4-page Partner Case Study - Posted 6/26/2009

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Asidua

Software Consultancy Helps London Borough Improve Citizen Service

Asidua delivers world-class integration, software, and consultancy services to government and corporate clients worldwide. The Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner specializes in application and data integration (ADI), and focuses on helping clients improve both their business bottom line and their service to customers. Asidua was hired by the London Borough of Harrow to design and implement a solution to improve the borough’s internal business processes and its service to citizens. The Asidua solution was built on a suite of Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft Dynamics® CRM, and it has helped the borough increase employee productivity, improve the quality of customer service provided to Harrow residents, and ensure consistency of records across multiple borough offices.

Situation

Asidua was formed in 2002, and since then it has grown into a world-class technology consultancy with headquarters in Belfast, Ireland, and additional offices in Dublin and in Birmingham, England. Asidua, a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, has 120 employees, and serves clients in the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe, and the Far East.

Asidua’s excellent horizontal technical integration capabilities, honed through experience in the telecommunications industry, have consistently proven to be valuable and applicable to government and industry. The firm’s high-quality people, methods, and technologies allow it to rapidly develop solutions which deliver innovations for its clients, helping clients improve both their business bottom line and their service to customers.

Asidua was approached by the London Borough of Harrow, which was looking to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, agility, and scope of the contact management service which is part of Access Harrow, the borough’s online portal to municipal services and information.

Local authorities were hoping to increase citizen access to services and also find ways to more efficiently deliver those services. These improvements were driven by the city council’s process transformation goals, and by central government initiatives such as “Tell Us Once,” a program designed to make it easier for citizens to report an event such as a birth or death without needing to make multiple phone calls to government offices.

“Harrow had a range of business requirements that covered areas as diverse as increasing the efficiency of the Access Harrow service, making the service more citizen-centric, and gaining better and more meaningful management information,” says Bob McClean, Sales & Marketing Director at Asidua. “It really was a multi-dimensional requirement”.

Solution

Asidua consulted with Harrow to understand not only the borough’s business requirements, but also the characteristics of the systems Harrow was using to run its business. Using its application and data integration (ADI) methodology, Asidua analyzed the operation of the Access Harrow contact management service and established a set of goals for the project. Asidua felt the solution should:

• Reduce citizen service request handling time and increase the accuracy of information by eliminating rekeying and repeated agent actions when handling citizen contact through telephone and walk-in channels.
• Provide realizable and measurable improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, and citizen satisfaction.
• Introduce process guidance and enforcement into contact center processes, promoting a “right the first time” approach.
• Enable the efficient delivery of citizen services through the council Web portal and migrate customers to self service where appropriate.
• Drive consistency of citizen contact information between line-of-business applications, such as the revenues and benefits system, and the customer relationship management (CRM) system.
• Link front office service tickets with back office workflows to ensure that service requests are reliably initiated and completed, and that managers have end-to-end visibility of the ticket until the enquiry is closed.

Asidua was able to propose a solution based on Microsoft technology that will greatly improve the quality and efficiency of our citizen contact. Carol Cutler Director of Business Transformation, London Borough of Harrow

Asidua designed and developed a solution for Harrow which uses a range of technologies from Microsoft, including Microsoft Dynamics® CRM, Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003, Microsoft SQL Server® 2005, and Windows Server® 2003 R2, along with Asidua’s class-leading ADI Methodology and Services portfolio.

A key component of the solution Asidua built for the Borough of Harrow is the unified Agent Desktop. The Agent Desktop signs a user into all of the appropriate line-of-business applications, and it also hosts the user interfaces for key programs. This gives users a single sign-on (SSO) to multiple Web and Windows® programs, and the integrated user interface automatically transfers data between applications. Borough employees can consult guided process flows for dealing with different types of citizen contacts, and the processes are customized according to the type of transaction being handled.

The Asidua solution provides for enterprise-wide information integration, including connectivity between the Access Harrow Web portal and key council systems. This allows for citizen data integration across multiple line-of-business applications and multiple channels, so records at different municipal offices are consistent and up-to-date. Service requests are linked between Microsoft Dynamics CRM and back office workflows, and there is end-to-end visibility and reporting on all service requests, which helps the borough ensure that all requests are properly handled.

Benefits

The Harrow council has received a number of benefits as a result of the solution designed by Asidua, and the council is pleased with the partnership and the solution. “Asidua was able to propose a solution based on Microsoft technology that will greatly improve the quality and efficiency of our citizen contact,” says Carol Cutler, Director of Business Transformation for the London Borough of Harrow.

Improved Productivity and Service

By eliminating redundant manual tasks, such as rekeying and repeated searches, the borough has been able to improve the quality of its service while also increasing efficiency. “We are now taking 20 percent more calls with fewer staff, and the front office is resolving 95 percent of calls the first time,” says Cutler. Employees also save time as a result of their ability to look for data across multiple systems with a single search operation.

Better Access and Better Records

Because the borough’s new contact solution supports the integrated delivery of key council services via multiple channels, citizens can more easily connect with the proper office when they need assistance. Records are now more consistent across applications, so all council offices have better access to the most current and accurate information.

Improved Processes

The borough now has complete end-to-end visibility into its key business processes. Because management information is available across the full service request lifecycle, service requests are handled more efficiently.  Processes and systems are linked between front and back office systems, ensuring consistency and accuracy. Contact center processes are now guided and customized, improving the quality and consistency of citizen service.

Microsoft Partner Program
The Microsoft Partner Program is all about your success. The program is committed to helping you better connect with your customers through use of innovative tools, information, and services. Every day partners around the world are moving their businesses forward, increasing their market reach, improving their customers’ satisfaction, and reducing their cost of doing business. You create the path to your business growth through achievements like gaining a new skill, hosting your first product training event, landing an elusive client, or building a long-needed business collaboration. This is how your business moves, every day, in the direction that you desire.

For more information about the Microsoft Partner Program, please visit the Web site:
www.microsoft.com/partner

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about Asidua products and services, call (44) 28 9072 5000 or visit the Web site at:
www.asidua.com

For more information about the Borough of Harrow, visit the Access Harrow Web site at:
www.harrow.gov.uk/access