The Power to Change

Mar 2005 , Sponsored by Microsoft

While it's always been true that government must contend with limited resources, the recession of the early 2000s and the staggering advancement of technology significantly magnified its challenges. Governments of all sizes find themselves struggling to serve more people with fewer funds while constantly playing catch-up with private-sector innovation.

But not for everyone. Some agency leaders are bridging their financial and technological gaps by leveraging existing technology investments and integrating cutting-edge software that offers exceptional affordability and functionality.

One example is Microsoft Business Solutions. Designed to streamline a variety of administrative functions and improve constituent services, Microsoft Business Solutions is providing government agencies powerful, cost-effective tools that are quick to set up and easy to use.

Plain Great
On all levels of government, simply operating in the black is a daunting challenge. Old infrastructure and old ideas will not help agencies make the most of their limited resources. Microsoft Business Solutions for Financial Management -- Great Plains has the tools and the torque administrators need to shift their financial reporting into high gear.

Designed as a series of individual modules, Microsoft Great Plains improves functionality in everything from core financials to human resources and grant management. Agencies can use some or all of the Microsoft Great Plains modules depending on their needs. For example, a human services agency could implement a financial reporting module alone or choose to employ the entire application system.

In addition, Microsoft Great Plains is typically far more cost-effective than other Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. Combining intuitive integration with other Microsoft products as well, as the capability to provide for a fast and simplified deployment, Microsoft Great Plains presents government agencies with an intelligent and exceptionally functional financial management solution.

How to Relate
Understanding what constituents need is critical to all public service agencies. Ideally people build their governments to serve needs of citizens. With Microsoft's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application, government agencies shed the reputation for lackluster service and spotty responses.

As part of Microsoft Business Solutions, Microsoft CRM is a visionary product that can transform disparate agencies into efficient data-sharing enterprises. At the same time, constituent calls and requests can be tracked and shared, allowing the appropriate agency response to be faster and more accurate.

Built from the ground up and taking advantage of the company's standards-based .NET framework, Microsoft CRM is easy to implement and intuitive to use. In addition, the cost-effective solution can be set up extraordinarily fast; what takes others several years and millions of dollars to deploy can be implemented in mere months and for a fraction of the price.

Like Microsoft Great Plains, anyone who is familiar with Microsoft Office will instantly recognize the Microsoft CRM interface. The broad functionality of Microsoft Business Solutions helps make building improved architecture fast, effective and friendly -- whether you're a constituent or a civil servant.

Public Service
California agency call center saves money with Microsoft CRM

California is recognized as a trendsetter in everything from pop culture to biotechnology. In Sacramento, the California Department of Corporations is furthering the state's reputation for innovation by implementing the Microsoft CRM solution. The department was looking for an application that could track and display data that was coming into its call center.

Julie Stewart, manager of the Consumer Services Office at the Department of Corporations, said that its legacy systems were not conducive to constituent-friendly service.

The department had multiple databases, Stewart said. "When we first started the call center, none of them talked to each other. So if something became an issue, such as a complaint, it generated a ton of documents."