb-html
Subject: E-Government Bulletin, 12 June 2006 - Customer Relationship
Management; Organisational culture change; Angela Smith MP interview.
Hello all,
Here is the latest issue of E-Government Bulletin,
attached as an HTML file. For a plain text version
of the same issue, see below.
Regards,
Dan Jellinek, Editor.
+++E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN
- ISSUE 215, 12 June 2006.
- Incorporating Future Democracy Bulletin.
IN THIS ISSUE: Customer Relationship Management; organisational
culture change; Angela Smith MP interview.
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++Special Notice: Building the Perfect Council Website
- An E-Government Bulletin/Socitm Seminar
- 11 July, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), London.
A partnership between E-Government Bulletin and the Society of IT
Management's Socitm Insight Programme, this conference will attempt
to encapsulate every aspect of how to create the perfect council
website: easy to use, compelling and engaging.
The event will draw on the collected wisdom of seven years of
Socitm's annual 'Better Connected' review of all UK council websites,
bringing together experts and practitioners to share tips and warn
against pitfalls. Registration costs just 125 pounds for delegates from
Socitm Insight subscriber authorities; 195 pounds for other public
sector delegates and 295 pounds for private sector delegates (all rates
exclude VAT).
For more information and to register see:
http://www.headstar-events.com/council/ .
[Special Notice ends].
++Contents - E-Government Bulletin Issue 215.
Section One: News.
01: Customer Relationship Management 'Increases Productivity'
- CRM not just a static information tool.
02: London Urged To Create Unified Emergency Strategy
- boroughs to unite communication plans after tube bombings.
03: BlackBerry Devices Cleared for Secure Use
- handheld devices could now be used more by government.
04: Customer Service Review Finds Websites Underused
- pilot 'peer review' teams investigate three councils.
News In Brief: 05: GI Plan - geographical data strategy; 06: E-Shuffle
- new e-government minister; 07: Leeds Shines - double win for city.
Section Two: Interview - Angela Smith MP.
08: Poacher Turned Gamekeeper: Angela Smith, minister responsible
for local e-government in the recently formed Department for
Communities and Local Government, talks to Derek Parkinson about
her long-standing interest in local democracy and community cohesion.
Section Three: Focus - Organisational Culture Change.
09: Knowing When to Take a Risk: Peter Hernon and Rowena Cullen
examine the barriers to culture change within public bodies in an
extract from their recently published book on e-government strategy.
Section Four: The EGB Vaults - From Our Archive, June 2000.
10: Hampshire Libraries Set The Trend: Six years ago, we covered a
WAP-enabled library service and a portal from the National Health
Service. Danny Budzak, then of Newham Council, suggested cross-
council collaboration to provide multilingual online content, the seed
of what was to become the council's award-winning Language Shop.
[Contents ends].
++Special Notice: 'e-Access '06' - Technology For All
- Early Bird Offer Until 30 June
- 14 September 2006, New Connaught Rooms, London.
'e-Access'06' is the UK's leading annual event on access by people
with disabilities to all technologies, including internet, PCs, mobile
phones and digital TV and radio. The conference focuses on how
digital technology is enabling people with disabilities to achieve
greater independence, and the challenges people face. Sponsors include
BSkyB, Jadu and Ford.
Places normally cost 195 pounds plus VAT for public sector, 295
pounds plus VAT for private sector and 145 pounds plus VAT for
small charities and not for profit organisations. But register before 1
July and save 50 pounds per delegate by typing 'eb-offer' after your
name. See:
http://www.headstar-events.com/eaccess06/ .
[Special notice ends]
++Section One: News.
+01: Customer Relationship Management 'Increases Productivity'.
The use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems in the
public sector should be extended beyond a tool for managing citizens'
contact with councils to become a key means to transform public
service delivery, an E-Government Bulletin conference heard last
week.
CRM systems enable all contact made with the council through any
channel to be recorded, tracked and directed to the appropriate
department, allowing staff to build up profiles of citizens.
But Danny Budzak, co-ordinator of the Service Transformation
Experience Programme (STEP) which has taken on the work of the
former CRM national project, told the audience at 'CRM in the Public
Sector'
( http://www.headstar-events.com/crm/ )
that the potential impact of CRM was much broader.
