Agenda - Council - 05/26/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CC Regular Session Meeting Date: 05/26/2015 Submitted For: Patrick Brama, Administrative Services By: Patrick Brama, Administrative Services 4. 9. Information Title Approve New Strategy for CRM Services Purpose/Background: The purpose of this case is to consider a new strategy for providing "CRM Services" for the City of Ramsey. STAFF PROPOSAL (1) termination of existing CRM contract with GovQA (let existing contract naturally expire end of July 2015) (2) staff select a new contract with a lower -cost vendor (3) external* "CRM Services" would be eliminated; and a new landing page for customer service on the City's website would created (i.e. replace external CRM). (4) internal** "CRM Services" would continue operations via a new lower -cost vendor (i.e. replace existing CRM vendor). *external CRM refers to what the public utilizes on the City's website (http://www.ci.ramsey.mn.us/requestandresponse). * *internalCRMrefers to what staff utilizes via our internal intranet website (internal website for staff -to -staff only). Notification: NA Observations/Alternatives: WHY THE CHANGE? (A) Low external CRM customer usage. Please reference attached reporting. The City has utilized CRM services for just less than three years. Over the course of three years 1,657 requests have been made via CRM (about 650 per year). 90.5% of requests have been made "internally" via City staff (about 1,500). The remaining 9.5% of requests have been made by external customers (i.e. citizens); which breaks down to about an average 63 requests per year. NOTES: the City did conduct an advertising/ media push for this new service in 2013. Staff has had conversations in the past with other WebQA users throughout the twin cities. The trend/ usage that Ramsey is experiencing is similar to other communities. (B) CRM creates a barrier for external customers. CRM requires the customer to create and remember a user name and password. This user name and password is needed each time the customer wishes to interact with the City (one request typically requires multiple interactions). The need to "log -in" and remember information each time the customer wants to contact the City (now or in the future) creates a convenience barrier; which encourages customers to find information via a different, easier, method. The City does have the ability to NOT require a user log -in. However, in doing so, much of the reporting and tracking capabilities of the CRM software are lost (which makes the benefit of the product marginal