Why VARs need councilling

The need for councils to get up to date with government integration legislation presents VARs with a real opportunity, writes Iain Pickering

Government legislation targets set for e-government have given VARs some of the best opportunities to capitalise on the need for effective integration in the IT sector.

Ndl-metascybe’s recent annual UK council e-government survey revealed that 258 local councils across the UK were facing up to the task of hitting the government’s targets for integration and CRM implementation.

Unsurprisingly, 35 per cent of those councils saw integration as a major stumbling block to effective CRM implementation. Perhaps more shocking, 44 per cent of councils admitted that they still have no idea how they plan to integrate their back office into the main CRM system.

The results of the survey show how councils have diversified into distinct groups that all need an integration solution: councils that do not know how to integrate back-office systems into the main CRM system, and councils that would like to exploit new technologies, but have yet to implement an integration strategy. This is a key market for those that can administer the appropriate solution.

There is also a strong increase in councils that have invested in emerging and mobile technologies, but need integration software for these to pass on the desired benefits.

While these councils are ahead of the game, they are not immune from some of the difficulties faced by local authorities that change systems and are just as much in need of the appropriate help as the other two groups.

Now that we have passed the dates laid down by the government for compliance, we will see councils returning to the thorny issue of integration.

This is an opportunity for channel specialists to use their expertise to meet the needs of councils that wish to integrate back-office systems with existing and emerging technologies.

Bolstering CRM this way, and through mobile technologies, will cause short-term difficulties. However, many councils are not prepared to bury their head in the sand when it comes to resolving CRM issues and are now actively seeking the necessary help to comply with government targets.

Mobile technologies will be a key growth area for many local authorities, with 68 per cent of those questioned in the survey stating that they planned to implement solutions using smartphones, PDAs or tablet PCs. These also require the right software for them to be correctly added to existing systems and for CRM integration to be properly implemented.

Iain Pickering is technical director of ndl-metascybe.