muniBLOG: IT & Website Design

Smart Governance: Leveraging Data for Better Municipal Management

In the dynamic landscape of urban management, the advent of data-driven decision-making stands as a revolutionary tool for municipalities. This article aims to dissect what it means to make decisions using data, unravel the complexities small municipalities face in implementing a data-centric culture, and explore the methodologies of data harnessing to address urban challenges.

Defining Data Driven Decision Making

Data-driven decision-making is a shift from traditional decision-making processes in municipalities. Traditional approaches often rely on historical practices, intuition, or political pressures, which can overlook underlying issues or emerging trends. In contrast, this new method of decision-making grounds choices in objective, quantifiable data. This shift not only enhances the accuracy of your choices but also makes the decision-making process more transparent and accountable.

The City of Syracuse, New York, serves as a prime example of this shift. By adopting a data-driven approach to tackle its infrastructure challenges, Syracuse utilized predictive analytics to anticipate and prevent water main breaks. Their proactive strategy led to an 18% reduction in such incidents. Thus highlighting the superiority of data-driven strategies over traditional, reactive approaches.

Essentially, utilizing data empowers municipalities to make informed, strategic decisions that are responsive to actual community needs and conditions. It enables a more dynamic, evidence-based approach to urban governance, setting a new standard for efficiency and effectiveness in public service delivery.

Challenges in Smaller Communities

Implementing a data-centric culture in smaller municipalities does not come without it’s challenges. One of the primary obstacles is the scarcity of resources. Smaller cities often operate with limited budgets and manpower, which can hinder the adoption of advanced data collection and analysis technologies. This resource crunch can delay or even derail the transition to a data-driven approach.

Another significant challenge is the existing technological infrastructure. In many smaller municipalities, it is not sufficiently developed to support comprehensive data initiatives. The lack of advanced IT systems and digital tools can limit the ability to collect, store, and analyze large volumes of data effectively.

Although there may be roadblocks to implementing a data-centric culture in your community, overcoming these hurdles is crucial for smaller cities to keep pace with the evolving citizen demands of high-quality, efficient service delivery.

Data Sources to be Used

Local governments have a variety of data sources at their disposal, each offering unique insights and advantages. Citizen feedback is a vital source of data, providing real-time, on-the-ground perspectives on municipal services and policies. Platforms like AccessE11 enable governments to tap into this valuable resource, facilitating more responsive and citizen-centric governance.

Operational data, encompassing information on municipal services, infrastructure, and assets, is another crucial data source. This data helps in optimizing service delivery and resource allocation. Santa Monica’s Wellbeing Project exemplifies the effective use of operational data. By analyzing various parameters of community well-being, the city was able to implement targeted mental health programs, leading to a 14% improvement in residents’ well-being scores. Financial and environmental data are equally important. Financial data allows for more transparent and accountable budgeting and spending, while environmental data can guide sustainable urban development and resource management. Asheville, North Carolina’s use of data analytics to enhance its fire department’s response times — reducing them by 20% — demonstrates the power of operational and environmental data in improving public safety and emergency response services.

In Conclusion

The journey towards embracing data-driven decision-making is not without its challenges, especially for smaller municipalities. However, the potential benefits are immense and far-reaching. By leveraging various data sources, such as citizen feedback, operational, financial, and environmental data, municipalities can revolutionize how they operate and serve their communities. The success stories of Syracuse, Santa Monica, and Asheville underscore the transformative impact of data-driven decision-making. As more municipalities adopt this approach, we can anticipate a future where urban governance is more efficient, responsive, and attuned to the needs of the community. The shift to data-driven decision-making is not just a trend; it is the future of effective municipal governance.

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How User-Friendly Online Services Drive Citizen Satisfaction

Citizen satisfaction is not just a buzzword; it’s an essential metric for evaluating the performance of local governments. Research indicates that a staggering 72% of citizens are interested in utilizing online government services. Despite this interest, over half abandon their attempts due to difficulties in navigation and access. The implications are clear: providing user-friendly online services is not a luxury but necessary for increasing citizen satisfaction and fostering trust.

Citizen Satisfaction: The Cornerstone of an Effective Local Government

Citizen satisfaction serves as a barometer for the effectiveness of local government. A satisfied citizenry is more likely to engage with the community, trust their local government, and participate in civic responsibilities like voting. According to a study by Pew Research Center, 71% of Americans who have a favorable view of their local government are also actively engaged in their communities, compared to just 28% who have an unfavorable view.

