Digital transformation in the public sector PART 4 OF 5 ENGAGING CITIZENS 1 ENGAGING CITIZENS

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1 Digital transformation in the public sector PART 4 OF 5 ENGAGING CITIZENS 1 ENGAGING CITIZENS

New technologies such as mobile devices and the cloud have created the opportunity for government organizations to develop an intelligent feedback loop with their citizenship.

2 New technologies such as mobile devices and the cloud have created the opportunity for government organizations to develop an intelligent feedback loop with their citizenship. Field workers are empowered by these technologies to engage personally with citizens in their homes or places of work. Simultaneously, web-based virtual town halls open up government communications and engagement to anyone with access to a browsing device in a lunch hour with a mobile phone, at a public computer in the library or on the couch at home with a tablet. 2 ENGAGING CITIZENS

3 Citizens benefit from a mobile workforce that can engage with them through their preferred method of communication and can get answers on the spot, and resolve issues without delay, says Microsoft s Natalia Boldyreva, who has undertaken research into mobile working in collaboration with the University of Washington State, USA. A mobile worker can use Office 365 to access a wide knowledge base, check availability of colleagues and reach out to an expert, all at the citizen s own home or office. Shropshire Council in the UK is equipping its workforce with mobile devices so that they can operate without traditional offices. Social workers use their tablets during client visits and immediately upload their notes to the CareFirst client management system used by the council. Building inspectors use smartphones to upload photos to share with colleagues and to access regulatory documents. We saw the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) as the foundation for supporting Shropshire Council s transformation into a more productive, agile, and costeffective organization, says Barry Wilkinson, the Information and Communications Technology Manager. EMS is a set of tools to manage the secure use of mobile devices by employees. A mobile worker can use Office 365 to access a wide knowledge base, check availability of colleagues and reach out to an expert, all at the citizen s own home or office Citizens get a better service from fieldworkers who don t need to travel to an office to complete a task. They can meet with staff in their own environment and complete any necessary administration on the spot, with less need for follow-up correspondence or multiple appointments. 3 ENGAGING CITIZENS

4 CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the City of Grand Rapids in Michigan, USA, has deployed a new system for non-emergency services. Citizens now have a single point of contact for a variety of services, accessible in person, online, by phone or via a mobile app. Digital transformation means that customers can choose how to interact with government services, from self-service on any device to meetings in person, and can expect conversations based on quickly accessed knowledge, such as contact details and transaction history. The City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, has always been committed to customer service and when its various departments began to find it difficult to cross-communicate, it deployed a customer service center, known as Grand Rapids 311, built using Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It is a single point of contact for non-emergency services citizens can access it in person, online, by phone, or via mobile app. We are in a state of evolution. Even though we are now fully deployed, things will continue to change as needs change, explains Ryan Harris, CRM Project Manager. As the system 4 ENGAGING CITIZENS

Those who have grown up with smartphones are especially minded to post feedback and pose questions through social media and interactive tools and apps becomes ingrained, it is refined by the new data

5 Those who have grown up with smartphones are especially minded to post feedback and pose questions through social media and interactive tools and apps becomes ingrained, it is refined by the new data the City is now able to compile, analyze, and act upon. Becky Jo Glover, 311 Customer Service Center Manager, adds: Next steps include a neighborhood focus, an even greater emphasis on self-service options, mobile access options, expanded e-services and payment options. CITIZEN IDENTITY A virtual town hall enables two-way communication, and live en-masse consultation and interaction so citizens can respond to policy proposals, give feedback, perhaps on where garbage isn t being collected or where the road needs repairing. Those who have grown up with smartphones are especially minded to post feedback and pose questions through social media and interactive tools and apps. A single sign-in across websites and services results in a single view of the individual citizen and subsequent messaging and service delivery can be based on this view. 5 ENGAGING CITIZENS

6 When answers come quickly and easily, the people have greater respect for their government The City of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada, has built a portal powered by Microsoft Azure Cloud to handle single sign-on for accessing city services and viewing public utility bills. After setting up an online account (MyAccount which supports single sign-on and identity management), citizens can select various online services. The most popular one lets citizens access their utility account and check their water bills and water consumption. Microsoft Azure Cloud provides flexible data center storage and processing power and is capable of delivering applications and data to any connected device, anywhere, at any time. When answers come quickly and easily, the people have greater respect for their government, says Carole Tink, Manager of IT Strategy and Business Support for Regina. Speaking as a citizen of Regina, rather than an employee, having online water billing functionality was huge for me. It was pivotal in my relationship with the city and the services it provides, because it s a symbol of the technology-supportive direction the city is headed. The government of Estonia is delivering e-government to all its citizens at home and abroad by issuing a mandatory identity card and sign-in identity. Citizens no longer have to make appointments or travel to government premises. Future developments enabled by digital transformation, such as artificial intelligence, will provide the productivity to not just maintain services which are under pressure from population trends and squeezed budgets, but to improve them. 6 ENGAGING CITIZENS

7 ULM The city of Ulm, Germany, set up a website to canvas the opinion of its citizens on possible uses of land. The city was unsure how much response it would get from citizens, so scalability was an essential attribute of the solution. Kent County Council in the UK has worked with Microsoft to provide citizens with their own personal health records which they can share with their carer network doctor, hospital, social services. This enables both joined-up delivery and citizen choice. Tapping into the collective wisdom of the population has been taken up enthusiastically by the generation that has grown up with the internet. After the closure of the Hindenburg Barracks, the city of Ulm in Germany decided to debate the possible uses of the land and surrounding areas. This e-participation required a website for a few weeks where citizens could pose questions, get responses from the city and post comments. Ulm chose the open source software Open Doors, which Microsoft partner Zebralog optimized for the Microsoft Azure 7 ENGAGING CITIZENS

Cloud. It s difficult to predict how many people will take up the offer so that is why a scalable cloud solution fits perfectly, explains Matthias Trenel, CEO at Zebralog.

