Member Article

Could technology help prevent more riots?

The recently published report by the Riots, Communities and Victims panel made many suggestions about the steps the government could take to prevent a repeat of the unrest which shook parts of the UK last summer – but as austerity continues to bite, what steps can the authorities take to tackle public disorder as budgets shrink?

One solution might be making better use of software technology to give themselves the best possible intelligence to target their resources.

The North East has a great reputation for innovative software solutions which can boost organisational efficiency in countless cost-effective ways.

One such solution is Orcuma CRM – developed by our company Orcuma Ltd (www.orcuma.com) – which is to be piloted across County Durham for use by Durham County Council in tackling anti-social behaviour and to help keep communities safer.

Developed with the Safe Durham Partnership,Orcuma CRM is the first piece of CRM software to include the specific needs of anti-social behaviour teams - designed with ASB professionals using real-life scenarios.

It allows teams to spend more time serving the public and less time on paperwork, helping officers keep track of every aspect of ASB complaints from report to resolution highlighting what action needs to be taken.

It also includes many innovative features, including the ability to create a matrix of complainants, witnesses and perpetrators to show a complete picture of all parties involved, case incident location mapping using GIS functionality- allowing “hot spotting” of ASB incidents – and interactive case lists which allow easy identification of workload bottlenecks and assisting with effective management of resources.

Information entered onto the systemcan also be accessed and updated by other appropriate staff from the Partnership including Social Landlords, Housing Associations, the Police and Fire and rescue services, Affinity CRM includes a full audit trail and alerts system ensuring that users are kept informed of changes made to their cases.

There are countless potential uses of Orcuma’s CRM system for the private and public sectors alike, and a growing number of local software companies - many supported by Sunderland Software City, the regional initiative working to drive the growth of the local software industry – who are developing technologies which can make organisations and companies more efficient and effective.

In my view, innovative local technology could give businesses the edge they need to face tough challenges in tough times.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Whittaker .