How CivicPlus Clients are Winning the Mobile Fight
In case you missed it, President Obama recently ordered all U.S. federal agencies to provide more mobile-based services with the next year.
The President's desire is a commendable one, mostly because there are enormous benefits to mobile devices:
- They are personal - they are always carried and always on
- They have built-in payment mechanisms
- They are available at the point of "creative inspiration"
- One device can replace all six of the traditional forms of media: print, photo, video, radio, television and the Internet
Mobile government is a natural extension of citizens' expectations to do more through their mobile device, or should I say, devices.
By 2015, it is estimated that there will be 10 billion mobile-enabled devices in use around the world, or nearly a 2-to-1 ratio for every person on the planet. I myself have five mobile-enabled devices. Governments - especially local governments - that tap into the mobile world can become more efficient, can be more flexible, can provide better service to their citizens, can reach a larger number of users, and can reduce costs.
My first reaction to President Obama's order? I took to Twitter to let the world know that all CivicPlus clients had been mobile for two years. Go to any local government website powered by CivicPlus' Government Content Management System on a mobile device and you'll find the mobile version of the site automatically displays. The bonus: they all got the mobile capability at no additional cost. But it doesn't stop there.
CivicPlus client Converse, TX was just recognized in an article by Texas Government Insider regarding its usage of the CivicPlus Citizen Request Tracker app - something all CivicPlus clients have access to utilize, should they choose to do so.
And we're just getting started.
CivicPlus is in the final stages of upgrading and updating the mobile versions of our client sites to make the functionality even more mobile-friendly. We are also finalizing the details of providing custom client-specific apps to our clients. We anticipate that this new app functionality will be released and available to clients later this summer.
It's all part of our dedication to staying ahead of the game with it comes to providing the very best service and product in the government website market.
No offense to the President, but we're way ahead of you there.