"The role of CRM will be to increase productivity," said Budzak. "If
data is integrated and if you're able to build up profiles you can use it
for decision making." He said councils need to view CRM systems as
a "dynamic tool" and not simply as a static source of data.
"There's a lot of focus on customer services. But just because you say,
'Hello, good morning, thank you' doesn't mean people will move up
the housing list," Budzak said. "CRM is a knowledge management
tool. People need to be mindful of that."
Budzak said local authorities can use CRM innovatively, joining
services up, following the example of councils such as London
Borough of Islington. When residents contact its contact centre with a
complaint or query, checks are automatically made on other aspects of
their status such as whether or not they are registered on the electoral
roll.
In the light of the government's current policy drive for councils to
share services, Budzak said it will also be increasingly important for
councils to integrate data with their neighbours. "Local authorities
need to think about how CRM interfaces with other authorities in their
area."
+02: London Urged To Create Unified Emergency Strategy.
London's borough councils have been urged to collaborate on a single
communications plan for keeping the public informed in the aftermath
of an emergency such as the London underground bombings of 7 July
2005.
This could include the internet, pager alerting systems, 'buddying'
schemes and possibly conference call facilities, services that are
already in place in the City of London and a few other boroughs,
according to a new report from the 7 July Review Committee of the
Greater London Assembly
( http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/general.jsp#7july )
Public sector websites played a key role to play in keeping businesses
and the public informed in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the
report found. Many turned to public sector websites to discover what
had happened, what action they should take, and how to trace missing
family, friends, and colleagues.
During the day, Transport for London recorded 600,000 visitors
compared to the usual 100,000, and sent out more than 600,000 emails
between three pm and five pm to people registered on its email alerting
system. More than 50 per cent of these were opened within an hour.
The Metropolitan Police updated its website 27 times during the day
and received 1.5 million visits.
However, the report warned that there is a need for a more joined-up
approach to disseminating information across London's numerous
public sector bodies. Without closer collaboration, there is a danger of
putting out inconsistent messages in future, the report said.
+03: BlackBerry Devices Cleared for Secure Use.
BlackBerrys, the handheld devices combining some of the functions of
a mobile phone with the ability to manage emails and access the web,
have been approved for use with restricted data by the
Communications Electronics Security Group of the UK's security
services
(CESG -
http://www.cesg.gov.uk/ ).
The approval clears the way for wider use of the devices by
government agencies.
The high strength encryption used by BlackBerry for securing data (see
http://fastlink.headstar.com/bb3 )
is likely to have been a significant factor in the CESG decision, as is its
capability of being disabled remotely if lost.
BlackBerrys are already in use by some public sector bodies to store
and transmit sensitive data. For example, police officers in West
Yorkshire use them while on the beat to check central records for
outstanding warrants for individuals they encounter
( http://fastlink.headstar.com/wy1 ).
And Cambridgeshire County Council has deployed the devices to
ambulance staff, providing access to social care records while on the
move, which is particularly useful if an elderly person living alone has
had an accident and friends and family need to be contacted
( http://fastlink.headstar.com/bb4 ).
Despite CESG clearance, there are many security issues still to take
into account, said Mark Brett, information management co-ordinator
for the Society of Information Management Information Age Group
( http://www.socitm.gov.uk/public/siag/ ).
Because handheld devices are easy to share between teams of people it
is important to ensure that messages for teams are not confused with
messages intended only for individuals, he told E-Government
Bulletin.
+04: Customer Service Review Finds Websites Underused.
Shortcomings in the use of council websites to communicate with the
public have been uncovered by trials of a new customer services 'peer
review' programme from the local government Improvement and
Development Agency (IDeA).
The 'Customer service peer reviews'
( http://fastlink.headstar.com/cspr1 )
aim to discover how well councils are communicating with residents
and make recommendations for improvements. They form part of the
IDeA's wider Local Government Improvement Programme, under
which teams of experts including council managers from other areas
are sent in to examine services.
High Peak Borough Council and the London boroughs of Islington and
Kensington and Chelsea participated in the pilot, which included peer
review meetings, self-assessment and a "mystery shopping" exercise.