The Challenges of Simple Online Services

While the advent of online services opens doors for more efficient and streamlined government-citizen interactions, it’s not without its challenges. One of the most significant obstacles is the complexity of user interfaces. In an environment where many citizens are already hesitant to engage with governmental systems, a convoluted or unintuitive interface can serve as a formidable barrier.

 

Moreover, the issue of accessibility remains a pivotal concern. This isn’t just about having access to a computer or the internet. It is also about how easy the system is for people who may not be digitally literate. Aging populations combined with a constantly changing technological environment create a level of complexity that some people cannot navigate.

The Ripple Effect of User-Friendly Online Services

The benefits of enhancing the usability of online government services extend far beyond mere convenience. They directly impact the quality of governance and citizen satisfaction. For instance, efficient problem resolution is a tangible outcome of a well-designed interface. When citizens can easily report issues or request services, it expedites the government’s ability to address these concerns and creates a positive feedback loop.

 

Additionally, the usability of online services directly correlates with government transparency and civic engagement. A system that enables straightforward access to information or services naturally encourages citizens to interact more with their local government. This fosters a culture of transparency, as citizens are more likely to be informed about government initiatives and spending. Therefore, investing in the usability of online services can be a strategic move that pays dividends in multiple facets of governance and citizen satisfaction.

Blueprints for Success

Leveraging a sophisticated case management system can significantly elevate the quality of citizen engagement for local governments. This sets the stage for a more streamlined and user-friendly online experience. One of the most crucial features of such a system is an easy-to-use, citizen-facing web form. Local governments can ensure that citizens can effortlessly report issues or request services by providing a straightforward and intuitive form. This streamlined approach can significantly improve problem-resolution efficiency, enabling government agencies to promptly and accurately collect all necessary information. Mobile capabilities further extend this accessibility, allowing citizens to engage with their local government whenever and wherever it’s most convenient.

Another standout feature of a robust case management system is automated communication. This functionality ensures that citizens are kept in the loop about the status of their issue or request, from initial receipt to final resolution. Such automation not only reduces the administrative burden on government staff but also enhances the transparency of the process. Furthermore, citizen outreach can be integrated into the system to periodically update the community about new initiatives, upcoming events, or important announcements. By combining these elements—accessible web forms, mobile capabilities, automated communication, and citizen outreach—local governments can create a holistic, user-friendly online experience that meets and exceeds citizens’ expectations, thereby fostering higher engagement and satisfaction levels.

AccessE11 is a solution that can tackle all these issues, while being affordable and easy to implement for your municipality. By offering automation, citizen outreach, and an easy to use citizen facing webform, AccessE11 gives local governments of any size the chance to bring easy online access to their citizens. You can do the same in your municipality.

In Conclusion

Driving citizen satisfaction is no longer just ‘nice-to-have’; it’s a necessity for the overall health of local governments. Investing in user-friendly online services can significantly elevate citizen satisfaction, engagement, and trust. As we move deeper into the digital age, the governments that prioritize these aspects will be the ones to set benchmarks in effective governance.

 

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Double the Data, Double the Cost: The Price of Duplicating Your Data Entry

As a Town Manager, you are likely familiar with the challenges that arise when having to duplicate data entry across multiple, unconnected systems. Having to repeatedly input information about citizen issues, as one example, into different platforms not only takes extra labour, but also introduces more potential points of error. Redundancies like these in your internal processes can compromise the integrity of your entire municipality’s data. This is where Application Programming Interfaces, known as API’s, can be introduced. API’s reduce the duplication of data entry and streamline operations across all departments and platforms. Therefore, when selecting a platform for your municipality, picking one that is able to utilize API’s is an important consideration.  AccessE11™ is a centralized software solution that provides a single, consolidated platform for your entire municipality.

Bad Data is a Big Problem

frustrated worker

It makes sense that having to enter data multiple times, across multiple platforms, can (and will) lead to mistakes. Every time a person must manually enter data into a program, there’s an opportunity for something incorrect to be entered. If you have multiple people entering the same data, that then leaves even more opportunity for errors. But how much of an issue is bad data anyways?

From a cost perspective, bad data is unfathomably expensive. A report by IBM in 2016 estimated that bad data costs the U.S. over $3 trillion per year. Costs associated with maintaining bad and duplicate data can take various forms. For instance, when a citizen’s information is only partially entered in a database, it requires additional time and effort to collect and compile all available data on that individual. The labour cost of managing inaccurate and redundant data compounds at every stage of the data lifecycle, including data entry, retrieval, and cleaning. These activities require valuable labor hours that could otherwise be allocated to other important tasks.

