When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Accela customers and other government agencies across the globe responded – some were able to pivot quickly to offer services digitally, while others struggled to secure the proper hardware or systems for agency staff to be effective while working from home. It became a necessity to learn from peers about solutions that could be implemented or adapted quickly to help city, county and state customers address health and economic challenges, and keep operations running and citizens safe.
It wasn’t long before Accela witnessed and heard story after story of civic heroism, agility, and government efficiency. So, beginning in June 2020, Accela launched a New Norms webinar series dedicated to profiling governments who have approached challenges posed by the pandemic, and tackled them with innovation and resolve. Here are some highlights and key learnings from each of the webinars in the series offered to date, which are available for viewing on-demand.
New Norms in Rochester, MN Community Development Amid COVID-19 | ON-DEMAND
Featured Speaker: Rob Ronnenberg – Office Services Coordinator / Building Safety, City of Rochester, MN.
Hear how moving permitting online empowered the City to:
- Reduce processing time by 50% vs paper-submitted trade permits
- Repurpose nearly half of an employee’s bandwidth to other strategic focuses due to time savings
- Decrease emails, faxes and phone calls
- Process 91% of all permits online vs via paper submissions by June 2020
Baltimore County, MD’s New Approach to Digital Services | ON-DEMAND
Featured Speaker: Eric Tenney – Business Applications Manager, Baltimore County, MD.
- Learn how the County embraced technology and was able to:
- Enable 3,500 agency employees to work from home in a matter of weeks
- Stand-up online payment processing for service transactions in 4 days
- Tweak process and procedures in community development and regulatory licensing to protect staff and citizens while delivering a higher level of service
Charlotte, NC Breaking Barriers in Land Development During a Pandemic | ON-DEMAND
Featured Speakers:
Nan Peterson – Business Relationship Manager, Land Development Services, Charlotte, NC; Cate Marshall – Associate Planner, Land Development Services, Charlotte, NC
- See how Charlotte’s digital service experience offers valuable lessons in how to:
- Deliver site inspections, plan reviews and approvals, re-zoning and more from a virtual environment
- Empower other agencies to continue with technology improvements during a time when budgets are tight, and resources are few
- Build a 100% digital customer experience for planning processes
From leveraging the right tools to deliver quality services in Rochester, Minnesota, to conducting business as usual during highly unusual times in Baltimore County, Maryland, or launching a 100% digital customer experience for planning processes in Charlotte, North Carolina, the 30-minute webinars demonstrate how governments are leveraging technology to fill gaps in online services and continuing to serve their communities.
Be sure to look for our invitation coming soon announcing the next New Norms customer spotlight webinar scheduled for late January 2021.
Stay safe.
