A mature digital transformation strategy changes the way state and local governments operate at a fundamental level. Workflow automation can accelerate those efforts by helping the public sector improve operational efficiency and better meet the citizens’ needs.
A workflow is a set of tasks and actions required to get something done, such as renewing your driver’s license or paying your property taxes. A manual workflow requires human intervention to move the process forward. Citizens would have to wait for their bills to be mailed, then go to an agency to make a payment in person. A government employee would have to process the payment and then print a receipt of the transaction.
With government services automation, the workflow triggers specific responses based on set business rules. An automated workflow can handle notifications, payments, and approvals, improve back-end efficiency and contribute to faster service delivery.
Why the most efficient government agencies use workflow automation
Digital transformation in local government starts with efficient processes to increase operational productivity, reduce costs and provide better services to constituents. State and local government agencies can reduce the volume of calls or walk-in visits by deploying automated workflows that help citizens find the information they need, such as the date of their court hearings or the documents required to register a new vehicle.
Government software can also simplify citizen’s submissions, from requests for park shelter reservations to reports about potholes or street light outages. This type of workflow automation reduces the complexity often associated with manual processes and contributes to faster service delivery because constituents can interact with agencies from any device, anytime and anywhere.
Extending the immediacy and convenience of workflow automation to citizens to include seamless payments for transactions like renewing a vehicle registration or paying a water bill is key to a successful government transformation strategy. Equally important are the gains in operational efficiency that result from government modernization.
Improve processes with an intelligent automation strategy
Agencies such as the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) have been using workflow automation to improve operational processes and become leaders in digital transformation in the government. Thanks to North Carolina’s myNCDMV platform powered by PayIt, citizens can avoid in-office visits or manual processes for services such as renewing their driver’s license or paying vehicle property taxes. As a result, there was a 40% decrease in DMV office wait times for in-person services at NCDOT.
Workflow automation has also simplified and accelerated the process of collecting vehicle property tax and making the disbursement to all North Carolina’s counties. This process is no longer manual and time-consuming because the revenue can now be collected digitally and distributed to the counties on the same day.
Address current issues facing local government
The need of e-governance is one of the key strategic issues facing local governments. Digital transformation has increasingly become a priority as agencies must provide better services to meet citizens’ evolving demands for a modern government while navigating budget restrictions.
Workflow automation helps to reduce or eliminate the paperwork burden often associated with the public sector. With paper forms, information needs to be manually entered into the system. If a piece of information is missing, the agency needs to get hold of the citizen again, slowing down the process.
By replacing forms with automated workflows, it is possible to set business criteria that, when not met, trigger specific actions or responses automatically, minimizing the need for human intervention to validate the data. The workflow automatically notifies the customer that their application has been received, processed or approved.
Explore the benefits of software for government agencies
Business process automation (BPA) workflows can do more than addressing the pile of paperwork often associated with the public sector. Organizations surveyed by IDC & DOCUMENT Strategy as part of their Automation Survey cite the following top benefits of deploying automation software:
- Improved accuracy and/or error reduction (67%)
- Employee productivity (64%)
- Cost savings (60%)
A look at those benefits indicates that both government back-end operations and public-facing services have to gain from workflow automation.
Higher accuracy
Paperless document automation helps to reduce errors because manual data entry is no longer required. Governments can set workflows with specific rules. Instead of a citizen updating or submitting redundant documents and data causing potential manual entry errors, document workflow automation allows for information to be submitted once and updated across multiple systems of record.
Complex workflows integrate with agencies’ back-end systems, enabling customers to find their bills (and even get automatic notifications before the due dates) and take action, for example, paying a bill and getting the receipt. With automation, the system makes sure any fees are accurately assessed. There are fewer record-keeping issues because government employees can get a complete inventory of data in real-time. When a citizen pays a fine, the system is automatically updated to avoid mistakenly charging a late fee.
Better department integration
Certain approval processes require applications to pass through different departments. Better department integration with automated paperless workflows leads to faster approval processes, addressing one of the challenges to the government‘s efficiency.
When forms and documents are standardized across agencies, this automated process breaks down information silos. Avoiding manual routing saves time and minimizes the risk of losing records and exposing citizen’s information, given that forms or documents can be incorrectly filled out or forgotten when using paper-based systems.
Increased employee productivity and morale
Workflow automation helps to reduce or eliminate repetitive manual tasks such as entering data into systems, processing payments, or tracking down discrepancies in citizens’ submissions. Freeing employees time from those wearisome activities contributes to increased productivity and morale because they can spend their time on more rewarding tasks.
Cost savings
A more efficient government is a cost-effective government. The savings from increased productivity thanks to government automation can be quantified, as indicated in Forrester’s Total Economic Impact study about the return on investment (ROI) of deploying PayIt’s digital government services. PayIt’s platform uses workflow automation to deliver convenience for the citizens, improve operational efficiency and promote digital transformation for state and local governments. According to Forrester, by deploying PayIt, the increased productivity amounts to the following over three years:
- $ 190,084 from reduced document processing
- $ 126,772 from reduced payment processing
- $ 75,991 from reduced walk-in customers
These savings result from reduced efforts toward payment reconciliation and fewer physical documents and checks to process by government employees.
Scalability
Another advantage of software for government agencies is that workflow automation can be scaled to accommodate more users and other services. It is possible to cater a workflow to agencies’ and citizen’s specific needs.
Enable efficient operations and faster service delivery
PayIt can help your agency to streamline back-end operations and provide more convenient services to the public. We will work with your team to create workflows based on your specific needs.
Take the first step towards improved business processes and stellar service delivery – book your customized demo with us.
