Colorado puts ‘passion’ behind customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is “extremely important,” Colorado Chief Information Officer Theresa Szczurek tells StateScoop in a video interview.
“We’ve set this overall passionate purpose of customer delight to meet and exceed our expectations of our customers,” Szczurek says.
There are a number of efforts underway within the state government to meet this goal, says Szczurek, the founder of an enterprise software firm that develops chatbots and other live-assistance platforms who was appointed in January by Gov. Jared Polis.
“So, first we’re talking to the customers, not only sending them surveys but we’re also meeting them individually one on one and we are meeting them in groups,” she says. “We will probably be setting up a customer user group in order to continue that communication over time.”
Customer relationship management for the state government also relates to project management, she said.
“We have a process whereby our chief customer officer, which has an IT director for each of the agencies, works with the agencies to understand their needs, build a portfolio, but prioritize,” she says.
The approach is multi-faceted, she explains, but her office, the Office of Information Technology, is taking care to pace itself.
“We can do a lot of things, but we can’t necessarily do them all immediately. We have to prioritize,” Szczurek says. “So it’s a very important area for us.”
Szczurek on her top priorities:
“In the state of Colorado, first and foremost we are working to take the vision of Gov. [Jared] Polis, who is an entrepreneurial, tech-savvy new governor and to help bring those to light.”
Szczurek on IT modernization:
“Modernization is big-time. We have some major systems we are working to modernize. For instance the Colorado Benefits Management System, which helps Coloradans in need get access to cash and food and assistance.”
Szczurek on emerging technology:
“We’re doing things like standing up an incubator where we can pilot some new technologies in line with some agency needs.”
These videos were produced by StateScoop at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers’ midyear conference in National Harbor, Maryland, in May 2019.