The three councils were reviewed according to 10 aspects of customer
service provision including ICT and information management
strategies. The report recommended Islington staff "make sure the full
power of ICT, for example websites, is fully exploited." At High Peak
they said: "The council website needs to be more transactional to
enable self service and business efficiency," and the team said
Kensington and Chelsea's "information strategy is limited by lack of a
clear customer services vision."
"What we were trying to do is to say 'are you fit for purpose in terms
of meeting the needs of customers? How seriously are you taking
customer service?'" Principal consultant Siobhan Coughlan of the
IDeA told delegates at last week's 'CRM in the public sector'
conference hosted by E-Government Bulletin
( http://www.headstar-events.com/crm/ ).
The pilots also looked at whether customers were provided with
consistent levels of service regardless of the communication channel
they chose. The reports are available for free online:
( http://fastlink.headstar.com/cspr2 ).
News In Brief:
+05: GI Plan: A UK-wide strategy for Geographic Information (GI)
has been announced, focusing on the uses and applications of
geographical data across both private and public sectors. The strategy
has been formulated by a group of industry experts in partnership with
a government GI panel:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/gi1 .
+06: E-Shuffle: Wolverhampton South-East MP Pat McFadden is to
take over as Cabinet Office minister with responsibility for e-
government from Jim Murphy, who moved to the Department of Work
and Pensions in the recent reshuffle. McFadden was previously a
political secretary to the Prime Minister, despite having only been an
MP for just over a year, since last year's general election. His website
features a personal blog:
http://www.patmcfadden.com/
+07: Leeds Shines: Leeds City Council and Leeds Teaching Hospitals
NHS Trust are the UK winners among this year's international
'Computer World Laureate' awards for computer infrastructure. The
city council was cited for its contact centre, online payment system,
homeworking for staff and the linking of 16,000 authority computers.
The awards are run by technology publishing giant IDG:
http://www.cwhonors.org/ .
[Section One ends.]
++Sponsored Notice: Streaming Media Europe
- 12 and 13 October 2006, Copthorne Tara Hotel, London
http://www.streamingmedia.com/europe .
Streaming media and digital technologies are being rapidly adopted
across government but understanding how to select, manage and
integrate them to work within your existing infrastructure can be a
challenge.
Streaming Media Europe will provide you with the solutions. Taking
place on 12 - 13 October in London, the event will address streaming
media solutions for government, news, education and more.
Discover how to make streaming work for your organisation;
understand how to integrate technologies with streaming for wireless
and mobile applications and videoconferencing; learn how to get
results from case studies from end users in government, news and
education sectors; and hear leading experts on topics including
managing digital assets and generating revenue from mobile content:
http://www.streamingmedia.com/europe .
[Sponsored Notice ends]
++Section Two: Interview
- Angela Smith MP
+08: Poacher Turned Gamekeeper
by Derek Parkinson.
In May 2006 Angela Smith, Labour MP for Basildon and East
Thurrock, was appointed a junior minister in the newly created
Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG -
http://www.dclg.gov.uk ),
with a range of responsibilities including the fire service, building
regulations, climate change - and local e-government.
Smith won her seat in the 1997 election that swept Tony Blair to
power, and she wasted little time in making her mark on the statute
book. In 1998 she became one of the first of the new crop of MPs to
successfully steer a Private Members Bill through Parliament when the
Waste Minimisation Bill was passed unopposed on its second reading.
The law, which also won support from environmental groups such as
Friends of the Earth, reveals Smith's interest in local government,
giving councils powers to take a more active approach to cutting waste
production in their areas rather than simply clearing it up. In practice,
this means councils now take a greater role in promoting bottle refill
schemes, rewarding restaurants and cafes with low waste outputs, and
encouraging the public to refuse junk mail.
But her interest in local government goes back further. "I studied
public administration at university, and before I became an MP I was a
county councillor", she told E-Government Bulletin. This experience
gave her a perspective on local government from outside Whitehall,
which she hopes will be useful in her role at the DCLG. "I know what
it's like to be on the other side, you could say I'm a poacher turned
gamekeeper," she says.
