Lagan announces 100th local Government customer contract

Wembley Stadium

Government software provider Lagan has announced that the London Borough of Brent has become its 100th local government contract. The new agreement is a key element in the council’s initiative to reengineer its IT infrastructure, involving the implementation of Lagan’s Enterprise Case Management (ECM) integrated with a sophisticated Customer Data Integration (CDI) hub. The project is part of the strategic aim of making the council a centre for excellence in the management of information and data, while improving services and driving efficiencies.

Home to 270,000 residents as well as the world famous Wembley Stadium, Brent started its journey as one of the Government’s Pathfinder local authorities to improve its citizen-centric services back in 2000, and is now seen as a thought leader by other councils because of the way it is exploiting the available technology to best advantage. With the decision to adopt an enterprise-wide approach to service delivery came the need to re-evaluate the existing CRM system and its potential to support and drive fresh initiatives. Having assessed a number of options, the decision was taken by Brent to replace existing systems with the Lagan solution. Compelling reasons supporting this decision were the enterprise-wide capabilities and high quality of integration with other systems that the Lagan solution could deliver as well as its ability to support Brent’s future requirements

Compelling reasons supporting this decision were the enterprise-wide capabilities and high quality of integration with other systems that the Lagan solution could deliver as well as its ability to support Brent’s future requirements.

Says Tony Ellis, Head of IT at Brent, ‘’We first started working with CRM systems five years ago and have learnt a lot along the way. As a result, we have a very good grasp of the demand that having excellent service delivery puts on the technology. We were keen to find the right solution and suppliers who were as committed as we are to delivering these benefits to residents, workers and visitors in Brent. Our partnership with Lagan means we are confident of delivering together a consistent, modern and efficient service to the citizens of Brent and to our public sector partners. We’re doubly delighted to learn that we are Lagan’s 100th customer in local government – their track record of delivery and focus on public sector case management was a key factor in our selection process.’’

Key to Brent’s future plans is integration of the Lagan system with a Customer Data Integration (CDI) solution from Initiate to transform the way information from citizens is handled. By creating a single view of residents’ data, Brent council is aiming to improve customer service standards across all departments. Currently, data is held in numerous back office applications, but new solutions will provide far greater integration between front and back office, allowing customer services staff to handle multiple enquiries on the spot. Once a case is complete, data will be updated automatically, eliminating the current reliance on manual updates and ensuring that a single client index is used to synchronise multiple systems. This will have a direct impact on the quality of information and services received by citizens, who will be able to access their council via multiple channels, and will allow Brent to operate more proactively. Lagan’s solution will also be integrated with Brent’s telephony and Revenues & Benefits systems, using Lagan’s proven packaged adaptors.

Ellis continues, ‘‘Lagan’s extensive experience in delivering enterprise case management solutions to local authorities gave us great reassurance, as did their proven capability in integration with our key systems. Lagan’s ability to enable us to be self-sufficient was critical to our decision and we look forward to the flexibility and cost of ownership benefits that this will bring.’’

Lagan is the leading provider of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions to Local Government worldwide. There are now 100 councils and over 20 million citizens across the UK being served by Lagan solutions. The company is also the fastest growing provider of 3-1-1 Single Non-Emergency Number solutions to the North American market place with customers such as San Francisco (City & County), New Orleans (to support the City’s services post Hurricane Katrina) and Minneapolis (where the Lagan solution helped to coordinate rescue and recovery operations following the recent collapse of a bridge.