New Solutions Extend Civic Platform to Streamline Communication, Save Time and Engage Citizens

SAN RAMON, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — October 13, 2014 — Accela, the leading provider of civic engagement solutions for government, announced today that it has acquired Government Outreach, a Pleasanton, California-based provider of citizen relationship management (CRM) and Code Enforcement solutions to cities and counties across the United States. This first acquisition in the CRM segment will enable two-way communication between agency and citizen anytime, anywhere and on the device of their choice, and will offer real-time updates for citizen requests.

Through the simple and configurable app, citizens can request and view city and county information, create and track service requests, contact elected officials and access other agency services. Government agencies can utilize the centralized tool designed to connect all departments to a common intake system, leading to faster turnaround times, better customer service and higher levels of civic engagement. Additionally, Government Outreach’s code enforcement solution allows cities and counties to manage every aspect of code enforcement, improving productivity and enforcement effectiveness.

The acquisition of Government Outreach extends the value proposition of the Accela Civic Platform for both companies’ customers and grows the portfolio of government agencies currently leveraging Accela for Land and Asset Management, Legislative Management, Licensing, Recreation and Resource Management, Right of Way Management and Environmental Health and Safety. Accela will support all Government Outreach solutions and their customers will now have available the benefits that come with the Civic Platform, including the ability to provide open data through CivicData.com, Accela’s free open data portal.

As a Civic Platform solution, Accela Citizen Relationship Management fulfills the mission of connecting government agencies with citizens. Government Outreach’s long history in the citizen relationship management segment supports city, county and other agency customers with populations ranging from less than 500 to more than 400,000. Customers include Pasadena, California; Anaheim, California; Stanislaus County, California; Arvada, Colorado; and DeSoto, Texas.

“We’re excited to offer citizen relationship management capabilities on the Civic Platform,” said Maury Blackman, President and CEO, Accela. “This acquisition provides our agency customers of all sizes with a way to simplify community engagement, offering value for both government employees and citizens. This acquisition reinforces our leadership position in the civic tech market, accelerates our ability to innovate and delivers on our mission of creating solutions to foster engagement by bridging the divide between government agency and citizen. We’re pleased to welcome Government Outreach to the Accela family.”

Accela Citizen Relationship Management includes the following features:

• Configurable mobile app and website based on government and city needs
• An extensive and configurable knowledge base to enable self-service responses for citizens
• Turnkey implementation with extensive use of best practices for grouping and organization, along with standard forms and reports
• Agency employee portal to track and resolve issues

“Citizens have come to expect a certain level of service and access to information and elected officials. They want to be involved in improving their community and want to interact how and when they want,” said Kendall Smith, Founder, Government Outreach. “Accela is a leader in the civic technology space, so this is a perfect fit. Together, we are committed to creating solutions to improve communication, streamline workflow and access to information and ultimately build better communities. We look forward to continuing to innovate on behalf of citizens and our government agency customers and to being a part of the growing Accela community.”

About Accela

At Accela, we believe that engagement makes all the difference. We’re ushering in a new era where democracy thrives when government works directly with the people, coming to citizens on their terms through mobile devices, social media and networks, and open data. The Accela Civic Platform streamlines critical agency functions like land and asset management, licensing, legislative management, right of way management, recreation and resource management, and environmental health and safety. We’re bridging the gap between agencies and citizens and are building better communities by powering thousands of services and millions of transactions daily for agencies of all sizes.

Accela is headquartered in San Ramon, California, with offices in San Francisco, New York, Melbourne and Dubai. For more information, visit www.accela.com.

Accela
Erica Harvill, 925-605-8178
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