An online citizen engagement software acts as a digital means for members of the community to reach out to local government officials. For constituents, a platform on their phone or local government website allows for easy participation in civic engagement through complaints and reporting of non-emergency issues.
This streamlined reporting system makes government workers’ lives easier as well. Local government officials can reply to their concerned citizens much more quickly. Report-a-concern software also collects meaningful data in real-time, meaning local governments can get the exact geo-location of where complaints are being filed, and can seek out informative trends in the data.
Local government has an obligation to its constituents to be responsive to citizen concerns and requests. That said, many state and local governments receive complaints from multiple antiquated channels like phone calls to city hall, walk-ins, or mailed in forms, making it challenging to efficiently receive and process complaints, let alone analyze trends in the data.
How cloud-based citizen engagement software works
Now, via cloud-based citizen engagement mobile applications, like Civita App, constituents can become the eyes and ears of their local government by reporting non-emergency or code enforcement concerns like potholes, overgrowth, uncollected trash, broken street lights, etc. in real-time via an online engagement platform. The citizen engagement tool will automatically pass the information to the correct department so that it can address the situation quickly.
Streamlined communications between government officials and their constituents improves the health and safety of the entire community. What better way to prove to constituents that their voices are being heard by the local government? Government taking quicker action via cloud-based technology improves the quality of life in the area, and encourages community members to support their municipality and government officials.
Here’s how local government can get cloud-based government software working for the community:
1. Set up the online engagement platform on your website
Now that you’ve used some of your federal funding to purchase government management software, you can integrate your citizen engagement software directly to your website.
Constituents can now go to their local .gov URL to quickly and efficiently report any non-emergency issues. Filling out this digital form will act as a streamlined way for relevant government officials to access reported concerns and respond quickly.
2. Set up your citizen engagement mobile application
Could it get any easier than a streamlined online engagement platform to report concerns? It can! Report-a-concern software is paired with a citizen engagement application, so that constituents can download a mobile app to report concerns and non-emergency situations in real time.
The citizen engagement tool is readily accessible from any cell phone, meaning that community members can report hazards and other issues immediately. Their submissions are geo-tagged, making it easy for government employees to find and resolve.
3. Inform your constituents
Your constituents have the opportunity to get their voices heard by important government officials and departments and things can get done better than ever before. Now, they just need to be notified about it. Send out email blasts, letters, or whatever it takes to let your constituents know that they can get on the local government website or download a mobile app to report any notable issues.
4. Take action
With the whole community on board, you’ll see an uptick in citizen engagement. Now, it’s time to take action and resolve citizen concerns.
Incoming concerns are automatically sorted and, based on the type of concern, assigned to the appropriate department and workers. Without the inefficient processing strategy of the past, the departments can quickly intake, track, and address problems in real-time.
Each concern will be timestamped, and an online record with ongoing status updates will be accessible to the relevant department and concerned citizen from the first report through resolution.
5. Collect data
The data collected via report-a-concern software can be invaluable for departments across a local government. Here are a few ways your data from complaint management software will be helpful:
Map Software: This data allows government workers to see exactly where an issue or code violation was reported, and allows constituents to see where the government is making progress via the mobile application.
Cross-Department Communication: Government management software is designed to be transparent across the scope of a local government, meaning that all departments will be able to analyze data to work together to combat issues.
Citizen Engagement Trends: Which issues tend to pop up most often? Where should funding be allocated based on constituent opinions and complaints? Using data to answer these types of questions helps local government officials make big decisions that have a real impact on the community and their constituents.
Conclusion
Overall, the need for cloud-based citizen engagement software is clear. As more governments move remote and citizens continue to social distance, portals—both online and via mobile phone—will allow community members to have direct correspondence and interaction with important government officials and departments.
Get a free consultation to learn how to make your government more responsive to citizen concerns.