Financial costs aside, there are other factors that come into play with bad data. Missing information can lead to ineffective customer service. This will negatively impact the trust that resident’s have of the staff and their municipality. Reporting becomes more difficult, or even impossible, if the data is not easily retrievable.

How to Fix the Problem

API

AccessE11 is a modern citizen issue and citizen relationship management platform designed specifically for small to medium municipalities. It is a software created to assist with the issues discussed above by providing a single, consolidated platform which can span the entire municipality. Utilizing an open API, AccessE11 is capable of seamlessly integrating with many other asset management and workflow products, such as Cartegraph and Brightly. Thus ensuring that staff and citizens alike need to only enter data one time and have that data reflected across all platforms and departments. Additionally, these integrations improve reporting functionality by enabling staff members to access all records at the same time. This provides assurance that the data they are accessing is complete and accurate. Visit our website today and schedule a demo with one of our reps.

As a Town Manager, it is important to consider the benefits of offering a centralized software solution for your municipality that can help reduce the potential for issues caused by data redundancy and bad data creation. AccessE11 will help you to better serve your citizens and ultimately improve the overall performance of your municipality.

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Change takes time. The Future is approaching.

So, our first piece of advice is to start thinking about it now. And yes, you can ease into the future; it does not have to happen tomorrow.

When organizations are planning out their new, or enhanced physical security needs we are often asked what are the trends that are likely to shape physical security in the future?

The same question is usually followed up with… “If we do this, or if we buy this, will this sustain us in the future?”

Which also can be interpreted to… “So, we don’t have to buy something else, and that this will last us a long time, right?”

Good questions, but always a challenge to answer. Many factors play out as resistance or even catalysts to these questions and their subsequent decisions. Risk exposure, budgets, actual realized events, change in the organization’s focus, change in the organization’s leadership, campaign promises, or even change in some environments, regulation or legislation “forcing” a change, all impact the ‘future’ question.

What are those future trends shaping physical security? Some trends outlined in the list below may be a surprise, some may appear too futuristic.

  1. Increased use of biometric security measures: Biometric security measures, such as fingerprint scanners and facial recognition technology, are becoming more popular as they offer a high level of accuracy and are difficult to bypass.
  2. Rise of smart security systems: Smart security systems are becoming more common, and these systems often use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to analyze video footage and detect potential threats.
  3. Greater emphasis on cybersecurity: As more security systems become connected to the internet, cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly important consideration. Companies are investing in measures to protect against cyber-attacks that could compromise their security systems.
  4. Increased use of drones: Drones or Remotely Piloted Aircraft System(s) (RPAS) are being used more frequently for security purposes, such as patrolling large areas, inspecting high-risk locations or even in response to incidents in providing real-time surveillance.
  5. Greater use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in training: VR and AR are being used to train security personnel in simulated environments, allowing them to practice their skills and respond to potential threats in a safe and controlled setting.
  6. Integration of physical and cybersecurity: As threats evolve and become more sophisticated, it is increasingly important for physical security and cybersecurity to work together to provide comprehensive protection. This integration may involve integrating cybersecurity measures into physical security systems, such as installing firewall protection on security cameras.

Biometrics, smart security systems, cybersecurity emphasis and the integration of physical and cybersecurity have been on our radar for several years now and have been introduced into our past and current projects with great adoption by our client base.

The trend not mentioned here but remains a constant for us, is the due diligence required to ensure the “paperwork” is complete, up to date, used and enforced. Your policies, and procedures, training programs, guidance documents and standards are the backbones for all these physical security tools to work in the manner they were intended for your organization.

Of course, great planning and the execution of that plan is essential. Planning is a cyclical process that can start, stop, and reset when required. The future is changing. Be prepared.

Plan the Work. Work the Plan.

Reach out. We can help.

Should your Municipality need assistance, contact Michael White Group International today, and we will be happy to answer your questions. Visit michaelwhitegroup.com/contact/

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Efficiency: The Side Effect of Effective Citizen Engagement

Increasing efficiency can often be a challenging task and can come at a cost. Whether it be increased monetary costs to implement a new process in your workplace, or increased labour costs to train and bring on new staff, efficiency comes at a price. But imagine if you could implement a digital municipal citizen engagement solution for your community. One that looks to improve your residents’ engagement and overall satisfaction, and also benefit by handling more service requests with shorter turnaround times.

