Company: Navantis
City: Toronto
Province: Ontario
Provide a brief description of the Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative.
Public sector clients are looking for better ways to serve citizens. They are choosing to adopt enabling technologies to support more effective and efficient means of government. This means implementing platforms that are designed to enable communication, collaboration, social, mobility and offer up continuous improvement. The Navantis Public Sector practice has led with innovation in government and education since our inception. Navantis has 9 practices that enable us to provide a full offering to our public sector clients. This includes Advanced Infrastructure; Application Lifecycle Mgmt; Business Intelligence; Enterprise Development; Customer Support & Care; Enterprise Resource Planning; Mobile Solution; Portals & Collaboration; Customer Relationship Mgmt With a new interactive and roles-based personalized web presence built on SharePoint 2010, the The client has almost doubled site visits in less than two months. Visitors quickly find more and stick around longer. As an added benefit, the Clientwas able to realize the financial freedom that came with signing a new EAP to manage licensing costs, and roll-out the platform in phases so that they can ensure continuous improvements yet keep the project within the annual budget. A long-time leader in utilizing cutting edge technology to improve services and reduce costs, the The client is a fast –growing municipality located in Ontario. The Clientpromotes diversity, innovation and opportunity for all citizens led by its mandate of “citizens first through service excellence.” The Clientwas running on a website built on Cold Fusion and open source Content Management. The technology was outdated and in some cases unsupported. The site had grown organically. Content was disorganized and search almost non-existent. Web usage was declining. Unique visitors and page views were less than industry averages and call volumes to the client’s information desk were on the rise. Departments within the clientcould not update their own content, needing the services of a developer to implement even the smallest of changes. This use of valuable resources and duplication of efforts meant that content was often outdated and many times was never refreshed at all. The clientbrought Navantis on board to help raise the bar with a personalized and interactive web experience for constituents – rich with content and strong with search. The clientnot only wanted to be the first to deliver this state-of-the-art solution on the latest Microsoft SharePoint platform – it needed to achieve this goal while not falling prey to budget or “first to implement” technology snares. Ownership for developing and publishing content would shift from technology back to the individual departments. This represented a significant culture change and required a unique training approach to instill confidence in the various stakeholders who would now be writing for the web. Content owners ranged from Parks and Rec, Operations, Pet Licensing, Fire Department and others. Many of these content owners were unskilled with technology and fearful about having to manage and deliver communication using new, highly visible channels. Navantis worked with the entire team of content authors to ease the transition, ensuring all the content authors were trained in best practices for entering meta-data, the key words that enable successful Search. Navantis also built a “meta-data tagging engine” that automatically extracted entity information so that search would work right even if the right meta data was not put in, ensuring that the ability to find the right content was never compromised. With the launch of the new The client website in January 2013, citizens can now search the site by looking up the service they require, rather than by “department.” Residents interact with the clientin a role-based model – including multiple roles – tax payer, volunteer, business or parent. They may use a smart phone, computer or tablet, pay for services online, or be notified when events take place based on their profile or other criteria. The future is wide open for all the possible ways that the client’s new site will increase productivity in administration, and increase satisfaction for citizens with the streamlined delivery of client services.
Describe what makes this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative original or innovative.
There were several areas that stood out. First, we created a program that trained clients taff with varying skill-sets to become comfortable in becoming online “content-authors”. In a unionized environment that included both full-time and part-time employees, this was a challenging and sometimes delicate initiative. Content authors included highly savvy IT-experienced individuals through to front-line workers such as roads maintenance or fire department staff, with reduced IT knowledge and a lower comfort level. For most individuals, developing content that would be published online seemed a daunting task and required a highly interactive program led by a team from Navantis who could encourage the new authors to feel confident and enthusiastic about their additional responsibilities. Second, Navantis built a “meta-data tagging engine” that automatically extracted entity information so that search would work right even if the right meta data was not put in, ensuring that the ability to find the right content was never compromised. Third, Navantis worked with the clientto develop a continuous improvement approach for this project stretching it over five years to budget more effectively, minimizing the financial impact when the overall project cost threatened to cancel the project. Navantis also introduced an improved licensing model so that the client could reduce their overall software licensing costs. Finally introducing an interactive “roles-based” model, users can quickly view information that suits their role. Even if they interact with the clientin multiple ways, they can view content as a parent, a business, a taxpayer, etc., making each visit more personalized and relevant.
Describe the improvement this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative made to the customer’s sales or revenues. What changed?
Provide evidence of measurable improvements in sales, revenues, cost reduction, etc.