Her understanding of issues affecting cohesion within communities
was deepened by her experience as a junior minister in Northern
Ireland. Reflecting on the achievements of the DCLG's predecessor the
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, she singles out regeneration and
local e-government as areas of strong progress. But unsurprisingly, she
singles out take-up of services as a key challenge for e-government,
and one which depends heavily on effective communication.
"What surprised me was the number of people who want to access
online government services - about 40 per cent - compared with the
number that actually do so, which is around 12 per cent. One of the
problems facing e-government is getting the information out there that
shows how easy it is," she says.
More broadly, establishing the right balance of power between central
and local government is an ongoing concern. "We don't want to
burden local government, but planning and funding in a co-ordinated
way is important," she says. Smith declines to be drawn on the detail of
what will become of the local government white paper, which was
expected to deliver the largest shake-up of local government since the
early 1970s. Originally intended to be completed this summer, it was
largely the work of rising star David Milliband, who has since been
promoted to Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs. "There will be a white paper, but the detail and date for
completion is not for me to say. That is the responsibility of Ruth
Kelly," she says.
Overall, she feels the creation of the DCLG will be a positive move,
because it brings under one roof policy areas that fit naturally together.
In particular it will mean councils playing a more central role in
tackling 'quality of life' issues in their areas, a policy area that was
previously looked after by the Home Office. "If you want to work with
communities it's obvious that councils should have an important role.
We will now be able to link issues like civic regeneration and civic
renewal more closely. It's timely," she says.
[Section Two ends].
++Special Notice: Test Your Site's Accessibility.
Headstar, the publishers of E-Government Bulletin, is offering a range
of independent, expert assessment packages to ensure your web
services comply with best practice and the law. We can provide you
with a clear, detailed report on the current access status of your site,
and a list of tasks you will need to carry out to ensure compliance with
government requirements.
Reports also include results from general quality assurance tests such
as link-checking. Taking accessibility action benefits all users, will
make your site easier to maintain, and can improve your search engine
rating! Please note the service is tailored in particular to larger
organisations with major websites or services.
For more information please email:
[log in to unmask] .
[Special notice ends].
++Section Three: Focus
- Organisational Culture Change.
+09: Knowing When to Take a Risk
by Peter Hernon and Rowena Cullen.
One major challenge all countries face in achieving the potential of e-
government is that public sector institutions and organisations all have
different cultures, and respond differently to the possibilities that new
technologies provide.
Organisational culture refers to the assumptions, norms, values, rituals,
traditions, philosophies, and ideologies that characterise an
organisation or institution and its sub-units (each of which also have
their own culture).
Categorisations of organisational culture often used in management
literature include 'clan,' 'hierarchy,' and 'market,' and these categories
are not mutually exclusive. A market culture focuses on the projection
of an institutional image, and the changes in that image may be more
cosmetic than substantive. Hierarchical and clan cultures maintain the
status quo and provide an enjoyable work atmosphere. Hierarchical
cultures have a strong sense of mission, are less innovative than other
institutions, and rate lower than other institutional cultures on
organisational effectiveness.
Because culture is so firmly rooted in an organisation's history and
collective experience, working to change it requires a major investment
of leadership, time, resources, and planning.
Policymakers, leaders, and planners seeking to manage organisational
change in the digital age must pay careful attention to the interaction
between the planning and development of public sector reform and the
achievement of a vision or strategy for a digital information society.
These groups must encourage departments and agencies to explore
technological innovation and to maximise the potential of the web and
e-government.
The development of collaborative relationships within public sector
organisations and with other departments and agencies to provide
seamless web access to citizens is a major culture change that must be
well led and managed. E-government in the UK has explored ways to
address this issue and to get government agencies to participate in a
centralised portal and to deliver services digitally. But problems can
arise when departments and agencies assume they know what their
publics want and need and organise the content of their websites
around these assumptions. Failure to manage digital information in
terms of the needs, wants, and expectations of citizens will have an
adverse impact on e-government.
Achieving a culture change of this magnitude, and changing from what
has been seen as a distant, inflexible, print-bound and unresponsive
bureaucracy into a dynamic, digital, participatory environment, will
require a radical change of policy and direction for most governments
and their bureaucracies.
