When asked to pen the opening message for the newsletter’s Halloween edition, I had one request: not too many Halloween puns – it’s just not me. I think that scared my colleague enough, so Happy Halloween, right?
It’s not that I don’t enjoy Halloween – if you saw our Morning Meet-Up video at this year’s CommunityLIVE conference, you saw my skeleton friend in the background. I’ve decorated with a few things and have definitely enjoyed Fall activities with my kids, especially since working remotely and striking a more stable work-life balance. I’m sure many of you can relate!
And, actually, that’s the conversation I wanted to focus on: how, despite this tumultuous, distant season, we’ve leveraged digital tools and stronger IT practices to strengthen our relationships with others.
Supporting many government agencies in my time, I know you truly care about your constituents. I also know this is why so many government agencies dig their feet into the ground about digital transformation – they know what they’ve always done has worked for them and for the people, and they don’t want to jeopardize sensitive information or customer satisfaction.
With the pandemic pushing us into remote work and numerous people relying, more than ever, on government support, so many of my customers had no choice but to adopt electronic, remote-accessible processes. And wouldn’t you know it – the business users, IT team and their customers all love the more accessible, secure and less confusing process.
Since TrueSign has been so successful, I’ll use it as an example. As you know, life has not slowed down because of the pandemic. In many ways, it’s sped things up! People have decided to get married now instead of waiting on an unknown future. Birthdays come (whether we like it or not), so drivers’ licenses and plates need renewing. I can’t keep track of how many babies have been born – I’m rooting for you as you keep up with birth certificate processing.
As people continue moving forward with their lives, you need both the capability and IT capacity to support these requests and also have a life of your own – after all, working remotely has made us all a jack of many trades, including tutors, childcare workers and chefs, among other things. Designed to stand alone or seamlessly integrate with existing workflows, TrueSign has catalyzed the productivity of countless government entities. Pre-pandemic, signing off on a records request meant orchestrating numerous activities: scheduling in-person meetings, paying for postage, waiting on shipping, and making way too many copies. Now, it’s as simple as uploading documents onto TrueSign’s Microsoft Azure Cloud-hosted interface, applying your custom signature stamp on the dotted line, and securely sharing it with other parties to do the same. They can do so from their laptop, smartphone or tablet, and even use a QR code to sign a document in real-time during a video call. And for a straight-forward pricing model, you don’t have to worry about how many licenses are being used.
From a business user perspective, the mobility and user-friendliness outlined above are the top two priorities. But your CIO will be the first to tell you that mindset is a trick, and there’s much more to “treating” your agency with a digital plan: security, compliance and compatibility with existing systems are all elements that, as you will read in the industry news article below, matter just as much.
So as you navigate this increasingly remote future, finding the most efficient, secure methods for communicating with your colleagues and constituents while juggling work alongside your personal responsibilities, I hope you lean into all that digital transformation encompasses (serving business, IT and customer needs) and all the opportunities it can afford you. Partnered with the right vendor and equipped with the right tool, digitization isn’t all that scary.
Now, how much candy my kids will bring home on Halloween weekend and the resulting dentist visits – that’s truly something to fear!
Kevin
The Trick to a “PayDay” Treat is Preparation
Well, it’s more like a “pay off,” but who isn’t thinking about indulging in a PayDay this weekend?
These leading jurisdictions definitely are after being recognized in the 18th Annual Digital Counties Survey for being ahead of the COVID-19 curve with prior investments in digital transformation. As reported by this GovTech Article, “Prior to COVID-19, this year’s winners all had projects in play that turned out to be game-changers when the pandemic struck.”
These first-place storiesare full of inspiration as they highlight not only the transformed practices, but also how counties are using their digital transformation investments for greater good in their communities (think increased telehealth visits and virtual school access!).
The Candy Bowl Approach to Digital Transformation
Piece by piece, the candy slowly dwindles. You vow to only have one piece a day, but that quickly turns into one piece an hour (especially working from home!). Multiply that by however many people are in your house, and that’s the rate at which your stash is being eaten through – literally!
What if, instead, we could apply this concept to digital transformation? If we saw the results in cost and time savings, customer satisfaction and more robust processes instead of our waistlines?
That sounds like a much better plan to me.
What Scares You?
In addition to the year 2020, there’s always been one frightful constant lurking about: paper-based processes. Yikes!
We’re rewinding to the very first episode of The Paperless Productivity Podcast, which also happens to be a Halloween episode. In it, we discuss nightmares-brought-to-life, such as records being completely wiped out in fires or natural disasters, and the dreadful costs of recovery. In today’s increasingly more remote world, this episode rings true more than ever as it puts the final nail in the coffin about the benefits of ghosting your paper processes.
A Crystal Ball Outlook: State IT’s Post-Pandemic Forecast
Wouldn’t it be nice if those decorative crystal balls on store shelves were real, and we could magically see when the pandemic would be over or, even better, when another would strike?
Unfortunately, we don’t have a fine-tuned crystal ball, but we do have thought leaders coming together at virtual conferences, and that’s almost the same thing, right? Take the Annual National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) Conference – CIOs from across the country signed online for a few hours of meaningful discussions about how State IT has been influenced by COVID-19, and what will change going forward.
Having their experiences shaped by the majority of the world’s rapid shift to remote work and citizen’s exponential need for government assistance benefits, the State’s Chief Information Officers determined IT infrastructure would need to grow in both capability and capacity to serve these trends: expanded remote work, increased use of collaboration platforms, increased attention to citizen experience and digital services, broadband expansion/adoption, and increased priority in legacy modernization.
Read on to hear what the CIOs will see if they “look into their crystal ball.” Hint: there’s a shift in the future of provider focus to meet these new challenges.
What Can We Do For You?
ImageSoft has been bringing affordable, adaptable enterprise content management systems to state and local governments for quite some time. Our industry-leading solutions for government offer automated workflows, improved speed and efficiency, reduced costs and proper compliance.
ImageSoft is ready to help your organization reap the benefits from integrated enterprise content management.