Woking, Surrey -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/20/2010 -- Front line staff across local government and the emergency services can now more effectively manage contact and address data through a new software offering from proven Microsoft Dynamics CRM reseller and integrator Optevia.

Optevia has joined forces with gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets to offer a CRM solution that not only offers a means of managing contacts and the information relating to those contacts, but sources all of its address data directly from an organisation’s locally held Land and Property Gazetteer data.

Currently, the sources of address data can vary tremendously with multiple departments relying on multiple legacy systems – Excel spreadsheets, membership databases and their own in-built address applications for example. This results in contact record duplication, mis-addressed mail and out of date and inaccurate information, which in turn leads to unnecessary costs through wasted effort and the need for unnecessary resources and money. This lack of accurate data also has a detrimental effect on the image of the local authority or emergency service.

To overcome the problems inherent in other CRM systems, Optevia and Aligned Assets are delivering a solution based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM acting as the master system for contacts and Aligned Assets’ Symphony Gazetteer forming the master system for address data. Close working between the two companies has achieved a seamless integration that ensures contacts and their addresses are accurate, completely consistent across the entire organisation and constantly up to date.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service is an early adopter of the combined Optevia, Microsoft CRM and Aligned Assets solution and benefits are already clearly evident. Jon Chapman, Head of Community Safety at Kent Fire and Rescue Service explained:

“We are using the combined solution to enable the more effective delivery of Home Safety Visits (HSVs) to the 1.6 million residents of Kent. We had a number of address databases across the organisation which often resulted in data duplication. Now if a change is made in one source it will be reflected elsewhere in the organisation. As a result, we now have increased accuracy of our HSV marketing campaigns which enables us to more accurately target the most vulnerable members of our communities and help protect them from the risk of fires in their homes”.

“We can also now use the combined solution to add important information relating to an address, such as potentially hazardous materials located at a particular address and relate this to an individual associated with that property, so helping improve the safety of the public and our officers on the ground.”

Dinesh Thanigasalam, Managing Director of Aligned Assets explained that, “Optevia has a proven track record and was the national launch partner for Microsoft CRM in the UK. They were the first organisation to successfully start integrating Microsoft CRM into UK local authorities and continue to be the preferred Microsoft CRM supplier across local government and the emergency services.”

He went on to say, “The benefits of an integrated Microsoft CRM and gazetteer solution will help public sector organisations quickly realise efficiency gains and cost savings through greater contact record accuracy and a reduction in processing errors.”

Tim Vernon, Managing Partner, Optevia Ltd comments, “Aligned Assets is one of the leading providers of Gazetteer Management Systems to local government and the emergency services.

“We have combined our expertise and best of breed products to develop a practical and cost effective solution to help organisations make the best use of their contacts and address data. Through our provision of one, central source of contact information and associated address data, there is simply no longer any need for the public sector to have multiple sources of address information.”

About Aligned Assets
Aligned Assets are an industry leader in gazetteer and address management solutions. They supply software to over 100 Local Authorities and Fire & Rescue Services as well as the British Transport Police and Transport for London. They are the UK’s first reseller of the NLPG, providing superior address management across the commercial and public sectors. In addition to software and data solutions they can offer a complete range of consultancy, training, bespoke development and project management.

About Optevia
Optevia are a proven, CRM reseller and integrator, dedicated to the UK and Ireland’s public sector with a special focus on fire & rescue services, central government agencies and local authorities. Optevia also serves regulators and licensing & grant management organisations, including regional development agencies. Since helping launch Microsoft Dynamics CRM in January 2004, Optevia has evolved to become Microsoft’s premier Dynamics CRM public sector partner successfully completing over 60 deployments. Optevia has a range of value-add sector specific Optevia Essentials software products for all of the public sector markets it serves and a range of cross sector Optevia Dynamics software products – Optevia Dynamic Audit, Optevia Dynamic Decision, Optevia Dynamic Correspondence and Optevia Dynamic Portal. These help reduce the cost & timeframe for delivering high quality, low risk Microsoft Dynamics CRM solutions. The Optevia Essentials and Optevia Dynamics software products are provided with a portfolio of supporting Optevia business analysis, design, development & deployment services, so helping ensure good end-user adoption, post implementation support, and a return on investment in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.