For example, if a customer can look up his or her transport information by using a phone app, there s less need for the transport authority to print timetables or to staff help desks and call canters.

8 Cloud. It s difficult to predict how many people will take up the offer so that is why a scalable cloud solution fits perfectly, explains Matthias Trenel, CEO at Zebralog. SERVICES MOBILITY The pervasiveness of mobile phones is a great opportunity to engage citizens by deploying applications to solve their everyday problems and to simultaneously increase efficiency. For example, if a customer can look up his or her transport information by using a phone app, there s less need for the transport authority to print timetables or to staff help desks and call canters. The City of Cape Town is helping its citizens beat congestion. Our transport challenges are born out of the city s historical design, says Andre Stelzner, Director of Information Systems and Technology for the City of Cape Town. Poorer citizens face long commutes at a disproportionally high cost to get to work on public transport from outlying neighborhoods. Meanwhile, affluent citizens remain in their cars. The WhereIsMyTransport APTMS platform aggregates schedule data from six transport operators and makes it available for an 8 ENGAGING CITIZENS

estimated audience of 300,000 to 500,000 people locals and tourists via a Windows 8 app called FindMyWay that they can use to optimize their travel around the city.

9 estimated audience of 300,000 to 500,000 people locals and tourists via a Windows 8 app called FindMyWay that they can use to optimize their travel around the city. People without smartphones can also access the information in a text format. WhereIsMyTransport, a local startup, built and deployed the application under the auspices of the CityNext initiative and with the help of the Microsoft BizSpark program. OPEN FOR SERVICE Timetable and bus information is an example of data that be collected and made available by cities to third parties, including non-government organizations and private citizens, for analysis, visualization and mapping. Glasgow City Council in the UK has moved to embrace an open data culture based on Microsoft 9 ENGAGING CITIZENS

In the modern economy, one of government s responsibilities is to work on consumers behalf to get good value from utilities such as power and telecommunications Azure Cloud technology and using

10 In the modern economy, one of government s responsibilities is to work on consumers behalf to get good value from utilities such as power and telecommunications Azure Cloud technology and using visualization to help stakeholders grasp the power of data analysis. As the appetite for insights has grown, so has the willingness to share data. The City of Regina is using Microsoft Azure Cloud to host its Open Data portal on the Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN), an open-source data management platform, which is popular with governments, universities, and enterprises around the globe. DELIVERING VALUE In the modern economy, one of government s responsibilities is to work on consumers behalf to get good value from utilities such as power and telecommunications. The Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) is an independent and non-profit legal entity with public authority in Croatia within the scope and 10 ENGAGING CITIZENS

11 competence prescribed by the Electronic Communications Act. It s helping to fulfill its remit by deploying a telco tariff estimation application, choosing to work with IN2 and Microsoft. The tariff estimation service is highly useful for the general public who want to discern between various telco offers which are otherwise rendered incomparable through a multitude of tariffs, options, bonuses and fine-print clauses, says Andro Marčev, Senior Expert on Consumer Protection and Electronic Communications Inspector at HAKOM. Government organizations can achieve the scale of application availability they require by moving applications to the cloud The app works across various mobile platforms, securely hosted by Microsoft Azure Cloud, which is certified to be in accordance with EU Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) for handling personal data and which offers extensive protection against Denial Of Service threats. Government organizations can achieve the scale of application availability they require by moving applications to the cloud. Skype for Business, for example, can handle 10,000 parties. They can also achieve considerable cost savings. Forrester Consulting interviewed government agencies in the USA who have made this digital transformation, to ascertain the costs and benefits. The results are in the report The Total Economic Impact Of Microsoft Office 365 For Government Organizations. Forrester Consulting then created a typical composite state agency of 10,000 employees. The study indicates that the payback of moving this composite organization to Office 365 is achieved within six months. 11 ENGAGING CITIZENS

FULLY ENGAGED In this new era of digital transformation, citizens can expect to interact on their terms with online service delivery portals 24/7, to meet mobile workers in their own home or place of

12 FULLY ENGAGED In this new era of digital transformation, citizens can expect to interact on their terms with online service delivery portals 24/7, to meet mobile workers in their own home or place of work, as well as engage more actively with their elected officials. A secure and reliable cloud-based service enables more costeffective and smarter government by liberating workers to gather and share digital information in new ways. This transformation is digitizing paper-based processes from social work to tax filing and elections. The data captured directly from citizens becomes available for analysis and insight into improving citizen services, thus completing the intelligent feedback loop. Engaging citizens is part four of a five-part series of articles from Microsoft on digital government transformation. To read other articles in the series and how governments are benefiting from transformation today, visit aka.ms/transform-gov 12 ENGAGING CITIZENS microsoft.com/government

13 2016 Microsoft. All rights reserved. This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of Microsoft. This document is provided as-is. Information and views expressed in this document, including URL and other Internet website references, may change without notice. This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any intellectual property in any Microsoft product. You may copy and use this document for your internal, reference purposes. 13 ENGAGING CITIZENS

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