As part of our first ever Digital Transformation Summit, we invited a number municipalities to share their stories and best practices. One of those municipalities was Bloomington, IL where Leslie Yocum, Bloomington’s City Clerk, shared key takeaways from 2020. Bloomington was subsequently recognized in the local Newspaper, The Pantagraph, for its participation in the Summit.
BLOOMINGTON (January 13, 2021) – The City of Bloomington, IL today announced the successful completion of its rollout of online services for citizens and staff. As a result of its work, Bloomington was recognized as a leader in digital transformation and innovation in government by GovOS, the leading provider of digital transformation services and software for local governments, and the platform that Bloomington used to build its portfolio of online services.
Working in conjunction with GovOS Studio (previously known as SeamlessDocs) the City of Bloomington has converted more than 70 paper-based forms into online services. With this switch to online services, Bloomington citizens and business owners can now complete a wide range of transactions online, including permit applications, business license renewals and grant applications. The transition to paperless forms is expected to save Bloomington staff in processing time, on top of added savings attributed to reduction of printing and storing printed submissions.
“We are proud of this recognition, as we have always stressed the importance of innovation and adaptability. We listened to feedback from our community and are taking proactive steps to make Bloomington a city that meets the digital needs and expectations of our citizens and staff,” said Tim Gleason, City Manager for City of Bloomington. “Digitizing existing forms streamlines our processes and benefits the residents and business owners by making it much easier to do business with the city. It also provides a great foundation on which we can scale the rest of our processes, so residents should be on the lookout for new online services continuing to roll out.”
Bloomington achieved significant progress in providing online services during 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced many government agencies to rethink traditional business processes, including:
- bringing digital forms online for many of the City’s public works departments;
- launching new license processes for amusement, video gaming, liquor, permit solicitors, taxis and daycare companies;
- making available a new eSignature system to enable citizens and staff to complete paperwork completely online; and
- establishing the City Clerk’s electronic seal, so that the City can still notarize documents in compliance with guidelines of the State of Illinois.
As part of this recognition, Bloomington was invited to participate in the 2020 Kofile Digital Transformation Summit, an online event that brought together hundreds of government professionals from across the United States. Bloomington was able to share its key learnings from last year, and ways in which the City plans to continue its digital transformation in 2021.
“We’re very proud to be partnered with the City of Bloomington, we hope citizens and staff there understand what a tremendous job they’ve done to lead by example in 2020,” said Michael Brunwasser, Partner Success Manager for Kofile. “The team in Bloomington has done an exceptional job digitizing its processes to make life easier, and safer, for everyone there. It was only fitting that we should include them in our annual Digital Transformation Summit this year to share their experience and inspire other municipalities with all Bloomington has accomplished.”
About GovOS
GovOS provides software solutions that help local governments with every step of their digital transformation journey. Serving more than 600 local governments across the United States, GovOS offers secure and integrated suite of cloud-based solutions that enable government agencies to automate and streamline operations, provide seamless access to resources and information, and deliver cutting-edge digital services to businesses, residents and agencies.
For more information, please visit govos.com
