BasicGov / BLOG

Cloud-Based Google Apps Selected by State of Colorado

As Jeff James says in his Cloud Computing Blog, “Yet another battle has taken place in the ongoing war between Microsoft and Google over cloud-based office applications, with this latest round going decisively to Google.”

The State of Colorado is moving its 26,000 state employees to Google Apps for Government to consolidate employee email and calendaring into one system from 15 separate mail systems.

Reduced Cost

In the State of Colorado’s announcement they say that the cost will be reduced by half with Google apps …

• The cost to maintain current  on-premise email for state employees is approximately $5.2 million annually. The move to Google Apps for Government will reduce that amount by nearly half. Google’s cloud-based system will allow the state to pay only for what technology is used and reduce maintenance costs. This will allow the state to better plan and budget for email and calendaring services and more quickly adapt to changing demands from individual agencies.

State Governments selecting Google Apps

Many State Governments choosing Cloud-based Google apps

Colorado is not the first state to migrate to Google Apps for Government. Wyoming, Utah and Maryland have already made the transition. In Colorado, Google Apps for Government is being used by Larimer
County, Eagle County, Colorado State University, Metropolitan State College of Denver, Douglas County School District and Jeffco Public Schools.

• Read more about State Government and Google apps case studies here.

Recently, we have been getting a number of inquires asking whether our web-based land management software can handle the ongoing registration and compliance of foreclosed properties and abandoned buildings that are now managed by banks.

The common functionality of the request involves the registration of the property by the bank with the city, with re-registration occurring every six months or a year.  During the period, the bank managed property must keep the building or home up to code.  If there are violations against the property the bank must bring the property into compliance or face additional fees, and or/higher re-registration fees.

The common challenge for these cities is the need for a higher-level view of all the properties to determine which banks are good and/or bad at keeping abandoned buildings in compliance upon registration so the city can be proactive in dealing with them at registration.

The additional challenge is doing is quickly, and at a low-cost.

The solution is straight forward, even if we are expected to import your parcel data.  Setup can be as quick as three weeks if this is all that is needed to start with, and the ongoing cost is a low monthly fee per user.

The end solution can be called any number of things:

• Foreclosure Management Software
• Abandoned Buildings Tracking Software
• Foreclosure Compliance and Registration Tracking

Whatever it is, we can get you up and running quickly so you can start managing the banks and keeping citizens happy that their neighborhood property values don’t go down.