Social CRM in Public Sector

The latest sector under analysis in the Innova Institute Social Media research project is the Public Administration and Government. The aim of this blog entry is to provide an overview of the changes introduced in the Public Sector by Social Media to manage their CRM strategies.

The actual situation shows an increasing introduction of information technologies in the sector (as we have seen in tourism and media cases). Nevertheless, the Public Sector seems to be in an earlier technological state, lagging some steps behind the other studied sectors. Despite the lower technological maturity of the sector, active Social Media citizens increasingly require a response from their Public Administration and Government institutions through the Social Media channels. Such situation makes visible a considerable room of growth in the adoption of Social Media as a strategic component for Public Administrations.

Meanwhile some organizations are still immersed in an identification process of its Social CRM strategy, others, like the government of Vilassar de Mar or Badalona, are already increasing their organization and ICT strategy alignment; for example analyzing their social  support processes (conversations or channels where citizens interact), to make adequate use of Social Media tools. The Vilassar de Mar government initiative was awarded with one of the “Annual Shorty-awards”, which recognise the best Twitter profiles of the year, specifically in the Government category.

It has been observed that the priority for most studied organizations has been the development of social marketing and service support to their citizens. Some advanced cases which have done efforts in the e-government development (which implies the possibility of resolving any request, inquiry or proceeding through the online site of the organization) are the cases of Vilassar de Mar, Arona and Barcelona. A good example of those initiatives is the case of the Barcelona Mayor, who channels his Facebook and Twitter interactions to the city e-government system.

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As a result, the description of the Public Sector usage cases shows that some of the less explored Social CRM options are related to sales activities, innovation and collaboration. In particular, emphasizes the low presence of Social Media tools in the internal collaboration mechanisms of organizations, or in rapid response to the social selling. Therefore, in this Social Media revolution environment, the Public Sector organizations should further evaluate the possibility to integrate Social Media in their internal processes and consider monitoring and analyzing their citizens’ interactions.

What do you think about the Public Sector challenges in this Social Media environment?