Technology and business consulting services company, Oakton has deployed one of the first Australian Government cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platforms for the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS).
Under the contract Oakton – a Dimension Data company - has delivered a secure platform that manages a single view of the department’s customers, driving greater productivity and improving customer experience, as well as embedding an Agile approach to innovation.
The project was undertaken in response to the Australian Government’s Single Business Service initiative announced in the 2014-15 Federal Budget.
Charged with increasing the productivity and global competitiveness of Australian businesses, the department required a consistent, secure, and up-to-date view of customer data to effectively manage its broad remit.
{loadposition peter}“Our customer-facing staff members are saving a significant amount of time and helping deliver better services,” said Clive Rossiter, the department’s general manager of digital business services.
“Additionally, the department can now roll out a new CRM capability to users extremely quickly, improving its response to customer demand and increasing staff satisfaction.
“Delivering on that promise has been important in taking our people with us on the digital transformation path. Now, if anyone here has a good idea about how something can be improved, we can turn that around in as little as four weeks.
“After initially running a pilot of this with Oakton and Microsoft, we now have around 800 users on the platform. Nearly one-third of the department logs in and uses the system each day, recording more than 5000 customer interactions every month.”
Debra Bordignon, Chief Technology Officer, Dimension Data Australia, says the new CRM overcomes past challenges of siloed information, and enables the department to access customer data to swiftly resolve enquiries and provide more valuable advisory services. It also reduces the scope for human error — which can affect the integrity of customer data when it is held across multiple locations and updated manually.
According to Bordignon a key success factor for the project was that it allowed the department to roll out a fit-for-purpose enterprise platform. It was delivered using an Agile method that allowed the department to take over its ongoing management and development.
“We were able to transfer capability and knowledge to the department. It now runs the same Agile method to continuously improve the platform, removing the need for the old-school consultants and the expense of vendor involvement.”