Swift LG and AIT Partner to Deliver Citizen Relationship Management for Local Government

Bristol October 8 2004 - Bristol based Local Government software specialist, Swift LG, today announced the company’s partnership with AIT to promote AIT’s next generation citizen interaction software, Portrait, to the Local Government sector.

Portrait, a finalist in this year’s Gartner Group’s European CRM Excellence Awards, is the result of a £25m investment. An established solution in the public sector in the USA and Europe, Portrait is fostering inter-agency working here in the UK at a major implementation for the Police.

Nigel Doré, Swift LG’s Sales Director, says that the company’s smaller Authority clients are keen to capitalize on the knowledge they can acquire through CRM to tailor and direct services. “Mention CRM and you can get a mixed reception”, says Doré. “Authorities have to be sensitive to the cultural diversity of their service users and want to treat their clients as individuals, but until now, their CRM options have been pretty limited. Smaller Districts and Counties are deterred by vendor’s consultancy costs and the demands which large-scale CRM projects make on limited in-house resources. Some vendors fail to appreciate that although processes are the same in principle, every authority operates differently, so it’s hardly surprising that many have resorted to D-I-Y solutions”.

“The attraction of Portrait in our sector is quite simply that it allows Authorities to roll out CRM gradually. It’s modular and can interact with their current processes from Day 1. That takes the load off in-house managerial and technical teams and doesn’t involve high set up and consultancy costs. With Portrait’s process frameworks in place, Authorities can take their time to assess variations in demand. Adding new processes or changing existing ones is based on rules that Authorities can define themselves. Swift LG has the skills to help them achieve this, but there’s no intense development or coding needed to get them to this point”.

Commenting on the partnership, AIT’s Group Marketing Director, Sarah Haskell continues, “ Swift LG’s views on the demand for a web based, lower cost CRM in their market simply confirmed our own findings. We set out to develop a CRM solution which moulds to the organization’s business processes rather than forcing Authorities to adapt to suit our technology. We believe we’ve been successful in striking the best possible balance between the functionality of larger packaged systems with prescribed processes and the D-I-Y in-house solution. Portrait still allows Authorities to get to know their service users and to build on that knowledge to achieve best value, but is more easily configured to suit the individual Authority’s working practices than more costly, and prescriptive, large scale packages”.

Swift LG is initially focusing on integration of AIT’s Portrait to both its own Land and Property Administration software suite and existing back office systems using its GIS product range.

Director of Swift LG’s GIS Division, Brian Kliner, says, “There’s a constant and huge public demand for land and property related information which can be met by capitalizing on the wealth of data which Authorities hold in their GIS systems. Systems such as Local Land Charges and Portrait CRM mean that this GIS held data can be easily tapped from a single point”.

“Integration between GIS and CRM simplifies the logging and response to an incredibly diverse range of citizen calls. Your caller might be reporting an Abandoned Vehicle, wanting to complain about neighborhood noise levels, reporting street light faults or needing advice on Planning and Development Control. Utilizing their geographic data as an essential element in CRM means that Authorities are really maximizing their previous investments in GIS. Given our experience as a specialist in this market, I think we appreciate just how much enthusiasm Local Authorities themselves feel for integrated systems of this kind – they just don’t have the concentration of resources to take on vast CRM projects.”

“AIT has an impressive track record in customer interaction software”, concludes Doré. “Swift LG’s skills and experience as a specialist in Local Authority applications make us well placed to implement Portrait CRM and to integrate the product with existing legacy systems. Both companies share a commitment to being as flexible as we possibly can. It’s this commitment and flexibility that will help us ensure that CRM as an integral part of eservice delivery is a perfectly achievable goal for our customers”.

About Swift LG
Swift LG Limited specializes in Local Government Applications, Land and Property software and Geographical Information Systems for Local Government and is a supplier to major metropolitan as well as smaller district councils UK wide. Swift LG works in close collaboration with its customers and key e-government initiators. The company is a Planning Portal Accredited partner, a PARSOL demonstrator and is working with LGOL-Net and NLIS. Our mapping products are NLUD certified. Swift LG has strategic partnerships with Compuware Corporation, the world’s fifth largest software company, Anite Public Sector and MapInfo Corporation. The company is part of the Bristol based Swift Group which also comprises Supply Chain software specialist, Swift Computing and its logistics arm, Swift FM.

For further information on Swift LG, contact Elaine Clough, Group Marketing Manager by email at elaine.clough@swiftlg.com.