The new 311 solution, implemented yesterday by Unisys Corp., is a results-management program intended to afford the city the benefits of secure business operations that will help control costs, minimize risks and achieve improved performance in serving the citizens of Minneapolis. The system uses Citizen Relationship Management (CRM) software by Lagan Technologies and will enable Minneapolis to better coordinate operations, making its departments more responsive and efficient in handling constituent requests. It will also provide service request routing from one department to another, enabling consistent hand-off or follow-up on citizen inquiries. Reporting and monitoring features will offer city management the information needed to make decisions more quickly and efficiently.
"Our new 311 system has so many benefits, not just for city departments, but especially for the residents, who now have a simple, streamlined way to access city information and services," said Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.
In addition, the 311 call center will alleviate call demand into the city's existing 911 line, keeping that line open for truly life-threatening events requiring immediate response. According to recent national studies, up to 60 percent of calls to 911 lines can actually be non-emergency calls. Creating a separate 311 system specifically for non-emergency requests can reduce the burden on 911 systems by more than 40 percent.
"Forward-looking cities like Minneapolis are moving to a consolidated call center to provide their citizens with convenient and efficient services when they need them," said Michael Antash, Unisys' 311 practice director. "Our expertise in systems integration and customer relationship management in the public sector will help the city implement secure business operations and streamline its services to better meet the needs of its citizens."
Unisys implemented Lagan Technologies' Frontlink solution, and is hosting the solution at the Unisys outsourcing service center located in Eagan, Minnesota. Unisys will also provide training and IT support for the 311 call center. Unisys provides information technology (IT) outsourcing services for the City of Minneapolis, under a seven-year agreement that includes procuring, deploying, managing and supporting the city's IT infrastructure, from mobile devices to enterprise servers to integrated networking.
"Our Frontlink CRM solution, combined with the strategic consulting and infrastructure provided by Unisys, solves a problem many cities are experiencing, which is the need to reach citizens more effectively and efficiently for non-emergency issues," said Tom Mazur, vice president, North American sales at Lagan Technologies. "We've established a leadership position with our product in the U.K. market and we are proud to showcase the solution in Minneapolis, as we continue outreach into the 311 market here in the United States."
The five-year contract was awarded in the second quarter of 2005. This project expands Unisys partnership with Minneapolis, which began in 2000 to combine advanced technology and business processes to better serve the city's constituents.