The Necessity of a Digital Solution for Municipal Citizen Engagement

In our increasingly digital world, properly implemented digital options are no longer a luxury. They are a demand. Consumers expect the solution to their problem to be solvable online – often without needing to speak to a person at all. This expectation has existed in private industry for quite some time and has now pivoted to government services as well.

Not providing a digital option has some very negative consequences. The customer will be significantly more dissatisfied or even worse, will choose not to engage at all. What this means for a municipality is that there is a large subset of your population that will avoid interacting with their local government if there is no digital solution provided for them.

Of course, providing this option for your residents will be a primary benefit. In fact, there is evidence showing that having a properly developed citizen engagement tool online can lead to improvements in the municipality for both citizens and leaders. However, there is another added benefit that isn’t as frequently discussed when looking at implementing a citizen engagement solution – the benefit of getting more done without needing to increase resources.

The Cost of Efficiency

Efficiency is something that is constantly strived for, whether it be private companies or government operations at any level. By definition, increasing efficiency allows you to get more done with the same or fewer resources. In a business, this might allow you to deliver your product or service more quickly or decrease the overall cost of creating your product. For a municipality, it might mean decreasing the time it takes to close a resident’s service request ticket.

On this topic, you might reasonably ask if a citizen engagement program might have a downside of decreasing efficiency. You are opening your staff to more communication with citizens and therefore increasing the volume of service requests coming in, and both staff and citizens both have to learn a new system. In other words, better citizen engagement could come at a cost to your department. Now imagine if you could increase the volume of service requests handled by your municipality AND at the same time increase the overall efficiency with which these are addressed. Let us look at how that’s possible.

We recently went through our customers’ usage habits to figure out basic information on how our customers are using AccessE11. Almost by accident, we discovered clear and direct links between engagement of citizens and increased efficiency within the municipality. To understand this better, let’s look at how staff and residents are using AccessE11 to submit service requests.

Some Data

The first piece of data is quite simple – submissions of service requests using AccessE11 over the past five years. Although this is straightforward, it is a very good sign. It shows that the longer a municipality has been a customer of AccessE11, the more frequently they are using it to streamline their service request process.

Growth over year
And this is not just the case for larger municipalities. In general, smaller municipalities might think that there is less need for digital solutions to meet the needs of their communities, but our customers are living proof that it is often the residents of smaller municipalities who crave engagement with their local government. One of our current customers, Hastings Highlands, is a wonderful example of how a well-executed digital solution can positively impact a small municipality.

Growth by population

So, this is all great, albeit somewhat expected data. However, you might be asking “what does this have to do with efficiency?” Well, that’s where a third set of data sheds some light, and this was discovered entirely by accident. Analyzing the usage data and looking at trends, we discovered something amazing. Given the first two charts, it’s easy to see that usage of AccessE11 by staff and citizens is increasing year over year. However, this data doesn’t address efficiency and simply focuses on total usage. But let’s look at this next chart.

Days to complete

This is a chart that takes all service requests raised over the past six years and looks at how long it takes for each service request to resolve and be closed. In aggregate, time to close is VASTLY decreased year over year.

What Does This Mean?

So, what does this mean for your municipality? It means that adopting a strong digital solution for municipal citizen engagement and managing service requests not only increases community contribution and overall satisfaction, but it also increases efficiency internally. Increasing efficiency leads to a direct savings of resources for your departments. Whether that be time, money, or a combination of both, your municipality can see a significant increase in service requests and still decrease the time it takes to manage these requests. Best of all, because AccessE11 is designed specifically for small to medium municipalities, it is created with your specific challenges in mind.

Don’t wait any longer to implement a solution for your municipality. The demand for digital services increases year over year. It is quickly becoming a requirement for every facet of business and life. Signing up for AccessE11 will give your community a strong, adaptable solution to manage service requests, increase your efficiency, and end up saving money rather than costing money.

 

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Focusing your Business Continuity Management (BCM) (Continuity of Operations (COOP))

The arrival of Covid-19 two years ago posed a serious and more difficult threat to most enterprises’ existence. The importance of business continuity management (BCM) in reducing possible hazards, speeding recovery, and meeting customer expectations has become critical for every firm, regardless of size, business vertical, government, or private entity. BCM is a methodology for determining an organization’s risk of being exposed to both internal and external threats. The purpose of BCM is to give the organization the capacity to respond effectively to risks such as pandemics, natural disasters, and data breaches while also protecting the organization’s commercial interests. Disaster recovery, business recovery, crisis management, incident management, emergency management, and contingency planning are all included in BCM.

