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Oakton delivers on Federal Government cloud CRM deployment

Project is part of the Australian Government’s Single Business Service initiative announced in the 2014-15 Federal Budget

Oakton has delivered one of the first Australian Government cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platforms for the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS).

According to the technology and business consulting services company and Dimension Data subsidiary, the project was undertaken in response to the Australian Government’s Single Business Service initiative announced in the 2014-15 Federal Budget.

As part of the deal, Oakton has delivered a platform that manages a single view of the department’s customers, aiming to drive greater productivity and improving customer experience, as well as embedding an agile approach to innovation.

According to Dimension Data Australia chief technology officer, Debra Bordignon, charged with increasing the productivity and global competitiveness of Australian businesses, the department required a consistent, secure, and up-to-date view of customer data to effectively manage its broad remit.

As a result, she mentioned that the new CRM overcomes its past challenges of siloed information, and enables the department to access customer data to swiftly resolve enquiries and provide more valuable advisory services.

She added that it also reduces the scope for human error — which can affect the integrity of customer data when it is held across multiple locations and updated manually. 

Bordignon said a key success factor for the project was that it allowed the department to roll out the fit-for-purpose enterprise platform, which was built on Microsoft’s Dynamics 365.

“We were able to transfer capability and knowledge to the department,” she said. “It now runs the same Agile method to continuously improve the platform, removing the need for the old-school consultants and the expense of vendor involvement.”

DIIS general manager of digital business services, Clive Rossiter, said as a result of the deployment, its customer-facing staff are saving a “significant amount of time” and helping deliver better services.

He also said that it allows the department to roll out a new CRM capability to users quickly, improving its response to customer demand and increasing staff satisfaction.

“Delivering on that promise has been important in taking our people with us on the digital transformation path. Now, if anyone here has a good idea about how something can be improved, we can turn that around in as little as four weeks,” he said.

“After initially running a pilot of this with Oakton and Microsoft, we now have around 800 users on the platform. Nearly one-third of the department logs in and uses the system each day, recording more than 5000 customer interactions every month.”