Challenges to CRM in government sector

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has swiftly made its way to the government sectors. The biggest example is the revamped railway ticket booking website IRCTC. It has become faster and more user-friendly. However, there is still a wider scope or proper implementation of advanced CRM techniques in more government and public enterprises.

The government sector still faces a variety of challenges though. Out of them, stakeholder management is the key concern. CRM implementation for public sector enterprises faces a major hurdle when interests of multiple stakeholders are to be considered. Central/local governments, finance ministry, administrative and legislative staff, IT department, and citizens majorly are a strong voice of reason in the decision-making process. Implementation of CRM becomes a time-consuming process when resistance to change is pretty high due to the breadth of services offered.

Budget allocation to CRM initiatives is also a major challenge. The government survives on tax payer’s money and thus meeting budget compliances is imperative. Since the sole aim of the private sector is to generate profit, it’s easier to implement CRM for them compared to the public sector, who primary concern is serving the citizens. Thus, the gap between investment and measurable returns poses a hurdle in the process of acquiring requisite budget approvals.

The presence of multiple legacy systems lead to high response time for the approval of an initiative. Stringent regulations, higher standards, and policies play the culprit in it. Thus, the relatively simple process of widespread data collection becomes exhaustive and complex.