When done correctly, BCM may provide any organization a competitive advantage. This is especially true if a disruption affects an entire group segment and you are able to respond or recover faster than your competition, reducing consumer inconvenience. When it becomes evident that you excel at dealing with operational disturbances, your brand will gain trust and certainty, allowing you to position your organization as a preferred alternative for your clients and even bolstering confidence and increasing shareholder value. This is no different in being a trusted government entity, department, or agency.

Understanding continuity and preparedness requirements, establishing business continuity management policies and objectives, implementing and operating controls and measures for managing an organization’s overall continuity risks, and continual improvement based on objective measurements are all covered by one internationally recognized standard, that being ISO 22301. The standard highlights the need of meeting and exceeding customer expectations in order to secure business longevity and revenue development.

It is critical that the thought leadership and every level of the organization understand the importance of readiness and continuity.

The most crucial part of developing a BCM is clearly articulating stakeholder demands; consequently, consumers must receive special attention because they are critical to the organization’s success. Focusing on customer needs will also allow the BCM to be fit for its purpose and provide the organisation with a clear picture of process criticality. As a result, you can expect positive results if you design and implement the business continuity plan from a customer’s perspective to drive the business impact analysis. Understanding your customers’ demands is critical to determining where you add value to them, as it allows you to prioritise and determine how much downtime is tolerable in various areas before affecting your bottom line.

Be S.M.A.R.T. about creating strategies and objectives for business continuity management.

Doing this guarantees that objectives are defined and matched with customer-oriented criteria. Internal and external dependencies that may have the greatest impact on an organization’s consumers are identified when policies and objectives are developed. Customer objectives should attempt to surpass consumers’ expectations rather than merely satisfying their requirements. As a result, any organization should make sure to provide top-notch quality consumer objectives. The goal of this setup is to ensure client retention, brand image, and eventually revenue growth.

There exists the importance of putting in place operational controls and procedures to manage an organization’s overall continuity risks.

Following the identification of customer demands and the establishment of essential policies and objectives for the organization, the next stage will be to implement controls that address and mitigate the identified risks. Because risks and changes are unavoidable in the environment in which your organization operates, a systematic approach to putting in place controls to reduce hazards is required. Setting up disaster recovery sites, business continuity strategies, and business continuity procedures are examples of these controls. Lack of these will eventually cause an organization to fail, leaving clients with little choice but to shift to competitors who will provide better choices, or at minimum a choice.

It’s a cycle of continuous development and improvement.

Continuous improvement is a continuous, cyclical endeavour to enhance goods, services, or processes. Processes are assessed and adjusted on a regular basis based on their efficiency, effectiveness, and adaptability to changing consumer requirements and business circumstances. Organizations employ a variety of approaches to structure the process of recognising and acting on opportunities for improvement. Six Sigma, Kaizen, Lean, and the Toyota Production System are examples of prevalent approaches. Although these approaches differ, they all share a common foundation in the continuous improvement paradigm and principles.

Small tweaks, rather than significant paradigm leaps or new breakthroughs, lead to improvements. One percent improvement a month leads to a 12% improvement annually. Employee suggestions are quite helpful. When Employees take ownership and are involved in incremental changes, which are often affordable to execute, improvement occurs.

And finally…one more thought.

Customers are the lifeblood of every organization, and this is something that every organization understands, or should understand. As a result, their pleasure is critical to the organization’s success, which may be secured by providing exceptional customer service. Customer happiness, brand image, and revenue growth have all been shown to improve when BCM is implemented. BCM is critical in this age of unpredictability, and enterprises are encouraged to use it to provide corporate stability and sufficiency for ever-changing client demands.

The Michael White Group International is an approved PECB ISO Standard(s) training provider. It all starts with a conversation.

Plan the Work. Work the Plan.

Reach out. We can help.

Should your Municipality need assistance, contact Michael White Group International today, and we will be happy to answer your questions. Visit michaelwhitegroup.com/contact/

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What is Boolean Logic?

Girl encircled by search icons and AI

What is Boolean Logic?

Have you ever wondered how a computer can do something like balance a check book, or spell-check a document? If you want to understand the answer to this question down at the very core, the first thing you need to understand is something called Boolean Logic.   [i]

Why do you need to understand Boolean Logic?

Well, as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) increases, it will be important for us all to understand it.  I am no expert on it by any means, but here’s my take on what I understand to be the very basic fundamentals of it, in the simplest and broadest of terms.

