Baltimore is upgrading its 311 system

When residents want to report something but don’t have an emergency, Baltimore’s 311 system comes in handy.
The city was actually the first to implement a 311 system in 1996, CityLab reported.
Officials have looked to keep up with the times, adding things like a Twitter account that lets anyone follow the complaints coming in, and a real-time map showing where the complaints occur.

Don't sleep on @baltimore311's Twitter, they take some cool, strange photos of this city. https://t.co/U7SSc42a7Q

— Mark Gunnery (@MarkGunnery) March 28, 2017

But the software that runs the 311 system could be better. The latest agenda of the Board of Estimates spells out the current issues.
“The current 3-1-1 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System continues to have increasing performance/support issues and significant inabilities to leverage citizen-preferred communications channels such as the web, mobile and social networks, along with a premium cost associated with keeping the old technology alive,” the document states.
To fix it, city officials proposed to pay $1.6 million for upgrades. According to the Baltimore Sun, the city is going with Salesforce. Along with being more reliable, the new system will allow operators to communicate directly with callers via chat, text and social media.
The allocation to purchase the software was approved Wednesday by the Board of Estimates.