Enhanced online solution will improve customer experience and automate processes, drive cost efficiency and free up council staff to provide better support
Granicus, a market-leading provider of digital solutions to the public sector and Govtech, a specialist in digital process automation, today announce that they will partner to offer an off-the-shelf, fully integrated Revenues and Benefits solution for councils to engage with their citizens.
For local authorities, this will significantly improve internal processes and drive cost efficiencies which are vital as budgets come under increased pressure. Citizens meanwhile will be able to complete their transactions with the council with greater ease, and staff will be freed up to support them when they need it most.
Granicus’ govService platform is already used by 150 councils across the UK. Together with its govDelivery product, it offers a comprehensive digital solution through which councils can engage and communicate with their citizens. Govtech’s business is built on deep knowledge and experience in the processing and automation of complex transactions for councils. Its core eCAPTURE and webCAPTURE platforms manage online council tax and benefits administration for 10 million households in the UK.
Moving forward, Govtech’s customers will benefit from increased flexibility in terms of intelligent forms and workflow enabled by Granicus’ govService platform. Together, the solution will provide support for multi-channel transactions, such as DWP files, Landlord Notifications and Student Exemptions. With automated processing in revenue and benefits administration, council officers will be released from clerical checking – enabling them to spend more time on soft recovery and helping those citizens who require it. Householders, students, landlords and businesses will benefit from a comprehensive govService revenue and benefits portal with a seamless user experience.
Ian Roberts, Managing Director for Granicus UK, comments on the partnership with Govtech: “Bringing together Granicus and Govtech’s technology makes for a very powerful proposition which will drive enhanced value for our public sector customers who face increasing financial pressure. There is a big drive around improving service and citizen engagement, and we believe this solution equips councils to do just that – helping them to deliver services in the most effective way. Council tax and business rates are also the most significant income drivers for local authorities, so efficient processing and income capture is critical, as is processing applications for benefits entitlement which is also currently in huge demand.”
“Govtech’s 15 years of experience in the complex revenue and benefits field makes them the perfect complement to our market-leading solution. The partnership builds on our strategy of expanding our capability and growing our customer base, with the ambition to become the pre-eminent civic engagement platform in the UK.”
Andrew Melvin, Managing Director at Govtech, adds: “Govtech’s partnership with Granicus brings together two market-leading companies whose combined value proposition transforms the ability of councils to join up service silos, generate efficiency savings and increase returns on their digital investments, while simplifying and enhancing their customers’ online experience.”
The off-the-shelf, configurable govService proposition can be deployed in eight weeks and has already been implemented successfully with customers in Kirklees and Plymouth. Govtech’s existing webCAPTURE customers in North Hertfordshire, Cheshire East, South Ayrshire and Bristol will migrate to the Granicus govService platform in September and all remaining customers will be fully transitioned by December 2020.
