UK is wasting money on CRM: report: The drive for e-government is resulting in millions of pounds being wasted on ineffective CRM (customer relationship management) systems, according to research by software company Transversal. The company estimates that STG1.5 billion is being wasted on complex and expensive CRM systems, but local and central government services and Web sites are no more accessible to citizens than before. Transversal says that, according to recent research, 60 percent of government sites are inefficient when it comes to answering customer queries, while 75 percent of CRM projects fail to deliver a quantifiable return on investment. "If the public sector really wants to provide effective e-service it should be looking at the private sector's CRM mistakes and learn from them: bearing in mind that 7 out of 10 private sector implementations failed to deliver the benefits promised," said Transversal CEO Gerard Buckley. Simple, cost-effective self-service applications are the key to providing improved e-government customer service, according to the company.
UK to assess council sites for business use: An initiative funded by the UK government is conducting an analysis of how well businesses are served by local authority Web sites. The Working with Business National Project (WWB NP), which is backed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, has commissioned the Society of IT Management (Socitm), an organisation of local government IT managers, to carry out a comprehensive survey following a pilot study that examined 25 local authorities. Results from the pilot survey suggested that local authorities are giving less attention to e-services for business users than for individual citizens. The full survey will address areas including whether council sites contain a dedicated business area; how easy it is to find useful information, such as vacant properties; whether commercial transactions have been enabled, such as paying rates; and whether the site is "joined up" with other relevant central and local government services. The results of the survey will be made public later this summer on the WWB NP Web site.
US spending on IT security is slowing: US federal government spending on IT security will increase only marginally next year, predicts research firm INPUT. The company's latest report, "Federal IT Security MarketView," forecasts that federal spending on IT security products and services will grow just 2 percent in fiscal 2005, compared with an increase of 10 percent in 2004 and a 50 percent rise in 2003. The research firm attributes the low growth to government agencies' failure to comply with a mandate to fix IT security weaknesses, which is restricting the availability of funding for new security initiatives. "Annual security reviews by the Office of Management and Budgets (OMB) and Congress are prompting agencies to make progress toward securing all existing information systems," said Chris Campbell, senior analyst at INPUT. The research company also noted that agencies were under pressure due to the OMB's decision to delay funds for some agencies until they meet certain security requirements. "Agencies are now being forced to seek approval to re-appropriate funds to fix security lapses in existing systems," explained Campbell.
Malta extends partnership with Microsoft: The Maltese government has signed a second agreement with Microsoft. The Vertical Strategic Alliance Agreement extends an accord signed in 2003 by IT and Investments Minister Austin Gatt and Microsoft boss Bill Gates. The new agreement provides for the establishment of a partnership between the government and Microsoft in a range of areas, including e-government, education and security. Microsoft EMEA CEO Jean Philippe Courtois described the extension of the alliance as "the most far-reaching agreement the company has ever had with a government from this region." The software giant plans to set up a local branch, Microsoft (Malta), to help facilitate the implementation and management of the partnership. Among the initiatives to be rolled out under the agreement is a plan for Microsoft to finance a number of community centres that will be set up to provide broadband access and IT training.
Most NI council sites lack interactivity: Only five of Northern Ireland's 26 local councils have transactional Web sites, according to a soon-to-be-published study, reports the Belfast Telegraph. The findings of the study, which was conducted by the Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA), were released at an e-government conference held on 2 June. The local government organisation said that although every council has a Web site, and 17 local authorities publish their council minutes on-line, only five sites could be deemed genuinely interactive. "Only five councils allow customers to perform full transactions on-line, including on-line payments, the rest forcing the customer to use post and traditional channels to deliver payments and forms -- thus removing the main benefit of transacting on-line," said Heather Moorhead, NILGA chief executive. She advised councils to work together and share their experiences in order to reap the benefits of e-government.
Autor: Sylvia Leatham
Quelle: Electric News Net, 16.06.2004
