Achieving cost savings, citizen engagement, and more effective services in their communities
2013 was a transformative year for the adoption of innovative technology in government. And some GovDelivery clients were at the forefront of these technology movements. Last week, Government Technology announced the winners of the 2013 Digital Cities awards. Coordinated by the Center for Digital Government (CDG), this is the thirteenth year that local governments across the United States were recognized for “progress on information and communication technology practices made over the past year, return on investment, and a city’s demonstrated ability to innovate and leverage creative practices” (GovTech).
Achieving a high return on investment through digitization of services has been a growing theme in the local government market. Todd Sander, the executive director for the CDG said, “Cities that are investing in technology are seeing huge cost savings that are critical to operations and their ability to meet higher demand for services. These cities are true innovators and we applaud them as they work in the spirit of collaboration to provide extraordinary value to constituents, despite budget setbacks.”
Many cities and counties are putting time and effort to building innovative online services, but those services aren’t as impactful if people don’t use them because they don’t know about them. Outbound communications are critical to driving usage and engagement of these digital services.
One of the winning cities, GovDelivery client the City of Palo Alto, Calif. is using technology to drive key city projects, like: “PaloAlto311, the city’s online reporting site for infrastructure issues, and its web platform for near real-time notifications on city permits” (GovTech). Palo Alto also uses GovDelivery’s digital communications platform to increase digital outreach and awareness around other key city projects, including the Zero Waste initiative. The Zero Waste initiative ensures the city can continue to conserve resources and minimize paper waste. Palo Alto maximizes the impact of the Zero Waste program with electronic communications to promote these important city initiatives, such as safe recycling of old documents through document shredding events. Find more information on the Palo Alto Zero Waste initiative here.
Palo Alto is one example of many local government organizations making the most of digital outreach and technology for the benefit of their stakeholders. We at GovDelivery are so excited to congratulate Palo Alto and a number of our other clients on their hard-earned awards!
Congratulations to GovDelivery Clients:
250,000 or more population category:
2nd — Louisville, Ky.
3rd — Riverside, Calif.
9th — Baltimore
10th — Raleigh, N.C.
125,000 – 249,999 population category:
7th — Tacoma, Wash.
Less than 75,000 population category:
1st — Palo Alto, Calif.
2nd — Fayetteville, Ark.
7th — Auburn, Wash.
For the full list of 2013 Digital City Winners or to find out how your organization can be nominated for an award next year, visit here.