SIVAD: Now Serving Over Fifty (50) Georgia Counties

[we just distributed the following press release...]

SIVAD Business Solutions: Now Serving Over Fifty (50) Georgia Counties
SIVAD recognized as leader in helping government do more, with less.

Atlanta, GA – Today, SIVAD Business Solutions announced that it is now officially serving over fifty (50) counties in the state of Georgia, providing solutions to improve governmental agency efficiencies and helping to ensure safer and better run elections.

“Due to the state of the economy and budget woes stressing state and local governments across the nation, we at SIVAD are driven to help government at all levels run more efficiently, with increased productivity, and helping the overburdened taxpayers get value for their investment,” said SIVAD president Ron Davis.

SIVAD has been offering various solutions to achieve these benefits, but one in particular has resonated with the counties’ election offices. This solution decreases the time voters and elections staff spend with the manual process of early voting and absentee voting. By implementing the SIVAD solution, both voters and elections staff are spending less time in voting lines or preparing absentee ballots to be sent to voters. In both cases, those involved are more satisfied through the process and for the elections office, productivity is rising and costs are falling with a decrease in needed labor.

“Honestly, without SIVAD’s Solutions, my department would be stretched further and the citizens of Fayette County would get less for their hard-earned tax dollars,” claimed Tom Sawyer, Fayette County Supervisor of Elections. “We enjoy partnering with SIVAD, because together we can run more efficiently, do more with less, and jointly create innovative solutions to make government run better.”

“With the 2012 elections coming next year, we feel that we are in a better position to execute a better run, more secure and more accurate election than ever before,” said Sawyer.

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Voter Registrars Association of Georgia Conference

Last week I attended the annual conference for the Voter Registrars Association of Georgia. This is the group of government officials who ensure that you get every chance to vote and that your vote counts. They are dedicated officials from 159 counties who spend their time trying to provide a better voting experience, striving to meet the ever changing voting laws, dealing with demanding candidates, dealing with razor thin budgets from county commissioners, complying to state elections regulations, dealing with special interest groups concerned about voter fraud, and of course dealing with the ever friendly voting public. Some think that those in the elections office only work during an election. I am here to tell you that they never stop working.

This year’s big topics included redistricting in the counties and preparing for next year’s presidential election. Everyone agreed that next year’s elections will be a challenge. They all believe that the voter turnout will increase over past presidential elections. The challenge for most will be how to handle this increased voter turnout with a decreased budget and less resources. With fewer resources, funding to pay the temporary workers needed to process early voting and absentee voting becomes harder to find. This fact has elections officials taking a serious look at how technology could help streamline and quicken the steps to process voters.

One particular solution at the conference that drew high interest was a way to speed up the early voting process. The product, called EasyVote, is used to speed up the application process for early voting. When a voter in Georgia wants to vote early they must fill out an application before they are issued their ballot card. This is traditionally an area that bogs down the process with a voter needing help to fill out the application or the poll worker not being able to read the voters handwriting. EasyVote speeds up the process by having the voter give their drivers license to the poll worker to run through a hand held scanner that reads the information off the license and automatically fills out the information on the application for the voter. All the voter needs to do is sign it. This removes the hassle from the voter and since the application is electronically filled out, the poll worker has no issue in reading it. The result is a happier voter, a less frustrated poll worker, and a voting line that moves quicker. For the election director there are also reporting capabilities built into EasyVote that enables them to quickly produce information for candidates or the state election office.

With technology products like EasyVote and others, what was traditionally very manual and people oriented in elections, is now moving towards automation and experiencing what the benefits of integrating technology into their work processes can do. This is Sivad’s mission, finding the manual bottlenecks that slow the work process, decrease employee productivity and become very costly and offer the technology solutions to fix them. I will still be the first to say that technology cannot replace people, but technology can be strategically placed to assist people in better performing their jobs. Especially in today’s budget strapped economy we all need ways to better perform our jobs. We might lose people to layoffs, attrition and other reasons, but we never lose the volume of work. We still have to find ways to offer the service our customers expect.

I encourage any industry or job function that has not looked at how technology can assist them, to see if there are solutions out there that can save time and money. While technology cannot solve every problem, I have seen enough times to know that it can make a difference. The key is to understand how your business runs and where it falls short. This is your starting place to see if the right technology can make a difference. Good luck!

Photo by Sarae via Flickr

One Government Official Who Gets It

I participated in an interesting radio interview the other day with Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brian Kemp. The goal of the interview was to discuss with Secretary Kemp the role technology plays in Government, especially the Elections Office. For Sivad Business Solutions, the Elections Office has been a specific area where we have seen success in offering solutions to automate their processes. As the interview continued Secretary Kemp discussed the need for Government to be more competitive. That was very refreshing to hear. Many of us have experienced horror stories of an inefficient Government; getting business licenses, driver’s licenses, property zoning, etc. We’ve all experienced long lines, uncaring employees and endless miles of red tape. As an experienced small business owner, Secretary Kemp campaigned on making changes for efficiency in Government. Soon after Secretary Kemp entered office he set up a “cut red tape” website to solicit Georgia Business owners to offer suggestions that would make interfacing with his department easier and faster. His goal is to quickly get them what they need, and then get out of their way. His point is that if business needs to be efficient and competitive in order to survive, then why shouldn’t Government be held to the same standards? This was critical as his department faced a 27% budget cut and the consolidation of departments. Secretary Kemp’s next step was to add a Chief Innovation Officer to find ways that technology can be implemented to make Government more competitive. He understands, as I do, that you cannot completely take people out of processes, but by integrating technology into their daily jobs you can make them more productive and make their jobs more satisfying. An efficient Government and happy Government employees will benefit us all. I continue to see how technology can assist us in every facet of our working lives and it is obvious to me that Secretary Kemp also sees this value. I can only hope that other Government officials will take the same stance that Secretary Kemp has, and make County, State and Federal Government hold to the same operating standards as we do in the business sector.

SIVAD…Making Elections More Accurate

Sivad’s Ron Davis talks about how we can improve efficiency and process in county government:

Sivad knows that county governments are asked to provide more and better services…with fewer staff and smaller budgets. County election offices are just one area where we can be of service…