Have you ever accessed any of the federal websites a year back? Do you notice the difference in the website from what it is now to what it was a year back? The user experience has improved dramatically
Quick info: The act passed by the US govt. states that all federal sites need to be optimized for a better mobile experience
So, if you haven’t experienced a mobile-friendly website yet, you will experience it in the near future
This enactment comes into an effect as govt. has taken cognisance of an interesting fact: ‘around 93 million US citizens used mobile in 2016 to access the internet.’
The numbers are excerpts from a report published in 2016. Fast forward 3 years – there’s a definite surge
But, this is not limited to websites. Websites are just one drop of the ocean. Why am I saying it?
There’s actually a whole law behind it. President Trump signed ‘Modernizing Government Technology Act’ into law. The implication of this move alone is poised to be a major game-changer in the public sector
Before we get into the ‘how’ part, let’s throw a glance at other intriguing details. Even today, as you read this, there are innumerable frontline executives in the public sector who depend on paper-based processes
These field agents right from foster care worker to an FDA inspector, (caseworkers, inspectors, investigators) fill hundreds of paper forms for individual cases
Did you know that these frontline executives spend around 50% of their time on paperwork during field data collection? That’s correct -50%
The moment of truth: Paper-based processes are tedious, erroneous, disengaging, and there’s a list. Accept it
For example, pick the easiest of the inspection survey, and it will still require the following processes:
It’s not just about time, paper-based processes bring other baggage of drawbacks like inefficiency, manual errors, increased costs of paper & print, storage problems, data security challenges, and rise in the carbon footprint
BTW, considering field agents can submit the data from their devices, they don’t need to travel regularly to the office (as opposed to paper form submissions)
Mobility counters the aforementioned challenges. To be specific, mobile apps help govt agencies to transform the paper-based processes into digital ones
Agencies who embraced digital transformation witnessed an increase in productivity & efficiency. (Cases mentioned later in this blog.)
Other benefits that follow are reduced costs of paper, print, storage, and other operational costs. Lower carbon footprints & improved data security
The aforementioned benefits are internal, but what a govt agency could also achieve is accelerated service delivery & enhance the rate of citizen experience & satisfaction
Turning to mobile devices for field data collection instead of paper forms can boost productivity by 45%
(Sources: Deloitte & GovLoop)
National Agricultural Stats Service (Agriculture Dept.) launched the digital project by arming the 3500 field enumerators with tablets for crop data collection
A report published by IDC identified about 6 million govt. workers who spent most of their work hours away from their desks, engaged in the field data collection
When all of your processes are digitized, you can immediately sense that the citizen satisfaction levels are rising. It’s an effect of more transparency achieved in processes
Tracking of any task becomes easy. Automatic reports sent to citizens relating to their case builds good confidence in the system
Mobile apps improve process compliance by a greater degree as mobile forms are designed in a way to avoid errors while data collection process
Manual processes are disengaging – it’s not a surprise that they don’t drive productivity. In fact, repetitive admin processes make jobs mundane and bring down morale
But when the benefits are crystal clear, why are mobile initiatives sluggish when it comes to implementation?
Most federal agencies think of mobility as a costly affair. Apart from costs, other factors that play deterrent are a long timeline, training costs, and efforts involved in process rejig
These concerns aren’t completely invalid in nature, but such factors can be taken care of by choosing a robust mobile solution like Axonator
Choose a custom mobile app from an available app library for your different needs. Inspection app, asset management app, incident reporting app, audit app, survey app, and 1000+ apps created for govt needs
Create your own custom app just by dragging & dropping widgets (no coding required at all). The app is dirt cheap. Start with a free trial to check if it fits the bill
(Read the in-detail comparison of app development options here)
But with custom app platforms like Axonator, you can build a field data collection app under minutes, and publish it to make it functional in hours
You don’t need complex software that your teams can’t handle. All you need are mobile devices – Android & iOS (iPad and smartphones)
Remember that enhancing the user experience is a reinforcement for the field teams to use the mobile app effectively
That only holds true if you are planning to buy off-the-shelf software. But the whole idea about platforms like Axonator is that it lets you customize the apps easily to suit your processes & needs
The most critical factor here is that Axonator is a scalable platform. So no matter how many data collection forms you create, or how many users you add – the app will remain rock-solid
Axonator deploys bank-level data security protocols to make sure that data is safeguarded in transit & in storage (cloud storage powered by AWS)
Creating different users to assign various roles and permissions is smooth. Setting a hierarchy amongst users and admins is again made easy. Data access is controlled with such measures, and the information is accessed on a need-to-know basis only. Cases of Successful Mobility Do we have any examples of govt agencies adopting mobile technology to better their service delivery? Yes, we do have! The County of San Diego
San Diego County shunned the use of paper forms & clipboards and replaced those with mobile forms – which increased the response rate of authorities to citizen requests & queries
Los Angeles International Airport also digitized asset management operations with the help of mobile forms. (a total of 1900 assets are managed using mobile technology)
The biggest benefit they realized is the flow of real-time information through notifications. Keeping stakeholders informed at any point in time was very critical to the authorities
What changes can your agency anticipate with Axonator mobile solutions?
1. What is Axonator’s MicroApp Strategy?
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