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Innovative Governments are Driven by Data
Data-driven performance evaluation has been one of the private sector’s big buzzwords for some time now, and that fever is starting to catch on in state and local government. More and more governments are looking at the data they have on hand to create evidence-based policies and to open up transparency. The world is changing. Smart government leaders know that changing with it will allow them to operate more efficiently, and serve their constituents more effectively.
In Colorado, that has meant utilizing data more effectively. State and local governments are using data to save money, offer more flexibility, become more transparent and help different departments and agencies work together to connect with their constituents in more ways than ever before.
The state hired a Chief Data Officer to help departments break down siloes and share data, as well as a Digital Transformation Officer to work with government agencies to align business plans with constituent experiences. The average citizen doesn’t necessarily care about government departments; they’re more interested in the specific services the departments provide. They also don’t have the time to take time off to receive basic government services.
To aid in the effort, the state is launching an app called “My Colorado,” which will aggregate many of the services government departments provide online, to help citizens find and access the services they need and to speed up service delivery. A move online should help cost-savings too; the average online interaction costs 10 cents, while the average in-person interaction can cost $35 or more.
With all of their various departments on the same page, the governor’s office created a data dashboard to track their “five buckets of work” — workforce, education, environment, health and government services — so that constituents could see what progress departments were making on their goals. Raising awareness of how their government is performing day-to-day has raised constituent confidence.
This data-driven culture has trickled down to local governments in Colorado as well. In Denver, expanding access to services online has saved time and cut costs while allowing the city to meet and serve more residents. These broadened touch points, paired with strategies like posting the entire city budget online, have given citizens more ownership in how their city government is operating day-to-day. More so, they have given the mayor’s office a better look at the city’s citizens — their identities, their opinions and their needs.
The city is using data to improve public safety as well. Tracking and analyzing data and better-understanding how its citizens traverse the city has helped it plan everything from transportation and emergency routes to bike lanes. Denver has also joined on to Vision Zero, a project that analyzes speed and location data with the ultimate goal of reducing transportation fatalities.
Governments have long had a reputation for being slow-moving, wasteful and inefficient. In the modern era, citizens simply expect more. It is important for governments to expand access and provide services online. By utilizing the data they are already collecting, sharing it between departments and with their constituency and setting and tracking metric-based goals, governments can create a data-driven culture that will better serve their citizens.
To learn more about how communities are using data to better-serve their citizens, visit here.
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