Presenting the 2011-2013 Citizen Engaged Communities

Public Technology Institute is pleased to announce the city and county governments designated Citizen-Engaged Communities for 2011-2013.

Government contact centers have become the face of government to the public. Local governments are challenged today to provide centralized citizen contact centers that effectively utilize new technology for fast, friendly and responsive service.

This seamless service must engage citizens through multi-channels, empower citizens by enabling direct interaction, and then demonstrate accountability through performance reporting, not just for calls but also for service delivery.

PTI created the Citizen-Engaged Communities Designation program to recognize excellence in multi-channel contact centers and best practices for the use of Citizen Relationship/Records Management (CRM) systems, 311 services, web portal technology, telephony systems and mobile communications infrastructure.

Local governments are invited to apply for designation each year. All applications are reviewed and scored using metrics and standards developed by PTI in four key areas for multi-channel contact centers:

Citizen Participation Processes (information, service requests, complaints, interactive business applications and forms, surveys, focus groups, suggestions, chats)
Integrated Communication Channels (contact center, self-service Web and automated phone systems, walk-ins, neighborhood stations, contact center linkage with service departments, mobile citizens and mobile crews)
Integrated Technology (311, CRM, Web 2.0 applications, VoIP telephony, GIS, work management, mobile communications, knowledge-based data repositories)
Performance Reporting (external citizen metrics, customer-driven internal service metrics, use of real-time data, service level agreements for contact center and service departments)

2011-2013 Citizen-Engaged Communities

City/County Population: 75,001–150,000
Santa Monica, California

City/County Population: 150,001–300,000
Chesapeake, Virginia
Durham, North Carolina
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

City/County Population: 300,001 or more
Boston, Massachusetts
Denver, Colorado
Indianapolis, Indiana
Kansas City, Missouri
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Highlights of the 2011-2013 Citizen-Engaged Communities

All 10 designees:

Issue service requests, with some dispatching to service crews
Provide multiple language support
Address citizen/user accessibility needs
Utilize Web 2.0/social media tools
Provide multiple self-service options
Track six to sixteen established performance metrics

In addition:

Four of the local government designees have implemented mobile channels. Four governments are in the process of launching mobile channels
Eight of the ten designees have Service Level Agreements with service departments/agencies
Eight of the ten designees have a centralized or single knowledge-base
Nine of the ten designees have contact center systems integrated with their GIS system
Nine of the ten designees utilize up to seven tools for citizen feedback and are using the data collected to improve internal business processes
Nine of the ten designees have a written technology plan that addresses their contact center operations

Citizen-Engaged Communities designees are also being creative about budget constraints, such as working with veteran and community groups and educational institutions for agents-in-training and transitioning to more “virtual agents.”

10-17-2011 Send a link Citizen Engagement Print version