The term “Boolean” refers to a system of logic developed by the mathematician and early computer pioneer, George Boole.

A Boolean search is a query technique that utilizes Boolean Logic to connect individual keywords or phrases within a single query.
Boolean searching allows the user to combine or limit words and phrases in an online search in order to retrieve relevant results.  Boolean searching includes three key Boolean operators: AND, OR, and NOT which are used to limit, broaden and define the search results.
When these “operators” are used between two keywords, the search will result as follows:
  • A Boolean search for “Cats AND Dogs” will retrieve all documents that contain both words
  • A Boolean search for “Cats NOT Dogs”, will retrieve only documents that contain the word “Cats”
  • A Boolean search for “Cats OR Dogs”, will retrieve documents that contain either the word “Cats” or the word, “Dogs”
Wildcard Characters (? and *) are also used in Boolean Logic. 
  • “?” matches a single character (i.e. the search string “re?” will match both rest and rent)
  • “*” matches multiple characters (i.e. the wildcard search “res*”, will match rest, rested and resting.[ii]
Quotation marks require words to be searched as a phrase, in the exact order you type them. For example, when searching for posts about Asset Management, using the quotation marks will search for the phrase exactly as it appears (i.e., “Asset Management”).  It would not return  documents that contain both the words, Asset and Management, in any other combination.
There are other elements to Boolean Logic, but I don’t want to get you too far into the weeds.  
The main thing I wanted to achieve with this article is; a) to provide an introduction to Boolean Logic, for those of us who are new to it and, b) for you to understand that combining Boolean strings with AI-powered search filters to conduct a search, utilizes a search engine to its fullest, most comprehensive potential for optimum search results.
Susan Shannon, CEO
muniSERV.ca

[i] How Boolean Logic Works, by Marshal Brain, Science Direct

[ii] Gnowit Guide to Boolean Logic – Boolean Primer

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UCaaS is critical for any authority service improvement

what is UCaaS?

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)  is a network of cloud-based telephone system that controls the flow of calls coming in and out of your organization. We replace your on-premises PBXs, as well as your SIP, PRIs, and POTS lines. UCaaS enables you to use a variety of hosted programs and services (including instant messaging, video conferencing, file sharing, and email) over the Internet from any location and at any time.  In addition, UCaaS provides security, allows flexibility, and integrates well with your other software applications including MS Teams. UCaaS systems are updated frequently by the provider ensuring that your communication methods will always be up-to-date in our ever-evolving world.

Why UCaaS is critical for all customer-guided corporations?

 
GUARANTEES YOUR BUSINESS CONINUITY & SECURITY

Experteers can easily answer this for all municipalities and companies who care about their customers.

First of all we have to emphasize about the importance of continuity in all circumstances, UCaaS provides the best option to avoid your business any hiccups along the road because of any reasons. UCaaS is available on any communication device, laptop, or PC anywhere at anytime to be able to efficiently communicate with your customers.

Security is another crucial requirement for all connected networks, voice calls, video conferencing, and instant messaging are parts of all departments communications to enable them to work properly and deliver services. Experteers, as part of security provider, enable first layer of security by having all our servers in Canada, maintaining 100% availability by having four communication centers in main four cities in Canada in Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto, and to maintain the second layer of security by having all SOC certified centers.

INCORPORATES THE LATEST FEATURES

When you have UCaaS, you’ll be able to use all the latest functions and features without any additional cost. You’ll also have the assurance that your information is kept safe and secure in a reliable data center. Having the ability to keep your communications up-to-date allows you to remain competitive and helps to increase your overall performance.

 

OFFERS FLEXIBILITY AND SCALABILITY

UCaaS allows organizations to add and remove users (for example, temporary employees) without any significant infrastructure changes or capital investments. UCaaS also provides seamless work experiences for your employees since they are cloud-based and accessible from any location – great for those working remotely.

 

PROMOTES PRODUCTIVITY

By using a UCaaS system, your productivity increases. All of your employees have unified communications support that is sharable amongst all departments, and UCaaS integrates well with your other software applications (like CRM). UCaaS keeps communication lines open and provides ways for your employees to log into various devices to access their information (such as voicemails).

 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

SAVES YOU MONEY

When switching to UCaaS, there are minimal upfront hardware costs – you only need phones. You will also have the ability to choose the services you need (and not waste money on the ones you do not). UCaaS allows you to concentrate on growing your business by decreasing your dependence on capital investments.

