Power to the People: Implementing Constituent Relationship Management in the Public Sector.

Despite rising interest in constituent relationship management (CRM), few governments have implemented these systems. This article draws on the experience of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to provide a frame work for successful CRM implementation projects.

Constituent Relationship Management (CRM), or Customer Relationship Management, is a class of software designed to provide governments with the ability to manage their citizen relationships consistently and effectively through a variety of channels. CRM has been one of the hottest technologies in the private sector in recent years, and is now sparking interest in the public sector as well. The rubric of CRM encompasses a number of different capabilities designed to automate front-office business processes such as call center management. CRM clearly holds great promise for the public sector, which has as much need to manage constituent relationships as the private sector. However, since CRM is so new and because private-sector CRM applications (e.g., sales automation) do not directly correspond to government, the verdict is still out on the utility of CRM to the public sector. This article explores the value of CRM to the public sector by examining the case of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MED C).

About the Michigan Economic Development Corporation

The MEDC is a quasi-state agency whose purpose is to promote the retention and expansion of jobs in Michigan. The agency prides itself on fostering economic development based on traditional principles, while adapting those principles to modern realities. The MEDC's service areas include business development (i.e., attraction and retention), business services (i.e., site location, recruitment, training), emerging business sector development, and marketing. The MEDC has approximately 300 full-time equivalent employees and a total budget of $132 million, most of which ($94 million or 71 percent) is spent on direct program costs such as grants and tourism promotion.

The MEDC seems to fit the prototype for a public-sector organization with a clear imperative to institute CRM. Although the MEDC does not face direct competition in a private-sector sense, it does operate in a competitive environment. For instance, the MEDC's business attraction and retention functions must accomplish their work within the context of economic incentive programs from other states. Businesses have the option of choosing between various localities, and the MEDC must work to ensure that businesses are aware of the advantages of locating in Michigan. And because there is a great deal of overlap between the MEDC's various service areas, it needs an enterprise-wide CRM solution to unify customer information across the organization and to coordinate departmental efforts.

The Genesis of the MEDC EDGE CRM Project

The Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) project refers to the MEDC's current efforts to institute a modern, integrated CRM package. Prior to the EDGE project, the MEDC used various homegrown applications designed to emulate basic CRM functionality. The most recent of these systems was the Business Opportunity System (BOS), which was primarily used by the MEDC Business Development Unit.