Portals in Public Sector: the next Evolution...

Challenges in Public Sector IT

So both the Federal and State Public Sectors in Australia are struggling at the moment with deficits.  All are warning of further funding cutbacks.  Many are looking for ways to trim costs from the public sector operational budgets in order to fund pet projects.  In the light of this, self service methods for Citizens to get access to government services to reduce costs are becoming more popular than ever. 

Remember the last time you went into a bank?  Probably not.  Most people do all their banking over the internet.  Firstly it allows you access to the services at a time that suits you.  Secondly there is no waiting in line or on the phone.  You get access to what you want now and don't have to wait. Self Service Portals are interesting then in that they allow you to reduce costs (because you need fewer people on the end of the phone to receive the call) but yet they increase the perception of the quality of the services you are giving to customer or in the case of Gov't the citizen. 

Therefore self service options are now all the rage with most government agencies.  It's taken a little while for the government to catch up with where the banks and financial institutions have been at but they are definitely there now.

Portals in the Past Tense vs. Portals 2.0

In addition to the concept of a Self Service Portal becoming more popular I think the average government thinking in terms of what providing a self service portal means has changed.  Previously the focus for the portal was the portal experience itself with perhaps some integration to backend systems. 

What we are finding now is that government departments are realising it is not just about the self service portal itself but about developing the business processes around it and making them more efficient as well.  To facilitate those business processes you need tools for that as well as for managing the portal content itself which often has to be dynamic allowing for changes in programs and the development of new services. 

Queues plus workflows plus communication managements tools all are needed to manage the inevitable issues, questions and complaints that come from portals which have to support high transaction volumes of citizen requests are key components.  An integrated Knowledge Base that can be exposed to the citizens using the portal also helps.  It is not just about the portal and how it looks and feels but the backend tools that supports the portal processes and active management of Dynamics content.  This is where a CRM system comes into play.   Instead of looking for just a Portal most government IT organizations are now looking for integrated Portal and CRM tools to manage the portal, the content and the process.  This is where Dynamics CRM plus ADX Studio as a solution on top of Dynamics CRM can provide an elegant solution.

The Advantages of a Dynamics CRM/ ADX Studio Based Solution

ADX Studio is a solution built on top of Dynamics CRM which turns Dynamics CRM into a Content Management system for a Government Portal.  A completely configurable solutions it comes with a series of pre-built portals including a Government Portal and a Self Service Community Portal.  All use Dynamics CRM as both the portal database as well as the Content Management Tool.   Fully integrated, prebuilt, configurable and with the option to go cloud based or on-premise, Dynamics CRM with a combination of ADX Studio provides an attractive solution for most government departments who want to get a self service portal up and running quickly and want a set up tools not just to support the portal but to support all business processes that go around setting up a successful self service portal.

The ADX Studio solution with Dynamics CRM has won the 2012 US State and Local Gov't Rising Star Award recently for the solution in the Government space. 

Cloud Based or On-Premise... Decisions Decisions...

So the interesting thing about Dynamics CRM is that you have the option of either going with Public Cloud, Private Cloud or On-Premise.  Watching the active discussions that are going on in Government today around the concept of Public Cloud it is interesting to see the different views.  The Australian Federal Public Sector seems to be very anti-public cloud with AGIMO coming out categorically against the concept of Public Cloud for Public Sector.  On the other hand the NSW Government has made recent announcements stating their favourable view of Public Cloud based IT solutions. 

At the end of the day however Microsoft supports both.  Dynamics CRM can be hosted On-Premise, Private Cloud through Partner or through secure Public Cloud through Microsoft.   All options are there and because the code base for Dynamics CRM On-premise is essentially the same as online that means that you can fairly easily move back and forth between each option. 

All this for Less than the price of a Cup of Coffee per day?

So the Professional version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is priced at relatively cost effectively at ~$65 per user per month.  However Microsoft provides for various license levels and for most Call Centre users of a Dynamics CRM Online system the lower cost "Basic" License applies.  Priced at ~ $30 per user per month this is extremely cost effective for most Gov't departments and can often be handled as a OpEx expense rather than a CapEx expense requiring more formal approvals.  Work this out and this amounts to less than $1.50 per day per user or less than the cup of coffee you buy down at your local coffee shop.  If you want more details around Dynamics CRM Online software pricing just click on  Dynamics CRM Online Quick Reference Guide .

In terms of the Portal tool ADX Studio Tool that works on top of Dynamics CRM the pricing can be found here:  http://www.adxstudio.com/adxstudio-xrm/xrm-licensing  .  For most uses the cost will be a once of $9,995 USD. 

Neither Dynamics CRM nor ADX studio charge for the number of external users (i.e. Citizens) that are accessing the portal from outside of your organization.  These are all free. 

Now there will likely be some services costs associated with the deployment and those costs may vary with the level of backend integration you want with other systems in your business.  But based on practical experience a simple system as a first step can be up and running typically within 2 to 3 months.  So for most Public Sector IT Groups to get a basic system in place the services costs will be relatively low.

For more information you can send me an email at dgoad@esavvy.com.au


David Goad is the Managing Director for eSavvy – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Gold Certified Partner. eSavvy is an award winning Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner staffed by some of the most experienced solution and technical architects in the Microsoft partner channel. We build and deliver relationship management solutions based on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform for large enterprises as well small and midsize businesses in Australia