Andrew Simmonds

Andrew Simmonds Managing Director, My Business Angel (Previously Partner at Accenture)

Andrew Simmonds, Managing Director, My Business Angel, previously Partner at Accenture

"Seeing clearly and breathing free..

... Andrew Simmonds, an Accenture CRM partner and co-author of the report, believes that the general public's adoption of the Web means that it can also adapt to e-government.

Andrew Simmonds, an Accenture CRM partner and co-author of the report, believes that the general public's adoption of the Web means that it can also adapt to e-government."The Internet is the future," is how he puts it.

That's also true for governments themselves.Simmonds charts a sea change he's personally witnessed."In our research eighteen months ago [government agencies] were reluctant to embrace the terminology of CRM and didn't regard citizens as customers."Since then, owing to what Simmonds characterizes as "service improvements driven by political agendas," e-government has made significant strides in CRM.He gives the example of Belgium's federal portal (www.belgium.be) as being "incredibly customer-centric," to the extent of an online message that reads, "'From now on, you are the customer.'"

"Government agencies are more comfortable talking in terms of customers," Simmonds concludes.

Andrew Simmonds, the partner responsible for customer relationship management services in Accenture's government operating group, says that for government agencies to get up to speed, the first thing they need to do is "rationalize" their customer contact channels."Agencies need to better consolidate their contact points like the 311 program in NYC, and many government offices still have to offer better services over the Web and other channels," Simmonds says.He adds that the sector is five years behind other industries in allowing customers to interact via multiple channels.Only a third of the executives surveyed said their agencies use multichannel contact centers that integrate telephone, mail, email, Internet, and fax capabilities.

"The second most important step is analytics," Simmonds says."Once you've got customers up online you need to capture the context of the touch points and gain insights about the customer, just as with any other sector."

Simmonds warns that even though agencies may be behind technologically, they must stay focused on business process change and not rely solely on technology to advance their services."Agencies must absolutely stay focused on process and people issues," he says.

"To take customer service to the next level and tailor government services to the specific needs of their varied customers, governments must do a better job of analyzing data," said Andrew Simmonds, the partner responsible for customer relationship management services in Accenture's Government operating group.