Turn on the Power with Agile ECM

The Center for Digital Government and Digital Communities Magazine named the City of Norfolk, VA, the “Top Digital City in America” in 2009. The survey, which has been run for 9 years now, examines how municipalities incorporate information technology into operations which better serve citizens. Norfolk has been a long-time client of Unity Business Systems, and was one of the first adopters of the Laserfiche Document Management System in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

“This year’s winners demonstrate how cities have faced economic challenges with creativity and innovation in the use of information technology,” said Cathilea Robinett, executive director for the Center for Digital Government.

Other Unity Business Systems local government clients that placed in the Top Ten (based upon their respective sizes) are: the City of Virginia Beach (6th with population over 250,000), the City of Alexandria (4th with population between 125k and 249k), the City of Hampton (8th with population between 125k and 249k).

For the complete article, please visit the Center for Digital Government or Unity Business Systems.

Snow! And piles and piles of it! This is the ‘stuff’ that kept millions of Eastern Seaboarders away from the malls this past weekend, just at the peak of the Christmas shopping season. But we Americans, being ever resourceful, were still able to secure that proverbial Old Spice gift set for dad, it’s just that we did it online.

In fact, online retail sales rose 22.4 percent for the weekend compared with last year, Web research company Coremetrics said. On Saturday, sales were up 24.8 percent alone. The firm also showed the average shopper spending and ordering more on Saturday, when the weather’s effects were deepest, than Friday. Even online sales Monday morning were strong as shoppers raced to make purchases so they could be delivered by Christmas. “This teaches consumers that maybe those of us that procrastinate, we still have time to go online very close to Christmas,” said John Squire, Coremetrics’ chief strategy officer.

Today we are all busy. And we are being asked to do more with less all of the time. Most Americans are now quite comfortable shopping online, as we have been doing this now for 10 years. The IRS even recognizes this as they allow, and even prefer, that most people file their tax returns online. Wouldn’t 2010 be a great year for local governments to adopt the same thought process? Why not automate all incoming forms so constituents, who don’t like filing forms like business renewals or garage sale permit requests, can do so with the “click” of the mouse? And make it easy for the employees to process the required documents, and save the taxpayers time and money… For more information on electronic forms or other Business Process Management solutions, contact Unity Business Systems.

I am going to buy a camera, a good camera with a telephoto lens that will let me get close to wildlife and shy people. Pictures are great and they tell a story for years after they are taken. This is a picture of my kids fifteen years ago. My old Polish aunt knitted hats and mittens for them and I wanted to send her a picture. The picture tells the story.

Saving business records is like saving pictures. It’s an important thing to do and the records tell a story. Like digital cameras have made saving, organizing, sharing and keeping safe your pictures…document imaging does the same thing for your business records. Use Laserfiche and make your business records management as easy as taking a picture.

One of the true joys of life is to have a dream realized. Something that begins as a germ of an idea, a simple, fragile seed that, given enough attention and care, can begin to grow and ultimately manifest itself before our very eyes. Thus was the case with the first annual Laserfiche Statewide Users Group Seminar that was held yesterday in Chesterfield, Virginia. Flying in the face of budgetary cutbacks and limited to non-existent travel and training funds, User Group Leaders Alondo McClees, Rosalind Collins, Debbie Wolff, Mike Wells and Amy Johnson banded together to craft an event that was simply terrific. Their vision of empowering the Statewide Laserfiche user community to do “more with less” was enthusiastically received and greatly appreciated. The education sessions were focused, the networking and community activities were invaluable, and the vendor giveaways were terrific! (And timely with Christmas around the corner…)

We, at Unity Business Systems, consider it an honor and a privilege to serve and be associated with such a forward thinking and creative “team” of people. Kudos to you, and we look forward to assisting in any way possible next year!