As a public sector client, revenues are not a factor. Details of the benefits are outlined in our response to the next question.
Describe the improvement this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative made to the customer’s efficiency. What changed?
Provide evidence of how customer efficiency was increased.
“Providing the very best experience for our citizens and the businesses in the The client is paramount for our team. Our “Information Your Way” website is only the beginning of where we are planning to go. By enabling all of our departments to have a conversation with our citizens using our new website, social media and other state-of-the-art tools, we are fostering the very community ideals that we are proud of. It was easy to select Navantis as our partner in this venture. We work well with Navantis and have been partners with them for a long time. They understand our vision and have the experience and credentials to help us bring it to life.” Dimitri Yampolsky, CIO, The client Government Decision-Maker – Transparent government – It is simple to find policies, agendas, minutes and budgets. Government leaders at all levels – elected officials and public servants can post all information in an easily accessible manner. The low cost of deploying SharePoint by adopting a phased and continuous improvement approach and the flexible licensing programs from Microsoft meant that a five year roadmap could deliver value over an extended period of time within an annual budget that the Clientcould manage. Interactive surveys enable clientofficials to take the pulse of the public and provide feedback forums to better serve constituents. Government IT Decision-Maker – The IT teams are no longer in the position of trying to maintain an aging, inflexible site, built on unsupported technologies. They are not responsible for posting and maintaining content. IT is moving back into an enabler role and becoming a strategic asset to the business of government. User – For departments within the government, they now have complete control over their content and communication practices. Information released to the public is fresh and accessible. Phone calls into their departments have decreased with a better self-service capability. Navantis provided custom training including teaching content authors critical differentiators when writing for the web. Instilling confidence in the new department content authors reduced the load on the IT team who no longer had to spend time updating web pages. This has improved efficiencies across the organization by a projected 25%. “I would like to acknowledge the excellent work of ClientStaff in completing this extensive project,” said ClientManager Clayton Harris. “Every department has been responsible for posting up-to-date information based on the services they provide to our residents, businesses and visitors. The deployment and launch of our new website is a clear demonstration of the client’s commitment and team approach to providing service excellence to our community and all stakeholders.” User – For citizens, the site is interactive and role-based. Users can create secure log-in credentials and customize their experience. They can be alerted around specific events or types of content. Search is fast and more relevant, making their Client more accessible. Bing maps improve the experience by providing visual context to finding information. Social platforms engage citizens to respond and interact with clientofficials and departments at all levels of government. The client’s new website is the first major step taken towards the vision of a fully interactive relationship with the citizens of the client. Future enhancements and added features are planning to make it possible to vote online in a municipal election. The client’s citizens are the first to enjoy the new conveniences of an intuitive, customized web experience that they can tailor to their preferences. The following statistics show usage in the first two months of launch compared to the same time period 12 months previously: Visits: 288,143 vs 168,953 Unique Visitors: 166,468 vs 134,862 Pages Viewed: 1,118,639 vs 1,075,736 Pages viewed per Visit: 3.88 vs 2.92 Avg. Visit Duration: 00:02:43 vs 00:01:32 New user Profile accounts – approx. – 500 User Searches – 79700
How did this Solution, Service provided, or Initiative improve the customer’s ability to serve its internal and/or external clients?
Provide evidence of the improvement.
As described in detail in previous questions, this solution served both internal and external clients by streamlining the ability to get the right content onto the site, enabling IT to be more efficient and letting the various departments control their own messaging. For the public, better information, a roles-based personalized interface and high-functioning search means the site can deliver better information that is relevant and current. Providing a best-in-class web experience within the limited clientbudget enabled the The client to be good stewards of the public’s trust.
In what ways does this Solution or Service Provided go above and beyond industry norms and expectations?
The implementation of the new web presence for the The client is a best practice example for other cities and municipalities to follow. The clientwas one of the first public sector sites to integrate SharePoint 2010 with FAST Search Server and serves as model for the integrated Search capabilities of SharePoint 2013. The solution of providing a personalized web experience where citizens can build their own view of information based on personal preferences has broad market potential across other public sector governments and agencies throughout the country. The interactive capabilities including the integration with Bing Maps and third party data sources delivers the power of Big Data to the citizens. The Clienthas enabled Social to build communities of interest and engages the citizens to collaborate and interact with public officials, agencies and departments.
How does this solution further your customer’s green or environmentally friendly plans?
This solution was delivered on a fully virtualized platform replacing several legacy servers and reducing power consumption. This solution also enables online transactions further reducing the need to print paper.