IRS invests in software to improve customer service

The Internal Revenue Service has purchased $10 million in customer relationship management software from PeopleSoft Inc. in hopes of improving customer service to taxpayers and increasing e-filing. The IRS currently takes in about 74 percent of its 150 million yearly tax filings on paper. Congress wants that reduced to 20 percent by 2007. The software aims to ease the interaction between the government and its constituents, said Ron Sullivan, the head of PeopleSoft's federal group. It "is a way of improving customer satisfaction," he said. The purchase is part of the agency's massive Business Systems Modernization program, which is led by Computer Sciences Corp. The software will initially be used to enhance relationships between the IRS and its corporate e-filing partners, which include tax preparation giants H&R Block Inc. and Jackson Hewitt Inc. The IRS will also use the software to develop ways of connecting citizens with their tax data over the Internet, Sullivan said. "The IRS wants to become more efficient in its claims and information processing," he said. The software could enable the IRS to more effectively track its contact with taxpayers online and over the phone. The product's analysis tools could enable the IRS to divine the most common problems taxpayers face when on the phone with IRS call centers, for instance. The software could also tell IRS agents when a taxpayer last called the agency, what the conversation was about and whether the problem was solved. PeopleSoft will officially announce the purchase on Monday.