Technology to Help Local and State Governments Reopen Safely
This month brings both continued stay-at-home orders and loosened restrictions state by state. Wherever your community is in the process of reopening from COVID-19 shutdowns, CityBase can support your efforts with technology that meets your present and future needs.
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Contactless In-Person Payments
Although many people choose to conduct business online, many still require in-person service. In fact, we saw one utility’s in-person kiosk usage jump 19% in April 2020 even while their payment centers were closed due to COVID-19 — this April spike included 19,700 first-time kiosk users. People may choose to come to a government payment center in person to pay water bills, property taxes, child support, and other important payments. In-person payments may be the only option for people who must pay in cash because they are underbanked with limited access to banking services like credit cards and checking accounts.
CityBase kiosks provide a contactless, self-service payment option for customers paying in person, fully eliminating person-to-person contact. They can also extend business hours and shorten wait times, providing a customer convenience even when your cashiers are back in government offices and payment centers.
Learn more about CityBase Kiosks →
Web and Mobile Payments and Related Services
Even as some government buildings begin reopening, many people are choosing to conduct as much business from home as possible — and often from a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device. It’s a trend that began before COVID-19, and we predict that it will continue long after.
We provide online functionality that lets your customers complete an application or a payment for that service in one sitting. Work with CityBase to enable full functionality on any mobile device for web payments and online forms. For example, we worked with the City of San José to create an end-to-end digital business tax solution for businesses to register, apply for tax amnesty, calculate taxes and pay. The program benefitted 2,000 San José businesses in a four-month span.
Learn more about CityBase Web Payments →
Online Forms and Business Process Automation
Government resources are stretched as unprecedented numbers of requests are flooding their systems — from economic relief applications to small business loans, to unemployment resources and payment plans. Give your staff some breathing room by automating common but critical tasks like keeping people updated about the services they’re counting on.
Some local governments are conducting employee surveys for things such as employee readiness assessments as well as IT issues their employees are experiencing at home. Local leaders are discovering this is an efficient way of effectively communicating with their employees to ensure they are being supported.
If you’re newly digitizing applications or surveys, use CityBase Screendoor, which has a staff interface and business process automation tools baked into the solution. This technology lets staff create automatic alerts that will email constituents when their application is received and if the status of their application has been updated or approved, so they can trust their request is being processed.
Learn more about CityBase Screendoor →
High-Touch (But No-Contact!) Client Support
We applaud the unsung heroes in local and state governments who are facing unprecedented challenges to provide public services to America’s communities. Please remember, you are not alone. We believe that engagements between local governments and technology vendors should be a true partnership. Our technology is stronger because of the insights we’re lucky enough to gain from working with innovative governments across the country. In return, we promise to tackle challenges quickly, creatively, and enthusiastically, undeterred by the scope of the problem or the complexity of the solution.
