CRM In Government Sector: Scope And Challenges

Governments today function similarly as MNC’s. The head of states are like CEO’s who are answerable to multiple stakeholders and ultimately to the citizens, their end consumers.

- Limesh Parekh

Only difference is that the CEO in the MNC is not chosen by the consumer. Whereas the government is chosen by the people. With the explosion of the digital world and the rise of the global citizen with access to information on his fingertips, it is imperative for governments to be complaint, which probably explains a big reason for the rise in Government spending on applications which improve governance, transparency and serve citizens across platforms. Over the last few years, India has seen consistent improvements in this regard, with implementation of the digital India campaign, the UID Adhaar initiative and the recent Demonetization drive to push online spends.

In terms of CRM use, the government sector has been one of the top drivers of growth, along with ITES, telecom, BFSI, Infrastructure, retail and tourism. And while CRM in public sector seems to be in a very nascent form, there have been key establishments that have pioneered and are leading the use of CRM in the public domain for quite some time now. These include the IRCTC – the Indian Railways ticketing web portal, the Road Transport Authority services, the Municipal corporations and its allied departments for health and governance as well as legal and utility services like electricity and gas operators. These have all been progressively managing citizen data and relationships using CRM techniques.

However, there is still a wider scope for proper implementation of advanced CRM techniques in more government and public enterprises, so as to create not just seamless and advanced governance but to also set up a progressive democracy that is managed in an organized and efficient manner.