This marks the first installment of "Fix it Friday"—a series in which each blog post examines a different issue commonly faced by local government and successfully resolved through the adoption of GovPilot.
Albert Einstein famously said that, “ a cluttered desk is the sign of a brilliant mind.” While this may be true, a brilliant mind can’t perform at full capacity in a subpar work environment.
Local government understands this. Piles of paper documents have driven many a clerk straight to GovPilot’s “Book a Consultation” button. The premiere installment of “Fix it Friday” explains why this is a smart move.
The Issue
From marriage licenses, to business registration, to block party permits, forms are the foundation of local government. Consider that the average United States municipality has been operating for over a century at a population of around 20,000 and you’ll have an idea of the filing cabinet situation in Small Town, USA.
Piles of paper have built a wall between your government’s reality and potential.
Of course, at this rate, filing cabinets inevitably run out of storage space and forms at various stages of processing are dropped into bins and piled on top of desks—a work environment that should be avoided at all costs.
A disorganized work space is more than an eyesore. There is much ergonomic evidence to suggest that it is an obstacle to productivity, credibility and even data security.
Professional Organizer, Seana Turner, maintains that, “People who pile paperwork often obscure items underneath the stacks, resulting in time wasted trying to find what they are looking for.”
Digging through piles of paperwork to recover lost items is a waste of time as well as a distraction from the task at hand. As organizational expert, Amanda LeBlanc argues, “There are many studies showing that once a person gets up from something they are working on to look for supplies, they are much less likely to return to what they were working on when they left.”
The consequences of a cluttered workspace reach beyond internal operations to affect public perception. Constituents visiting local government offices may be distressed to find that the employees handling their permits, licenses and other critical documents struggle with organization.
This anxiety may be warranted. As Melissa Gratias, owner of MBG Organizing Solutions in Signal Mountain, Tennessee, points-out, “stacks of visible paper cause privacy concerns.”
Piles of paper have built a wall between your government’s reality and potential. Continue reading to learn how GovPilot can fix this all too common problem.
The Solution
GovPilot clients save paper, time and face by customizing our digital form to mimic frequently sought paper ones. Digital pet license, zoning permit and other applications sit on the client’s website to be completed and submitted by constituents at their convenience, from any device. Upon submission, the form is routed to the appropriate employee for expedited and efficient processing.
What about all of the old paper documents you have lying about? Don’t worry—we’ll help you digitize those too! Newly submitted data joins imported legacy data in GovPilot’s secure, cloud-based server. In the server, permitted employees can seamlessly collaborate on projects to complete more work in less time.
Automated alerts keep constituents abreast of any new developments. More efficient operations ensure that they’ll receive that approval or denial alert in record time.
Just like that, GovPilot digital forms can solve your government’s paper problem and the efficiency, security and image problems it brings. After all, a cluttered desk may be the sign of a brilliant mind, but a digital form is the sign of a brilliant system.
