San Ramon, CA (PRWEB) March 18, 2014 -- Accela, Inc., the leading provider of civic engagement solutions for government agencies, announced it is working with Microsoft on CityNext, an initiative designed to help governments, businesses and citizens reimagine what is next for their cities. For the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas and nearly 70 percent of people will live in cities by 2050. This ongoing migration creates unprecedented opportunities, but also intensifies problems such as aging infrastructure, hazards to public health and safety, pollution, crime and traffic. Through the CityNext initiative, Microsoft and Accela will help leaders do “new with less,” by combining the power of technology with innovative ideas to connect governments, businesses and citizens with city services that increase efficiencies, reduce costs, foster a more sustainable environment and cultivate communities where people thrive.
“We’re excited to participate in Microsoft CityNext to further demonstrate our commitment to helping government agencies of all sizes innovate now and modernize for the future,” said Maury Blackman, Accela CEO and President. “Many of our customers already use the Accela Civic Platform across Microsoft products to transform operations through secure technology, support productivity through mobile devices and apps, and foster engagement with citizens.”
Today, Accela customers are able to utilize Microsoft Windows 8 Surface Pro Tablets with field employees, including Building Inspectors, Code Enforcement Officers and Health Inspectors. These government agency employees access permit approval documents, enter inspection results and visualize and map routes in real-time from their Tablets, which increases productivity and streamlines key agency processes. In many cases, customers have integrated Accela credit card payment functionality into the Microsoft Dynamics GP Financial module, improving financial reconciliation procedures for the department.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Accela on CityNext. Microsoft prioritizes putting people and partners first in our initiatives and CityNext is no different,” said Laura Ipsen, corporate vice president Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector. “Even though cities are feeling the strain from economic challenges, we believe a new era of innovation will create opportunities for people to utilize technology to accomplish what they never thought possible. We’re inspired by our diverse partner ecosystem and know that working together we can help cities realize their full potential.”
About Accela
Accela, Inc. provides the leading civic engagement platform, powering thousands of services and millions of transactions daily for large and small public agencies worldwide. We connect government to people and accelerate and streamline land management, licensing, asset management, and public health and safety processes. Accela’s Civic Platform both packaged and tailored solutions and cloud-based, office, mobile and social applications to support government agency, business and citizen needs. Accela is headquartered in San Ramon, Calif., with international offices in Australia and the United Arab Emirates. For more information, visit http://www.accela.com.
Erica Harvill, Accela, Inc., http://www.accela.com, +1 (925) 605-8178, [email protected]
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