ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY
FINALIST
GREATER DANDENONG CITY COUNCIL / URBAN ENTERPRISE “ Monitor CRMs ”
The City of Greater Dandenong engaged Urban Enterprise to enter into a partnership to develop a cloud based Customer Relationship Management ( CRM ) system to specifically meet the needs of economic development practitioners in maintaining an online business database , engaging with businesses and reporting on engagements undertaken .
economy and there is remarkable seasonal volatility to it , there are problems with applying traditional methods to calculating local expenditure , floorspace demand and employment . Usual approaches rely on simple per capita assumptions , or require extensive , regular and costly surveys . Even so there are problems such as human error , reporting bias and no insight into seasonal variation .
Since its launch in April 2017 , Monitor CRMS is now being used by three Local Governments , with many others interested in exploring the application of the software .
Monitor CRMS is the first CRM to be designed specifically to meet the needs of local economic development practitioners . Key features of the system include :
• Monitor CRMS allows the user to easily manage their business and contact directory in one place through a user-friendly interface , drawing on the Australian Business Register . Directory changes are automatically saved allowing the user to keep track of all changes .
• Monitor CRMS provides a comprehensive set of tools for engaging , tracking and recording interactions with businesses and contacts . This tool will allow Councils to engage with businesses and contacts directly and record quick engagements or notes next to a specific contact .
• Monitor CRMS can easily report in line with EDA ’ s Vic SPN proposed performance measures and reporting framework as well as reporting on a host of other engagements and industry measures .
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES – RURAL & REMOTE
WINNER
GEOGRAFIA “ Small Town , Big Data ”
Known for the white sands of Cable Beach , the Shire of Broome sought to update its Local Commercial Strategy to guide and inform medium to long-term land use planning and development . As tourism makes up a significant share of its
A collaboration between the Shire , Geografia and planning firm SITE used bank transaction data as a new and innovative input to forecasting economic activity and floorspace demand . In doing so , contributing to the growing toolset of evidence-based economic development practitioners everywhere .
This work showcases how ‘ big data ’ can be used even by smaller councils in relatively standard local
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