What Happens When #100MillionCitizens Sign Up for Digital Government

Originally posted on the GovDelivery Blog by Scott Burns, CEO and Co-Founder of GovDelivery

Technology and connectivity hold great promise for improving how government serves the public. Yet, we know that to date, governments have struggled to realize the full potential of that promise. What’s holding back the public sector?

One age old problem still haunts government as it has critical information to share and important services to promote — the challenge of bringing critical information, service launches and updates to enough people to move the needle. Too often, government services and information are the proverbial tree falling in the forest. When no one hears about them in a timely manner, they have no impact at all.

GovDelivery set out over 15 years ago to use technology and connectivity to bring government in more direct touch with the people it serves. Today, we are pleased to announce a milestone that validates this vision and creates new opportunities for the future. Our more than 1,000 clients are now connecting with over 100 million people.  You read that correctly… 100 million people. It is an unprecedented amount of direct connectivity to the public for the governments we serve. It is a number that is real and that underscores the incredible potential for governments to transform the citizen experience over the next decade.

When government connects to more people, real impact happens. We see entrepreneurs easily start new businesses, veterans quickly enroll in support programs, young people sign up for health insurance for the first time, neighbors communicate to keep their community safe, and so much more. Each of these actions on their own may seem small, but when considered together, and at scale, the picture is of a new citizen experience: where technology enables our governments to be more connected, engaged, and responsive.

This milestone comes at a exciting time for GovDelivery, our clients and for the broader digital government ecosystem. We have taken some big steps in the past 12 months.

Through investments in great people, technology, and acquisitions, we have added powerful interactive texting capabilities, an advanced package of digital marketing capabilities, a world class open data management platform built on Drupal, and some of the best learning capabilities in the world for educating internal and external audiences. In addition, we now have a growing digital engagement services team that supports execution across many federal and state agencies. We’ve done this all while making huge investments in security and scalability and are proud to say that we are the only company with broad digital communication capabilities that is in the final stages of FedRAMP certification. And, we continue to nurture the largest online learning community for people in government at www.govloop.com, which is now over 200,000 members.

All this comes in the context of the profound innovations happening within governments at all levels as well. From states and cities launching open data programs, to federal government agencies in the US, UK, and beyond building digital services, to new startups and venture capitalists entering the govtech market, we are seeing unprecedented energy, investment, and attention in public sector innovation.

We are proud to play a role in helping drive this essential movement forward — to help dedicated public servants and the citizens they serve to connect and collaborate — and to do so at such scale.

It’s been over fifteen years since we launched with that vision of a connected world. 1,000+ partners, and 100 million citizens later, we continue to be amazed by the amazing stories we hear. We invite you to explore some of these stories GovDelivery.com/100M and to learn more about the unique GovDelivery Network that makes so much of this reach possible. These, of course, are just a handful of the countless stories of impact out there, so we also invite you to share your own. On Twitter, Facebook, or over email, you tell us what happens when #100MillionCitizens sign up for digital government.