BasicGov / BLOG

Salesforce announced today a new AppExchange for Government that provides a central cloud app marketplace where government agencies can drive their social transformations and reduce costs by quickly identifying applications to meet their needs.  AppExchange for Government is a one-stop shop for everything from help desks and asset management, to program and project management, to constituent relations and more. Launching with more than 60 apps selected specifically for government and public sector agencies, AppExchange for Government includes apps like:

• BasicGov: BasicGov is a reliable, secure application built on Force.com that allows cities, counties, state governments and government agencies to streamline permitting and inspections, code enforcement, planning, licensing and citizen access.
  [click to BasicGov in AppExchange for Government]
• DocuSign: DocuSign is a leading eSignature application built on Force.com that helps organizations streamline workflows to accelerate transactions, reduce costs, and delight constituents with the fastest way to send, sign, track, and store documents in the cloud.
• SchoolForce: SchoolForce includes essential Student Information System (SIS) modules such as attendance, behavior, homework, student records and grade book, as well as collaboration and document management – all of which can all be shared with parents and students via a Web portal. SchoolForce powers data driven improvements in student outcomes and represents a significant advancement in the measurement of K-12 student, teacher and school performance by tapping the power of cloud technologies and advanced analytics.

As quoted by Dan Burton, the vice president of global public policy at Salesforce –in TechTarget article …

Government Cloud would allow, for instance, the mayor of a city to interact in a social network with citizens, Burton said. Or, for example, a municipal employee could answer tweets asking questions about a construction project, by posting the building permit as a response with an app called BasicGov.

More related articles:

• http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/salesforce-moves-into-the-government-cloud-and-social/
• http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/Salesforcecom-Reaches-for-Bigger-Slice-of-Government-Cloud-Pie-74950.html
• http://gcn.com/articles/2012/04/25/salesforce-government-cloud-app-exchange.aspx

Mobile computing is changing how IT services are provided in government.

Paul Strobeck, IT Manager for a local government in the San Francisco Bay Area and a contributor writer for TechRepublic, recently wrote an article about tablets in local government and highlighted many interesting and relevant factors in this transition.

• Increased Productivity – local governments that support tablets recognize that it adds to productivity by allowing staff access to access to their work systems in the office or remotely in the  field, at remote sites, or at home.
• Bring Your own Device (BYOD) movement – the iPad has put pressure on organizations, both private and government sector, to allow staff to BYOD for increased work efficiency but this also adds new IT challenges.
• Mobile IT strategy needed – “For tablets to be successful in our enterprise environment, we need to grow our skill sets and discover solutions to new issues” such as policies, security standards, enterprise mobility strategy, and application roadmaps.

Mobile computing is also fueling cloud computing

Mobile apps are also driving demand for cloud services on the back end, such as app stores, databases, and storage (source).

Organizations that have security figured out for cloud computing have the advantage for adding in more mobile computing.

It is encouraging to see local government IT professionals like Paul Strobeck with their embrace change attitude “In the local government, we try to follow what others are doing in the private sector with the mounting issues that tablets have introduced. We do our best to attend conferences and trainings to seek out the evolving policies and advice to support and manage tablets. We’ve discovered that many enterprises are going through the same wave of transition.”

Be on the lookout for news form BasicGov in the coming months for how we are responding to the needs for a mobile workforce in government.