Driven by the need to improve its management of constituent relationships, a new report predicts that government spending on customer relationship management (CRM) technology solutions in the US, UK, Germany and France will grow from $2.9 billion in 2008 to $4.4 billion in 2013.

In today’s commercially-oriented world, it has become a trend among public sector agencies to treat constituents as customers who expect top levels of service.The operating environment for public sector agencies is characterized by the need to ‘do more with less’. As governments strive to provide more personalized public services, they are looking to CRM solutions, which can help align service delivery with constituent needs and address numerous pain points. Continue reading “Governments take to CRM solutions to enhance constituent relations” »

After months of cost overruns, delays and plenty of bad press, EarthLink recently announced that it is putting its municipal wireless business up for sale, leaving one of its leading customers, the City of Philadelphia, at a crossroads regarding its municipal Wi-Fi deployment.

The initiative in Philadelphia has been one of the most discussed deployments of municipal wireless networks in the US, and EarthLink’s decision to sell is an example of the volatility of this market. In order to ensure continued viability of the network, the city must be very careful in taking its next steps.

Continue reading “Philadelphia: Salvaging the Future of Municipal Wireless” »