In an age of misinformation and easily accessible data, citizens want governments to be more transparent, but governments have limited resources to do so. How can technology meet this demand?
Building trust between governments and citizens is essential for any democratic society to operate efficiently. Citizens have the right to transparency especially when it involves tax dollars that fund public services. It is the responsibility of elected officials and public sector workers to properly manage and execute public services, and report that data to citizens.
Of course, transparency goals often mean more time and effort needed to ensure questions are answered and information is provided. This can be tough for governments that run on lower resources.
The benefits of empowering citizens to find data
One of the many ways to empower citizens to seek out information on their own is by using modern technology. For example, the government of Quebec, Canada has invested in technology to support their “Open Government” policies such as making data on forest fires and floods easily accessible to the public. By making this data easy to find, academic organizations were able to use the information to predict future natural disasters, thus allowing municipalities to improve their emergency plans.
Imagine if this data wasn’t so easily available? These organizations and municipalities would have to contact the provincial government for the information, and the data might have taken longer to produce. By utilizing modern technology, data can be given to the public faster and save governments time and money.
OnActuate Transparency Platform is the future of open governments
Introducing the OnActuate Transparency Platform, an online portal hosted through Microsoft Azure. The solution enables governments to strengthen openness and accountability and meet their transparency goals.
The solution is built on the backbone of another innovative solution from OnActuate called Data Confluence & Insights, a Microsoft Azured-powered solution that combines new data with existing data to allow organizations and businesses to make well-informed decisions based on powerful analytics.
How governments are benefiting from the new solution
The City of Columbus (the City) launched the AI-driven, self-service Transparency Platform solution in early 2023, taking full advantage of features such as:
- Publicly available data in versatile formats
- An accessible web interface that allows the citizens to discover and download important data, such as general fund expenditures and revenues
- Intuitive reports and data visualization, such as annual financial reports
- Enhanced security and accessibility, including text-to-speech and translation capabilities in over 100 languages
- AI-powered chatbot that enables interactive communication with citizens
With the online portal now live, citizens no longer have to call or email the City to seek out data. Financial reports, vendor information and more can all be found on the portal, freeing up the City’s resources.
Smart solutions for smart governments
The world is constantly changing, and the public sector needs to keep up with the change to be able to meet demand from citizens. The OnActuate Transparency Portal is one of many public sector-centric solutions that OnActuate has developed over the years as part of our commitment to making governments smarter and more agile.
Explore more of OnActuate’s Public Sector Suite of Solutions.
Connect with us about your next digital transformation project and let’s explore the opportunities together.
Want an inside look at OnActuate’s Transparency Platform? Watch our webinar on-demand!
