Digital Government Continuity Requires Modernized Forms and Data Collection
Successful digital government depends on modernized digital forms to continue to operate and deliver the programs citizens count on.
Necessity may be “the mother of invention,” but for government agencies, it is often the forcing function for IT modernization. And as forcing functions go, COVID-19 has proven to be the mother of all disruptors.
The ability to communicate effectively is often regarded as one of the most important keys to maintaining continuity of government operations during a challenging time. However, where would government agencies be if they cannot collect information and requests from people in need?
In short, successful digital government depends on modernized digital forms to continue to operate and deliver the programs citizens count on.
Operational continuity begins with a modern digital form and electronic signatures
Agencies have been slowly modernizing their forms and applications technology in a timeframe and manner that best worked for their needs and capabilities, and most of it aligned to a commonly accepted digital forms maturity model (see graphic shown below). But COVID-19 has disrupted the traditional forms modernization path. Agencies lost the luxury of time. The pandemic forced a leap from wherever agencies are in their modernization efforts — to intelligent, mobile-friendly forms with legal electronic signatures, operationalized, and ready to go.
As the State of Utah discovered, Adobe’s powerful, easy-to-use technology not only helps agencies pivot to the place of “it’s covered,” but also quickly catapults them to a place of “it’s better than ever.” Utah leveraged Adobe solutions to not just continue vital services while impacted and sheltering in place themselves, but dramatically improve them as well. The result? Nothing fell through the cracks and the residents got answers in hours instead of days or weeks. The State of Utah made self-service documents available to the public and are now working toward a 100% paperless goal.
Adobe pioneers innovation for government
Speed to mission and business capability is at the heart of everything Adobe does. For over 25 years, Adobe has pioneered innovation that fueled the capabilities of government — from the first PostScript files ever created (hand-coded by Adobe founder Dr. John Warnock for the IRS in 1994), to the then-innovative use of a powerful, hardened, and secure real-time internet-based collaboration tool (what is now Adobe Connect) in the battlefield in 2005.
Adobe is now bringing that same innovation drive to help agencies dramatically accelerate the pace of forms modernization for government. Using Adobe Sensei artificial intelligence and machine learning, Adobe is delivering a low-cost, SaaS-based automated forms conversion solution to government agencies. This solution helps agencies convert static PDF forms to powerful, adaptive, mobile-ready, and intelligent forms in record time. Agencies are using this solution to modernize forms for entire programs in just a matter of a few days.
Best of all? It happens entirely remotely and with minimal impact to the agency, their IT teams, or their bandwidth. It’s the closest an agency can get to “push-button conversion” to modern forms.
Ensure continuity with intelligent forms workflows
But converting a static PDF form to a mobile-ready intelligent form is just half the battle. To truly accomplish the second most critical step of operational capability, the digital form must be part of a secure, adaptable, intelligent workflow that can operate in any deployment environment.
Like all digital forms, the ones converted by Adobe can be used with Adobe Experience Manager Forms and Adobe Sign to create an end-to-end digital workflow with electronic and digital signatures, on any device.
Adobe Experience Manager Forms can be used to expedite mission delivery and ensure operational continuity in a variety of ways, including:
- Speed access to critical programs. During emergencies, constituents and essential personnel must be able to quickly and easily complete and submit applications to access resources and public assistance. Adobe Experience Manager Forms combined with Adobe Sign supports rapid conversion to a mobile-friendly, section 508 accessible digital application with electronic signatures for approval. It provides a cross-channel, self-service solution employees and constituents can use to submit, track, and manage applications and requests from remote locations.
- Improve enrollment and application outcomes. Citizens seeking unemployment benefits during COVID-19 struggled with the complexity of the process, preventing some from receiving much-needed financial support. Adobe Experience Manager Forms simplifies enrollment and application processes with smart adaptive forms; provides the ability to pre-populate fields with previously captured data and save applications in-progress to complete later on another device, and gives agencies valuable usage analytics to better understand form usability and decrease form abandonment rates — all of which improve outcomes of program and mission delivery.
- Eliminate technology barriers to adoption. Agency personnel are not all technologists, so digital forms must be agile and easy to use without IT skills. Adobe Experience Manager Forms is a web-based solution that agencies can deploy quickly with no forklift infrastructure upgrades necessary. Drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy for employees to create, digitize, and publish digital forms with application approval workflows and electronic signatures.
COVID-19 is one of the greatest technology disruptors that government agencies will ever experience. It presents challenges for agencies to adapt, but it also opportunities for agencies to break through previous IT modernization issues and obstacles. Adobe is here to help.
Adobe is helping government agencies adapt to challenging times. If you’re a government agency with an immediate need, please contact your Adobe representative, or contact us at govCOVIDresponse@adobe.com or 800-872-3623 to see how we can help you solve your challenges.
https://www.adobe.com/covid-19-response/government-resources.html
Topics: Government, COVID-19, Forms and electronic signatures for government
Products: Experience Platform