 

UCaaS

 

We at EXPERTEERS are helping municipalities, utility companies, and medical centers increase employee productivity by adding a state of the art Unified Communications Solution, enhancing collaboration and increasing employee efficiency.

  • Enable your team to work remotely (hybrid)
  • Train employees more efficiently with sentiment analysis
  • Monitor key performance metrics with automated reports
  • Boost company performance through detailed analytics & collaboration
  • .. and more

Let us help you improve your client experience, call us at EXPERTEERS to learn how we can help enable your business for success in 2022.

 

Experteers is a system integrator SI and managed service provider MSP for the following services:

– SASE / SD-WAN: to secure all ur networking between all branches.

– NGFW: Next Generation Fire Wall centralized to keep all networks secured in almost real-time updated system.

– NMS: Network Managed System to keep your visibility on all network elements and servers to improve your systems availability.

– Cyber-Security on all endpoints and servers

EXPERTEERS CORPORATION

WWW.EXPERTEERS.COM

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Can Public Service Access Be as Easy as Online Shopping?

For all levels of government, including municipalities, on-line services are no longer something to be considered for some unspecified future date. The private sector has set a new standard for a streamlined customer experience, and this has translated to much higher expectations for access to public services as well. This speaks to a demand to digitize citizen service request processes, from reporting concerns through to requesting permits or making payments. An increasingly tech-savvy population, continued evolution in technology, and the realities of the pandemic are all contributing to an accelerated need for this to be underway now and to happen quickly.

Benefits of digitizing citizen service requests

The benefits of digitizing public services are numerous. At the core, citizens who are satisfied with how they are served are far more likely to trust in their local governments, and far more likely to remain engaged the process of making their communities better. But there are more tangible benefits as well. For example, unlike brick & mortar service offices, online services make it easy to offer the convenience of 24/7 access from anywhere.  Studies have also shown that time spent by citizens or businesses interacting with public employees can be reduced by 50% or more. And furthermore, automation has the potential to reduce service request handling effort by as much as 60% resulting in a far more productive and satisfied workforce, shorter turnaround times, reduced backlogs, and more time to focus on innovation.

But there are challenges

Government agencies have considerable ground to make up in building a more citizen-centric culture and, in recent years, satisfaction with government agencies has actually declined. According to the 2021 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), satisfaction with local government agencies ranks last in customer satisfaction among the 10 sectors and 47 industries included. Much of this can be attributed to differences in the degree to which services can be transacted online, but also to the fact that the private sector continues to raise the bar on online service expectations quicker than the public sector’s ability to keep up. Adding to this challenge is that the number of customer journeys requiring attention and automation within the public sector is typically greater than is the case for private businesses, while access to internal technical talent to execute is often in shorter supply.

Thoughts on How to be Successful

Given these challenges, digitization of public services can seem daunting, and will surely take time to fully realize. But to be successful, there are some key elements that need to be part of any transformation effort.

Clear Intent

Positive change through digitization will happen more quickly and will be more sustainable if there is clear intent from the outset, common and well-articulated goals, and genuine excitement and confidence on what the transformation team can accomplish together. This needs to start with committed leadership. To be successful however, there needs to be a collective sense of conviction and purpose that is shared by all parties responsible for implementation.

Keep the citizen at the forefront

Efforts to bring government services online must start with and maintain focus on the complete experience a citizen has with a local government, as seen from the citizen’s perspective. Each journey will have a clearly defined beginning and end, spanning a progression of touchpoints, and citizens don’t really know or care about who owns each individual step in the process. From their perspective, these are all part of one journey. And it shouldn’t be assumed that because some individual touchpoints are performing well, the overall citizen experience is meeting the need. By making the citizen’s experience as seamless as possible, operational efficiency and employee satisfaction will naturally follow.

Look for quick wins

Digitization plans of any scale will often fail if there is a sense that everything needs to be done at the outset. It is advisable to build momentum within the team and across stakeholder groups by prioritizing a small number of particularly painful journeys and adopting an agile approach to make these journeys better. This means releasing improvements iteratively in smaller, more manageable sprints, and making refinements continually based on feedback from the field. To quickly demonstrate value, it often makes sense to start with the front-end experience and to gradually introduce backend automation and integration over time. And yes, this may require internal teams to adopt a new way of working.

