For decades, agencies and ministries have structured their billing and payment processes around the identification of their citizens. In the latest Government Roundtable Series webinar, CORE SVP of Development – Alan Pyrz, VP Head of Government Sales – Justin Dillon and VP of Marketing – Shash Cates explain how revenue systems can also be structured around ownership. By prioritizing ownership identification, local agencies can connect internal systems and provide a more consistent experience for every citizen.
Here are three takeaways from the discussion:
1. Government agencies can trace everything back to property.
While the challenges facing government agencies today have evolved, the core issues remain the same. “We are all looking for ways to connect government systems,” said Pyrz.
This could mean linking the process of renting a parking shelter to the question of whether or not the citizen who wants to rent the shelter has paid all of his or her parking tickets.
“Everything must be related to property,” said Pyrz. “We’re all looking for that unique factor that connects government departments and sectors. And that connection is almost always ownership.”
Without networking between properties, it will be difficult for agencies to align their internal systems and provide a consistent experience for employees and citizens. “Property is the very foundation of a government,” added Cates. “And that possession could be land, a pet, cars, or any other possession you own.”
Dillon gave an example of the challenges authorities face each year related to vehicles and registrations. “Historically, everything is linked to a person’s name. And in business, small discrepancies can occur – a spelling mistake or a junior,” he said. “However, if you move to using the property as a key identifier, many challenges can be solved.”
2. Connecting and updating existing systems takes time.
To provide a better experience for citizens and employees, all revenue management systems must first be connected. While this is a big task to tackle all at once, the panel agreed that modernizing the internal system, department by department, may be the right approach.
“Citizens expect a payment experience similar to Amazon. They want to see their bills in one place and pay them all at once,” said Dillon. But with each department rolling out its own billing system, often at different times and to solve different problems, it can become more difficult to create a consistent payment experience for citizens.
“It often happens that the experience becomes disjointed over time,” said Dillon. A burden that ultimately rests on the shoulders of Employees who spend additional time and energy Connecting the data.
To create consistency for your citizens and employees, you need to look holistically at your internal systems and understand how they can share data, connect with each other, and present a unified solution to the public. “From the citizens’ perspective, consistency of experience is crucial,” said Dillon. If your systems aren’t connected, residents may have a positive experience in one department and a negative (or less positive) experience in the next.
3. Future solutions must prioritize open data.
“When you look at technology options to enhance the experience, you want to make sure you are looking for solutions that put your data at your disposal,” said Pyrz. He recommended that future solutions shouldn’t lock you into upgrades to get your data – they should be equipped to be shared between departments to complete your big picture, save staff time and improve the user experience.
Pyrz shared his experiences and advice on getting started:
“For example, every county, from the smallest to the largest, uses GIS data. Getting that data and having it available is a great starting point for all the property information you need without having to enter anything extra into your system… and most counties in the state are open to that data.”
The panel also recommended that agencies looking to upgrade or modernize their systems should look for a vendor or partner that can grow and scale with them. Start by looking at how you bill and take payments for taxes and utilities, then work your way up to the complexity of a parks and recreation department. “You don’t have to eat the proverbial elephant in one bite,” said Allen. “You can do it step by step.”
To learn more, Watch the full webinar here.
