Paper-Centric and Inconsistent
Like many cities and counties, Grand Rapids had an outdated website. Too many web pages, not enough consistency in the presentation of information. Users found it difficult to navigate, and staff had trouble keeping it up to date. Most services (start water service, set up refuse and recycling, get the permit for a community block party) required printing out a form and mailing or faxing it back to the City.
Digital Services Aimed at High Request Transactions
Within five months of partnering with OpenCities, now by Granicus, Grand Rapids presented a beautiful digital services website that provides a majority of the most requested transactions. For example, the “start water and refuse service” represents 40% of all current 311 interactions. OpenCities transitioned these contacts from calls to almost 1,000 new online submissions.
A Significant Shift in How Work is Done
Since launching the OpenCities website, Grand Rapids has made over 257 services available online for visitors to the Grand Rapids website to complete their city business. And residents have embraced the new system, with over 50% of users who previously made up the 80,000 walk-up payments now using the online form in the new Grand Rapids site.
Glover noted that in just 11 weeks since the website’s launch, the total number of walk-ins to the customer service desk to start a water service dropped by 79%.
For Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, though, the popularity of these new services among residents shows that the community was clearly waiting for a more digital presence at City Hall.
“OpenCities has been nothing less than transformational for the City of Grand Rapids,” said Becky Jo Glover, Chief of Customer Service and Innovation for the City of Grand Rapids. “We didn’t just redesign the website; we redesigned the way our city does business.”
Glover noted that in just 11 weeks since the website’s launch, the total number of walk-ins to the customer service desk to start a water service dropped by 79%.
For Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, though, the popularity of these new services among residents shows that the community was clearly waiting for a more digital presence at City Hall.
“We are building the website for our community — a digital City Hall that serves those who live, work and play here on their terms, on any device, on any browser, at any time,” said Bliss. “If the website does not work for our community, it simply does not work.”