Common problems that many countries experience in relation to
management of web projects relate to compliance with accessibility
and content guidelines, applications of metadata and other
infrastructural systems for full interoperability and seamless searching,
and problems in implementing government-to-government and
government-to-business initiatives such as e-procurement and shared
workspace.
A recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) report into the failure of public sector IT and e-government
projects highlighted the need for the involvement and commitment of
top management (rather than delegating to the IT department) to ensure
project success, and a shortage of skilled IT staff to implement
projects.
E-government projects do carry risks, not least the failure to deliver on
their promises and citizens turning away from those projects, and this
risk must be managed continually. The key success principles
advocated in the OECD report include: establish appropriate
governance structures; think small; use known technologies; identify
and manage risk; ensure compliance with best practices for project
management; hold business managers accountable; recruit and retain
talent; prudently manage knowledge; establish environments of trust
with private vendors; and involve end users.
The general lesson is not that governments should not take any risks;
rather, that they must identify risks, determine which they are willing
to take, and manage the relevant risk within appropriate governance
structures.
Failure to manage projects efficiently may make oversight bodies such
as legislatures less willing to fund new or planned ICT projects. The
result may be to undermine future efforts to implement new e-
government services and technologies and to create specialised portals.
Without progress and innovation, e-government may not evolve or
mature.
NOTE: This article is an edited excerpt from 'Comparative
perspectives on e-government: serving today and building for
tomorrow" by Rowena Cullen, Peter Hernon, and Harold C. Relyea,
published by Scarecrow Press
( http://www.scarecrowpress.com/ ).
[Section Three ends].
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To find out more about advertising and sponsorship opportunities,
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[Special Notice ends].
++Section Four: The E-Government Bulletin Vaults
- From Our Archive, June 2000.
+10: Hampshire Libraries Set The Trend.
Libraries, rarely perceived to be early adopters of new technologies, hit
our headlines six years ago with the launch of library WAP services by
Hampshire County Council. Those with WAP-enabled mobile devices
could use the service to find the address, contact details and opening
times of all Hampshire libraries in what was thought to be the first
service of its kind.
Portals for the NHS were also in the news in June 2000. E-Government
Bulletin reported the launch of www.nhs.uk by the NHS Executive, the
body that runs the National Health Service within the Department of
Health. The website was launched to "combine NHS links with a
public news service about the work of the NHS and background
information about what the health service is and what it does. Such a
service could be useful to help combat future NHS scare stories or bad
publicity about waiting lists or doctors' real or perceived malpractice,"
said E-Government Bulletin.
The bulletin also included a far-sighted guest article written by Danny
Budzak, then of the London Borough of Newham. Danny explored the
possibility of providing public sector content in languages other than
English. "The UK is home to many people who do not speak English
as a first language. They range from people who have lived here for
long periods of time, to recent arrivals who may be refugees and
asylum seekers. Language is a real problem for them in accessing
advice, public services, facilities and benefits," he wrote.
Public sector organisations could collaborate to cut the cost of
developing such content and to share insights and good practice, he
suggested. "There is some evidence to suggest that many enquiries to
public sector organisations are 'stock' or frequently asked questions. It
would therefore be extremely efficient to produce a databank of
material which many organisations could create, develop and share",
he wrote.
With the wider availability of broadband, the possibility of developing
more sophisticated language applications increases, he suggested.
"Services such as translated materials, audio and video clips could
eventually be centralised and then shared across a large dispersed
area," he wrote. Subsequently, Newham took the lead in this area with
the setting up of the Newham Language Shop
( http://www.languageshop.org/ ),
which now provides translation services, including sign language via
video, for numerous public sector bodies across the capital.
[Section Four ends].
++END NOTES.
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ISSN 1476-6310
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- EDITORIAL.
Editor - Dan Jellinek
Deputy Editor and E-Democracy Editor - Derek Parkinson
Senior Reporter - Mel Poluck
Technical Advisor - Nick Apostolidis.
- SPONSORSHIP AND ADVERTISING.
Marketing Executive - Claire Clinton
Marketing Assistant - Katie Wilkinson.
A searchable archive of our back-issues can be found on our website:
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[Issue ends].
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