Staffordshire councils prepare for £20m CRM migration

10 local authorities are looking to replace Oracle CRM system with cloud-based alternative

A group of Staffordshire councils are preparing to migrate from their existing Oracle-based CRM system to a cloud-based alternative, in a deal that could be worth up to £20m over the coming years.

Staffordshire Connects Partnership was established in 2002 to provide a common CRM system for 10 local authorities in the Staffordshire area. The partnership allows the councils to work co-operatively, enabling Stoke-on-Trent City Council to collect parking fines on behalf of the others, for example.

The core system enabling this joint working has been Oracle's LG45 CRM system, run by local IT services firm Capula.

Last year, Paul Hayward, technical manager at Staffordshire Connects, warned colleagues that the Oracle product had been superseded and that a replacement was urgently needed.

"Because at least one partner has an imperative to procure a replacement CRM system in the next financial year, a fairly aggressive timetable is being proposed," he said at the time.

The new system will be expected to provide a dashboard for call centre operators to track interactions with residents. It will also be expected to be able to process card payments, be integrated with Microsoft Office and send messages by email and SMS.

The initial contract is to be awarded for seven years, starting in March 2012, with the option to extend until 2027.