Oracle's 311 business grows

Oracle reports a sharp rise over the past 12 months in the number of state and local governments using its software and implementation partners to deploy call centers for 311, the non-emergency phone line for municipal services.

Late last month, the company announced five 311 customers: Albuquerque, N.M.; DeKalb County, Ga.; the city and county of Denver; Kansas City, Mo.; and New York City. The government customers use Oracle E-Business Suite Customer Relationship Management, PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM or Siebel CRM applications. Partners involved in the 311 projects include Accenture, Unisys and Oracle’s Consulting Services unit.

Mark Johnson, senior vice president of Oracle Public Sector, said the uptick in 311 business is about 40 percent. He cited the addition of Siebel to Oracle’s application product line as one factor behind the increase in the work. Oracle completed its acquisition of Siebel in January.

Johnson also pointed to local governments that are “looking for ways to integrate information across departments and better understand their customer interactions.”

Albuquerque worked with Unisys to install Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM. Unisys assisted DeKalb County with its Oracle E-Business Suite implementation. Denver’s 311 system, based on PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM, was implemented in partnership with Oracle Consulting Services. Unisys and Oracle Consulting Services collaborated on Kansas City’s PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM deployment. And New York City tapped Accenture to integrate and implement its Siebel CRM-based call center.

For the most part, mayors’ offices fund local governments’ 311 systems, Johnson said. But governments sometimes secure funding from other departments such as public works or animal control, he added.