Manage citizen expectations within each journey

When you make a purchase online, as part of a digitized process it is customary to receive an indication of when your purchase will be shipped. And once shipped you receive additional notification of estimated delivery date along with a tracking number. As long as the communicated expectations are met you are likely to be left with a feeling of being well served independent of the amount of time taken, and will be more likely to use the same channel for future purchases. Public services should be no different. As an example, a citizen request management system should acknowledge receipt of a reported concern, set service level expectations, automate communication to the citizen for key updates, and confirm when the concern is resolved – all of this within a timeline that can reasonably be met. Trust and citizen satisfaction are sure to benefit when such an approach is adopted.

Measure and communicate results

One final thought relates to an imperative to establish KPIs that reflect how well any investment in digitizing services is paying off.  We suggest that a measure of citizen satisfaction always be included, but others such as staff hours spent per citizen service request, percentage of requests received through digital versus other channels, abandon rates, and others will also come into play. These metrics can be used to reinforce strategies that should remain at the forefront of any ongoing digitization efforts, and highlight areas that need further refinement or rework. Of equal importance, this will provide a basis for communicating value and success to stakeholders including city council, CAOs, departmental managers, the transformation team and, of course, the citizens that stand to benefit. This is critical to build momentum towards the ultimate goal of making citizen service requests as seamless as on-line shopping.

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2022 Security Risk Budget Outlook

Moving on up

At the onset of the pandemic, Security Risk budgets decreased as organizations shuttered their doors and employees left the office, and organizations under duress looked for places to cut costs. Many found their savings in the Security budget. But now, the potential to double or triple budgets in 2022 maybe a reality.

Our research shows approximately two-thirds of security budgets increased in 2021 from 2020, but still have yet to reach or return to 2019 levels. 2022 has the potential to change that.

As organizations are set to come back to life in 2022 security risk events have not gone away. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic created new security challenges. The new challenges have yet to be solved, and as schools and businesses reopen / remain open during potential future surges, the security risks of the past return as well. In order to protect themselves from past, current, and future threats, organizations need to reinvest in physical security.

Really watch

Real camera surveillance and real-time monitoring integrated with a uniformed security guard force that is properly trained may be for some organizations the order of the day. High-caliber uniforms security guards and training necessary to protect against threats to an organization cost more than $15-20 an hour. Challenges will emerge to protect your organization, your information, your IP, your personnel. All of this may lead to an explosion of security requirements, and the budget.

Another factor contributing to budget increases in 2022 is executive protection. According to the Ontic 2021 Mid-Year Outlook: State of Protective Intelligence Report, 58% of CEOs and senior leaders who expressed a stance on political issues received physical threats. Senior Public Officials and local health department leadership who encouraged health measures like vaccination or mask-wearing have also become targets of physical threats. Against the backdrop of this increased threat landscape, executive protection has grown in importance among physical security professionals.

An inner look

These aforementioned types of threats could also come from inside an organization. Leadership will either take a stand, or not take a stand. The personnel of an organization expect their leaders to take a stand, whatever that might be, for or against a particular issue or concern. Unfortunately, pent up frustration surrounding decisions may not even be pandemic related, and at times still result in leaders being threatened. In many areas of the country, threats against “leadership” is foreign territory for many organizations.

Integration

The threat landscape has always been uncertain and rapidly changing. With many advancements in approach, strategy, and technology, organizations can protect themselves with integrated security risk strategies.

As both physical and cyber threats compound, organizations are tasked with protecting themselves on all sides. With increased and realized threats there is one unfortunate downside. Higher security costs as risks to supply chains, cyber and physical security risks increase. During this pandemic many organizations have unfortunately learned that their security profile may not be or has been at a level they had hoped it to be. New gaps have been found, existing weaknesses have become even weaker and due to other impacts of the pandemic, organizations may have struggled to get the necessary supplies, purchases and even personnel in a manner to which they were once accustomed.

Plug it

Identify your shortfalls, your gaps and plug the holes. A comprehensive risk assessment will assist in that process. If organizations fail to plug those holes, and as they begin to re-open even more, they unfortunately will remain or fall back into a vulnerable position.

Proactive hard work

Technology enhancements, uniformed security, executive protection, education, and plain old attentiveness and proactive behaviour towards security risks to quickly address existing and newfound challenges brought forth because of the pandemic will require increases in security budgets in 2022.

Now more than ever we need to move beyond reactive, and proactively secure our organizations.

It all simply starts with a plan.

We can Help.

Plan the Work. Work the Plan.

 

Should your Municipality need assistance, contact Michael White Group International today, and we will be happy to answer your questions. Visit michaelwhitegroup.com/contact/

 

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