In order to best represent and meet the needs of its citizens, a local government needs their insights. This is a universal truth regardless of the location or size of the local government entity. Throughout the years, local governments have tried town halls, phone campaigns, and door-to-door visits. However, in an ever-evolving technological age, how can local governments gain insight from citizens in a more effective manner?
Government communications must evolve with available technologies in order to ensure citizen needs are first and foremost gathered and then accurately represented. This means finding ways to reach those citizens who may not be the most likely to attend a town hall or take the initiative to call in and report something. The way to do this? Local government software.
What is local government software?
In a nutshell, local government software is an all-in-one suite of tools that allows members of local government to connect with citizens through a multitude of options and channels. With government communications at the core of it, local government software helps facilitate information distribution as well as information gathering.
Now, depending on the platform, there would be different options available. At the very least, an effective local government software platform should have the following components:
- A contact database that allows government officials to easily organize data (CRM)
- A way in which to share information with citizens over multiple channels (email, SMS, social media, etc)
- A way in which to connect information and input from citizens in a digital manner (online surveys)
- An emergency communication component that can reach all citizens at the same time (emergency notification)
Now, leveraging the right solution here will allow you to easily gain insight from citizens.
How can I gain insight from citizens using local government software?
I’m glad you asked! As mentioned, ideally the local government software solution you select should have a way in which to gather information from citizens digitally. Having a way in which citizens can submit information in this manner means they can do so from anywhere; they don’t have to come to your office, call in, etc. Instead, citizens can simply go to your website and fill out a form, for example.
Online surveys are a quick and easy way for local governments to collect insight on many different topics.
Want to know what citizens thought of a recent public event? Send them an online survey! Do you need a way for citizens to report road issues (potholes, etc.)? Why not use a survey? Want to follow up on a town hall meeting? You guessed it — an online survey!
Essentially, if you have any questions you want your citizens to answer, a survey can do it.
Is it easy to create an online survey for citizen insight?
If you’re using the right local government software solution, creating an online survey should be as easy and dragging and dropping question fields into an editor — that’s it. Surveying software makes it easy for you to create custom question fields and overall design without needing any knowledge of coding or HTML.
Now, if you’re using local government software with surveying software built in then all the answers submitted through the online survey are tracked and associated with the citizen in the contact database. This makes it easy for data collection, tracking of issues, and viewing overall reports.
When can I start using local government software with surveying software?
Lucky for you — you can start using SimplyCast’s all-in-one local government software solution today! With a built-in surveying software component as well as multi-channel communication, contact database, and emergency notification capabilities, everything you need is in one location to better engage with your citizens!
Want to see it for yourself? Click the button below to sign up for a one-on-one demo with a member of our team! They’d be happy to walk you through the solution and detail just how your local government could use the solution.