One of the favorite things about my job is that I’m focused on how to make our customers’ lives easier. So I’m particularly excited to share the news of Accela’s partnership with APPCityLife, the grand prize winner of our Civic App Challenge earlier this year.
Why am I so excited?
While it’s great to hear stories about government agencies using mobile apps to increase efficiencies and connect directly to their citizens, it’s still a daunting prospect. Creating a mobile app often requires a) someone who majored in Computer Science and has mastered multiple, complex programming languages and b) a great deal of time and money to get an app up and running.
Not anymore.
Government agencies across North America (and Accela customers, of course) can now create and manage their own mobile apps in record time — in days versus weeks or months — without having to write a single line of code.
The CityLife platform enables rapid mobile application development on the Civic Platform with support for iOS, Android, wearables and beacons.
I think this is a game changer for our customers because:
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- Agencies can create quick-to-market, agency-specific apps using a collection of app templates — without programming expertise
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- Unique streaming of cloud-based apps provides communities with access to a wide variety of mobile apps without requiring additional app downloads
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- Targeted push notifications allow agency staff to send real-time, in-app messaging to select users
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- Robust analytics enable agency staff to collect meaningful data for data-driven design and reporting
- Jurisdictions can develop and share these templates amongst themselves to foster innovation
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Accela already offers a collection of native mobile apps for agency field staff and citizens, such as Accela Mobile Office, Accela Code Officer and Accela Inspector. And, our partners offer a growing array of targeted apps built specifically to an agency’s configuration or generically for use by any agency. What this adds is the ability for non-technical staff to create agency-specific mobile apps without outside development and support costs. That’s why the CityLife platform is so exciting. Last week, Accela technical evangelists Mark Headd and Seth Axthelm met with APPCityLife at Civic Hall in NYC to dig deeper into the platform. Seth, who gets excited by putting new innovation in the hands of our customers, reported back: “We were incredibly impressed with what they have done. You can build sophisticated mobile apps without writing a line of code!” It’s a new day in the world of mobile apps! Every single one of our customers is now empowered to create custom apps, tailored to a specific need — without coding, without a big, upfront investment and without relying on a vendor for updates and maintenance. |
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Seth Axthelm having fun testing a mobile app |
In fact, a few of our customers have already raised their hands to start creating their own apps, including one for garage sale permits, on this game-changing mobile platform.
What will you create?
